Thigh Toning Exercises

If you ask any woman about her favorite exercise program, she would probably say that she enjoys thigh toning exercises. When performing these exercises, it's important to realize that there is no such thing as "losing inches" on your legs. In order to reduce the size of your legs, you will need to diet and perform aerobic exercise. However, thigh toning exercises can change the shape of your legs. In some cases, this might make them look slimmer.

Learn more exercises for toning your body

Understanding leg anatomy can help you devise an effective thigh toning workout program. The primary muscles of the leg include:

• The quadriceps are located in the front of the leg and provide leg extension.
• The hamstrings are located in the back of the leg and assist with leg flexion.
• The adductors are located in the inner thigh. These muscles draw your leg towards the center line of your body.
• The abductors are located on the outside of the leg. The abductor muscles draw your leg away from the center line of your body.

You don't need an advanced biomechanics degree to understand the basic movements of the muscles of the legs. However, an understanding of these basics can help you create an excellent thigh toning workout program.

The ideal thigh toning program will create balance in the muscle groups. For example, most people, especially women, have stronger quadriceps than hamstrings. In some cases, this imbalance can either lead to injury, or make the legs look heavy. Fortunately, this imbalance is easily corrected. By performing more strength training exercises for the hamstrings, and more stretches for the quadriceps, you can eventually change the shape of your legs, and improve your movement efficiency.

It's interesting to note that many gym members inadvertently create hamstring/quadriceps muscle imbalances by over-using the leg extension machine. The leg extension machine isolates the quadriceps muscle. For most people, the leg extension machine is more user friendly than the leg curl machine, which works the hamstrings. As such, people end up using considerably more weight on the leg extension than the leg curl, thus amplifying the muscular imbalance. Furthermore, people with sensitive knees are often advised to avoid the leg extension, because of the shearing forces it places on the joints. The leg press machine is actually a better choice. It works the quadriceps in conjunction with the gluteal muscles, and produces compression force, which are safer for the knee than shearing forces.

In addition to the hamstring quadriceps muscular imbalances, many women inadvertently create imbalances between the inner and outer thigh. This can be attributed to the myth of spot reduction. Since fat tends to accumulate on the outer thighs, some woman believe that performing an infinite number of side leg raises will help them lose inches. This is a false assumption. Depending upon your hormonal makeup, performing extra side leg raises might build the adductor muscles, thereby making your legs look bigger. For best results, perform an equal number of inner and outer thigh toning exercises, and try to use similar weight for each part of the leg.

Choosing the best leg sculpting program depends on cost, convenience, and time. If you have a gym membership, you can use the equipment. The ideal program would be performed three times a week, with a 48 hour rest between training. Your program should consist of three sets of 12 repetitions on the leg [press machine, the hamstring curl, the adductor machine and the abductor machine. If your gym has cable equipment with leg attachments, you perform additional hamstring exercises by facing the machine and strapping the attachment to your ankle. Be sure that the working leg is behind the standing leg. Keep the knee in a stable position, and then slowly flex the leg.

Use a stability ball to perform additional hamstring toning exercises:

• Lie on your back with your feet on the ball, separated at hip width apart.
• Keep your core muscles engaged, and slowly lift each vertebra from the floor, until you reach a bridge position.
• Remaining in the bridge,flex and extend your legs for 12 repetitions.
• Your knees should stay bent as you roll back to the floor.

If you don't belong to a gym, you can devise an effective thigh toning program by using a combination of resistance band, and body weight exercises such as squats and lunges.

• Pictures of People Exercising
• Women Fitness Models
• Male Fitness Model

• Breast Lifting Exercise
• Contour Abs
• Naked Exercise
• Naked Pilates
• Hula Hoop Exercises

• Pedometer 10000 Steps
• Flexibility Exercises
• Posture Exercises
• Stretching Routines
• Thigh Slimming Exercises