Does Jogging Tone the Legs & Butt?

Does Jogging Tone the Legs & Butt?
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If you're feeling a bounce in your backside or your legs are rubbing together when you walk, it is time to lace up and hit the pavement. Jogging can help tighten and tone your legs and butt because the high-impact exercise scorches calories while also increasing your lean muscle mass. Jog five to six days a week to begin to fit better into your skinny jeans.

Jogging

Jogging is a full-body exercise that helps promote fat loss from your entire body, including your legs and butt. During your jog you engage your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and upper body. Since jogging is also a weight-bearing exercise, your lean muscle mass increases. The more lean muscle you have, the more efficiently your body can burn calories during exercise and at rest.

Shape

The shape of your thighs and butt is determined by genetics, exercise pattern and your diet. Genetically, you may carry more weight in your thighs and glutes, while others may carry it in their stomach. However, you can change the composition of your thighs and butt with your exercise routine. Your thighs and butt are made up of lean muscle, fat and tissue. Jogging can increase your lean muscles and decrease your body fat because its high-calorie burn helps to slim down your lower body.

Fat

Jogging helps to reduce the amount of fat you have on your body, including your leg and butt fat. Jogging's high-calorie-burning effect helps promote loss of subcutaneous fat, which is the fat that lies just underneath the skin. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a 160 lb person burns 584 calories jogging at a 5 mph pace for one hour. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests aerobic training most days of the week for an hour to promote fat loss.

Get A Leg Up

You can tone your thighs and glutes faster with interval training. Interval training burns more fat and calories than traditional cardio training because it uses both the aerobic and the anaerobic energy systems. You can interval train during your jogs by working at a high intensity for 30 seconds followed by a moderate jog. Repeat your intervals to promote a high-calorie burn. Running uphill also helps to tone the legs and butt because the greater effort burns more calories.

References

Article reviewed by Alison Gaynor Last updated on: Aug 25, 2011

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