Simple Workout To Tone The Thighs & Butt

With advances in exercise science, supplements and equipment technology, today's workout options might have your head spinning. Unless you're a serious athlete or bodybuilder, simple workouts are the best. You can tone your thighs and butt without complex equipment, hassles or counting repetitions. Toning your muscles requires a combination or aerobic exercise to burn fat and strength training exercises to firm the muscles.

Aerobics

Skipping rope not only provides you with a cardio exercise, it also slims fat thighs and warms up the body. Even skipping for as little as 10 minutes three to four times a week makes a difference. Aerobic exercise is a mood elevator, natural pain reliever and immune system booster. Skipping rope and other forms of exercise that increases your heart and breathing rate strengthen your heart and lungs, improve stamina and decrease your health risks for serious conditions such as heart disease. Because skipping rope is a weight-bearing activity, it also reduces your chances of developing osteoporosis. As an alternative, if you have a stationary bike that allows you to safely stand up during use, cycle instead of using a jump rope. This still burns calories and tones your thighs and glutes.

Butt Exercise

Some exercises such as the hip-lift progression allow you to focus on your butt and ensure that those muscles work hard. To perform a hip-lift progression, start on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor and arms at your sides. Tighten your butt and lift your hips toward the ceiling, holding for one second before lowering the hips back to the floor. This exercise also works the hamstrings on the back of the thighs, but if you do not feel your glutes burning then squeeze them more as you lift. Make the exercise harder by extending one leg at a time as you lift your hips. Because the quadriceps on the front of the thighs extend the knees, you get some thigh work too with this variation.

Thighs and Butt Exercise

Some exercises strengthen everything together, such as the plie squats. The plie squats work your outer thighs, also known as the hip abductors. These muscles are the gluteus minimus and gluteus medius. They hit the inner thighs, or adductors, and your hamstrings too. Also, just like regular squats, plie squats tone your quadriceps and glutes. To perform plie squats, step your feet wider than shoulder width and point your toes outward. Then, bend the knees and lower into a squat with your back straight before standing back up tall. You can hold a pair of dumbbells with your arms hanging straight in front of you to increase the difficulty of the exercise.

Time and Sets

To keep this workout simple, eliminate the need to count repetitions by using a timer. Perform each exercise for a total of 60 seconds. For the hip-lift progression, do 30 seconds per side if you extend your legs. One to two exercises per body part is enough for beginners, but work up to three sets of strength training exercises.