Toning thighs and bum

[Renstar]

Hi
Could anyone tell me the quickest way to tone thighs and bum?

[Peter_Gollop]

Hi Renstar,

The only real way is tone any part of your body is to build up the muscle in that area (I don't mean becoming a body builder, I just mean build up a little bit of muscle and give it some extra definition), and also to get rid of the excess body fat so that you can see the muscle.

So, firstly to build up muscle on your thighs and bum you need to do exercises such squats and lunges. You want to do something like 3 sets of 12 reps of both every day (there's plenty more types of exercises that help in these areas, but these are the most basic ones)

Next, unfortunately there's only one way to burn fat, and that's cardio. There's no such thing as spot reducing fat, which means that you can't lose weight on your legs by doing leg exercises alone, no more than you can lose a flabby belly by doing situps alone. You need to do cardio (ie. running, bike riding, etc.), which means at least 45 minutes of sweating 3 or more times a week.

Let me know if you need any more information!

[Renstar]

Hi Peter
Thanks for your advice. I was hoping I could get away with not doing cardio, wishful thinking!! For the last 2 weeks I have been walking for approx 45mins every day but haven't been working up a sweat so i'll have to step it up.
Thanks again :)

[Aaron]

Hi Renstar,

Just be careful with hitting these body parts everyday. If you are working out intensely and hitting these muscles every day you can run the risk of overtraining / injury which will only take you further away from you goal.

You may wish to start out by hitting these muscles every third day (depending on your conditioning) and then every second day.

Also, as your conditioning improves, do more reps with the same amount of weight. Keep you reps high because you want to condition these muscles (tone).

You can also get a good cardio workout from your weight training. By limiting your rest between sets you will raise the intensity of your workout so you will be burning more calories. Alternatively, you can do your weight in circuit fashion so you all your exercises one after the other and then have approximately 1-2 minutes rest. Perform this circuit 2,3 or 4 times depending on the level you are at.

If things start to become easy, increase your weight but keep reps high and/or reduce your rest time.

Pain is only fatigue leaving the body!! Cheers

[stargurl84]

Unfortunately, cardio is a necessary evil. I like working on the elliptical machine because its very low impact for your knees and ankles. I also like doing cardio on the recumbant bike (the exercise bike where your feet are ahead of you)....I can really feel it in my hamstrings and glutes