Muscles that layer the inner and outer thighs, giving your legs shape from a frontal or posterior view, include the adductor longus, magnus and brevis. These muscles are responsible for pulling the leg towards and/or away from the medial (central) line of the body. Strengthening these muscles, as well as the hamstring and quadraceps muscles, helps to define and tighten the lower body. Your legs are stronger than your arms, thus slower to fatigue and develop. Variety is a key component to achieving optimum results. Using workout DVDs is one method for exhausting muscles of the lower body.
Blended Workouts
New, popular workout DVDs blend the best of yoga, dance and Pilates for maximum effectiveness and variety. Kari Anderson's "Reach" DVD is starts with dance-inspired standing toning moves, which flow smoothly from one exercise to the next. The routines are graceful, like ballet, but also intense, with hardcore body sculpting for an effective overall workout focusing on the legs and core muscles.
"Attitude Ballet and Pilates Fusion" blends ballet, Pilates and yoga with traditional weight training exercises. It is an elegant workout that begins with authentic "barrework" (adapted for in-home use), followed by toning routines that include classic lunges. You'll finish with a Pilates matwork routine. You will need a handheld heavy ball for this workout.
Great Weighted Workouts
"Cathe Friedrich's Gym Style-Legs" is an ultra-challenging, totally leg focused workout. It includes a variety of classic standing routines (changing your position slightly works different muscles) followed by floorwork (such as pulsed adductor/abductor exercises using a band). The cuing is clear and motivating. You'll need barbells, a stability ball, a 6-foot Dyna-Band, dumbbells and a tall step.
"Tamilee's Tighter Assets Weight Loss" is a quick, 30-minute all standing lower body workout. This quick moving workout offers some cardiovascular benefits to maximize muscle-building and fat loss. Sample exercises from this DVD include dumbbell-weighted lunges and pliés combined with dumbbell curls and upright rows. An intense abdominal series completes this workout.
Little Pulses Equal Big Results
Think you have to do squats and lunges to achieve results? While those are great exercises, they are only the tip of the iceberg. "Squeeze with Tracy Effinger" incorporates a variety of standing and floor exercises to tone the lower body. She uses short pulses and static squeezes (pulsed, short-range-of-motion squats or squeezing a ball between your knees to work the inner thighs) for maximum intensity and effectiveness. It is a well-structured, complete workout.
"Exhale: Core Fusion Thighs and Glutes" combines five 10-minute lower body workouts that also use precise, very controlled pulsing movements to work the deepest muscles (one exercise per 10-minute segment). The short pulses and precise body positions are interspersed with routine stretches to lengthen the muscles between sets.
References
- National Academy of Sports Medicine Essentials of Personal Fitness Training, 3rd ed; Michael Clark, Scott Lucett and Rodney Corn; 2008
- "Shape Magazine"; DVD of the Month: 10 Minutes to a Toned Tush; M. Stephenson; Aug 2009
- Amazon.com; Workout DVDs and Reviews
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