Mar 01
Leg Toning Exercises for Shaping and Firming your Legs
Posted by Wilson | Posted in gym exercises | Posted on 01-03-2010
Are you interested in easy, but greatly effective, leg toning exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime – without having to deal with the hassles of ‘going to the gym’?
Fitness centers and health clubs are filled with big, expensive machines.
No matter what kind of leg exercise program you are looking for, the instructors are going to put you through a typical general lower body workout circuit doing one set on each machine for twelve reps and so on.
Of course, they are not going to show you a workout routine that doesn’t need a single exercise machine. They’d be out of business!
The truth is, toning and firming up your leg, hip and thigh area is not achieved by using all those weight machines, and heavy dumbbells and barbells that could get you all pumped up with much more muscle than you were looking to build, or cause serious, long term injuries! (we’ve all heard these horrible stories, right?)
The real magic of a properly structured leg exercise program lies in the combination of non-weighted and body weight exercises, put together in a sequence that targets all the muscles in AND around the legs, hips and thighs. The program should also emphasize proper form AND speed of movement along with breathing – these are elements that are lacking from most ‘modern’ leg workouts and fitness programs.
Here is an example of a highly effective, but simple leg toning and shaping exercise:
First you’ll need a staircase or a utility step – 9 to 12 inches high is good.
You may have one you can use in your garage or a closet – just make sure it is sturdy.
If using a staircase – stand on the second step with both feet. If using a utility step – try to use one that is about 10 – 15 inches high & stand on it with both feet. This is one of the simplest yet most effective leg exercises for women.
Place your hands on your hips or hold them out in front of you, or out to the side. SLOWLY, step down with your left foot & LIGHTLY touch the floor with your toes & the ball of the foot (keep your heel off the ground).
Then bring your left foot back up & lightly touch the step and repeat this 15 times with the left foot.
Take a 10 second rest and then do the right leg.
IMPORTANT – The leg that stays on the step is the one doing the most work & you should feel a nice ‘burn’ in that leg.
This means you are doing the exercise right.
If it is too easy – you may be moving too fast – the key is to move slowly to ‘use the muscles properly’.
Or the step may be too low – try a higher step to increase the intensity of this leg toning exercise.
Try to build up to 3 sets of 15 reps (per leg) with 20 seconds rest between sets. If you haven’t been exercising your legs, or are a beginner – you can do this 2 or 3 times each week.
If you have been exercising you can simply add it right into your current leg workout routine.
Often times, too much focus is placed on machines, gadgets and high intensity, ‘no pain – no gain’ concepts. Most of this is for marketing reasons and sometimes just a pure lack of understanding of what the female body needs in terms of the correct leg exercises and overall fitness programming.
Joey Atlas
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/leg-toning-exercises-for-shaping-and-firming-your-legs-109898.html
I have a top-heavy body and recently lost a bunch of weight, but how do I keep my body proportionate?
I have always had a top-heavy body. Big breasts, flabby arms, even a flabby neck (I think) and a tire around my belly…but my legs, hips, thighs, etc have always been smaller.
This past year I lost 30 pounds going from 210 pounds to 180lbs and I am still trying to lose an additional 30 lbs before my wedding in June. I have ALWAYS had an athletic body and been into sports but as I got older and less active, I began to get VERY heavy topping off at 210 lbs this past January. It is now my 30th year and I am making plans to get married and would like to lose all the weight and be healthy on a PERMANENT basis.
I started out with just cutting out sugar and anything fried and walking briskly for a half an hour 3 times a week. Then I gradually built up my exercising regimen while still eating very healthy. Now I work out 5-6 times a week by doing a speed interval routine on the treadmill (run for 8 minutes, walk briskly for two minutes, continue the cycle) for 40 minutes as well as strength training for 20-30 minutes. When I first started strength training, I was using free weights at home. Now I am using exercise machines at the gym. It is important to me that, while I lose all the weight off my body, my body stay toned and firm not flabby.
I see great changes in my body. My bootie has firmed and lifted, my thighs are more muscular, and my arms are started to shape up and firm.
HOWEVER, like I said before…I am top heavy. Although I have lost weight in my arms and stomach area, my legs and butt have DRASTICALLY gone down and I want my upper half to do that too!
My boyfriend told me that if I lift weights, my arms will muscle up and remain big. I dont want that. I want them to lose inches and TONE. I also want to tone my shoulders, make them smaller…as well as my tummy. I heard that i shouldnt be doing any stomach toning exercises until all the weight comes off because, like the arm thing, your tummy will harden but will stay BIG.
HELP! Im still fairly new to this exercising thing and I want ALL my body to slim down, not just my bottom half!
I LOVE to run and know that is a good way to slim down the WHOLE body, but what weight machines should I be using to work on my arms, NECK, shoulder, chest and stomach?!
first off ur doing a wonderful job with the weight loss. sounds like ur doing alot of things right so just keep up with it..my recommendation with the upper body is to do light weight lifting but more reps. and do about 5 to 6 sets and resting no more that 30 seconds in between. this works greatly because your not building muscle your just toning the ones that you already have this routine focuses more on burning the fat rather than building muscles. go to the gym and carefully read the instruction of the machine you want to use it will tell you what specific muscle group it isolates. P.S. i’ve lost 80lbs doing the routine that i just told you plus ALOT of interval Cardio. IF ANYBODY SAYS MY ANSWER IS WRONG THEN COME TALK TO ME.
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