Exercises for waists, tummies and legs improve your appearance by sculpting and strengthening these areas. Targeting your midsection and lower body can improve hormonal imbalances that contribute to stress and fat storage. Waist, tummy and leg exercises also help reduce your risk of developing medical problems, such as obesity and diabetes. Participate in regular aerobic activities to burn off fat, and improve the appearance of your legs and midsection. Aerobic exercise sessions that last 45 minutes or longer are ideal for burning fat.
Waist
Insulin resistance is associated with the development of fat that collects around your waist, which is also known as love handle or visceral fat. Exercises that help increase your sensitivity to insulin may help train your body to stop storing fat around your waist. Workouts that increase growth hormone secretions can help improve your insulin sensitivity.
Body composition specialist Ben Carpenter recommends stimulating growth hormone secretions with heavy weightlifting exercises that involve multiple joint movements, which are separated by brief rests between each set. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, performing 30 minutes of aerobic exercise regularly can also help improve your insulin sensitivity.
Tummy
Tummy exercises help tone the abdominal muscles, and combat hormones that promote abdominal fat. Cortisol is a stress hormone associated with abdominal fat; it eats away at your lean muscle tissue. Exercise science specialist Shannon Clark recommends reducing cortisol with weightlifting exercises that exhaust your muscles within 10 repetitions.
Use exercises that involve multiple joint movements, such as squats and rowing exercises, and rest no longer than three minutes between sets. Relaxation exercises, such as yoga and tai chi, may also help reduce the effects of cortisol. Exercises that involve shoulder-to-hip movements, such as crunches, help tone the upper fibers of your abdominal muscles. Target the lower abdominal muscle fibers with hip-to-shoulder movements, such as hanging leg raises.
Leg Pushing
Leg pushing exercises target the group of four muscles that forms the front of your thighs, known as the quadriceps. According to electroymyography analysis, which measure the electrical activity produced by muscle contractions, the best leg pushing exercises include full squats and parallel squats. Squatting exercises with free weights or your body weight may help you burn more fat overall, because they strengthen the primary leg muscles in addition to stabilizing muscles along your spine and midsection. Stronger muscles burn more fat during aerobic and low-intensity activity, such as walking.
Leg Pulling
Leg pulling exercises that hyperextend your hips condition your hamstrings, which is the group of muscles that forms the back of your thighs. Standing upright extends your hips by straightening the hip joint, whereas hyperextensions continue increasing the angle of the hip joint as your thigh moves further back away from your abdomen.
Common daily activities that hyperextend your hips include walking and running. In a November 2009 "Testosterone Magazine" article, strength and conditioning specialist Brett Contreras reported that the best exercises for your hamstrings include hip hyperextension movements that keep your hamstrings contracted, such as back extensions and reverse hyperextensions.
References
- Bodybuilding.com; Core Performance; Don Alessi
- Bodybuilding.com; Destroy Your Love Handles to Reveal Killer Abs; Ben Carpenter
- Bodybuilding.com; The Implications of Cortisol Release; David Robson
- Bodybuilding.com; 4 Key Tips To Boost Your Testosterone Levels; Shannon Clark
- T-Nation; Inside the Muscles: Best Ab Exercises; Bret Contreras; May 2010
- T-Nation; 12 Hamstring Exercises for Hardasses; Bret Contreras; November 2009
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