WhitneyExercises to Tone Your Legs and Thighs
June 8th 2009 13:38
You'll find that higher rep activity well generally help tone and lean your legs, but if you have higher amounts of body fat that you want to lose, you won't see the same drastic results until you shed the extra fat, which you can do with basic cardio work 3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes at a moderate pace and a diet adjustment.
Exercises for Home using an exercise fitness ball
Wall Slides- This exercise works nearly everything below the waist, depending on the position of your feet. You can shift your feet to emphasize your gluts, quads, hamstrings, or thighs.
* Basic Wall Slide: With your back facing a wall, place an exercise ball on the wall at the same height as your belt or just below your butt. Your spine, should be pressed against the ball, but you want to make sure that you're not leaning on it. Walk your feet in front of you about a foot so that your toes are visible, and with your feet at hip-width apart and your back straight, slowly sit down as if you were going to sit in a chair, bringing your thighs parallel to the floor but no lower. Pause a minute and slowly straighten your legs to stand back up. You may want to challenge yourself by holding 10, 12, or 15 pound weights by your side.
* Plié wall slides: Place your feet a little wider apart than your hips, and have your toes turned out 45 degrees. Perform the basic wall slide in this position.
* Glute wall slide: Have your feet and knees together while performing the basic wall slide.
Bridge and hamstring curl- This exercise will work your hamstrings, glutes, and calves. You'll want to lie on the floor with your heels on the top of the ball, keeping your legs straight. You want to place your arms out to the sides at shoulder height with your palms facing the ceiling. From this position, you will lift your hips off the floor so that your body forms one diagonal line- feet to shoulders. Bend your knees and bring your feet and the ball toward your butt, be sure not to let your hips drop. Straighten your legs, and when fully extended, let your hips drop back down to the floor in one smooth motion.
Exercises for the Gym
Barbell Lunges- By placing a barbell behind your neck, resting on your shoulder's you'll want to do 3-4 sets of 15 per leg, making one stride forward each time. Make sure that your back foot stays properly in line with your hips and that they don't flare outward. You also want to make sure that your lead leg knee doesn't wobble in. You want to take your time until you can do them fluidly.
One Leg Hack Squats- These can be pretty intense so you'll want to make sure that you watch your form carefully. Position yourself in a hack squat machine with your back firmly against the pad, setting one foot on the platform and the other out of the way. Begin the exercise by squatting on one leg as though you're going to sit down in a chair and squat to a point where your thigh is parallel to the floor. You should d this 8-10 times then repeat with the other leg. Make sure that the middle of your knee lines up with the outside of your foot; also try not to let your hips get into the momentum too much, if so, lighten the weight.
Cable Inner Thighs Pulls- This exercise is performed using a pulley machine, by attaching a small hand attachment to the lower part of the machine so that you can place one foot through the handle opening, wrapping it around your ankle at the nearest weight stack. You want to make sure that you keep your leg very straight and smoothly kick your heel across the front of your body, holding your leg at the top of this movement for a one count and then repeating with the other leg. You want to do 4 sets of 25 per leg at a moderate weight. Try to stay controlled with little momentum from your hips, as you're trying to tighten your inner thigh area with this exercise.
You should make sure that you try these exercises 1-2 times a week, but if you do them 3 times a week, the results will be more drastic.
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