If you want to improve the shape of your hips and thighs -- and who doesn't -- then perform leg press exercises. The lying and seated leg presses are very similar in movement, but when you are seated, you work your butt and hamstrings, or rear thigh muscles, whereas the lying leg press works your quadriceps, or front thigh muscles.

With a seated leg press machine, the seat or the plates move as you use your leg muscles to push against the platform. You can use the seared leg press for your glutes or the machine to target your quads. The lying leg press is a little more advanced and is a plate-loaded machine. You can choose your desired weight by adding or removing plates.