
SandyDown
|
Inner thighsI know some women have a problem with toning inner thighs, and am one of those
I've been doing full squats ( around 60 reps 3-4 times a week) callanatics movements for my upper arms and sides, walk/sprint around 2 times a week... I can see the difference in my body every where apart from my inner thighs - my upper body looks really tight, back of the thighs and Glutes look very good - quads feel hard, same for outer thighs, my quads look better towards the outer region than the inner region, the inner region is taken over my squishy inner thighs... I looked all over the net for an inner thigh exercise, but didn't find anything that is effective ( from reviews the adductor abductor machines are useless and don't work), well as callanetics worked well for my upper arms am going to try her squeezing inner thighs movement - but if anyone else knows of an effective inner thigh exercise please let me know.
Thanks
|
ReddyMcMeaty
|
It's going to boil down to fat loss and skin tightness. You can make the muscle there bigger, or other muscles around your leg bigger and that will tighten the skin a bit. Time will tighten the skin. Are you actively losing fat at the moment? I always found that when I was losing fat the inner thigh would get really flabby and worse looking, as the fat softened and was released, and then after a while it would tighten up again. Whenever I lose fat from a certain area it gets very bumpy and jiggly and not so nice looking for a while.
|
Carnation
|
My inner thighs are a mess from having lost so much weight, total deflated bag syndrome! Sometimes for inner thighs, I sit on a bench, put a kid's ball between my knees, and squeeze. Also, and this is very Jane Fonda, but when you lay down on your side, top leg bent with foot on the floor, and lift bottom leg. I usually do this with a 5 lb. ankle weight.
|
barb0324
|
Bouncing on a rebounder seems to help tighten everything up a bit ... but sadly, I think it's mostly genetics, there is only so much tightening you can do if you have flabby skin there... and age is a big factor, collagen etc. as a plastic surgeon assured me of last week.
But losing fat, as has been said, will be the first step... I also do the exercise Carni mentioned. I still do a lot of Jane Fonda exercises, esp. for arms and legs. Can't beat those ... just look at her at 70!
|
ReddyMcMeaty
|
Dry brushing helps with skin, but like I said, if there is fat under the skin and it's loose jiggly fat instead of firm fat it's going to look squashy no matter what.
|
SandyDown
|
I asked the question on the callanetic challenge thread on LCF ... it seems someone else already asked it and here is the answer:
| Quote: |
SANDRA (Sandra is Callanetics instructor):
I'm not sure what DVD you're using. However, when you do the pelvic scoops (both are on 10/10 and Evolution) try to add some pelvic floor pulses.
So, when you've curled up from the base of the behind, before scooping back up hold the position; tighten your pelvic floor muscles as deep as you can, stay stretched up through crown and pulse deeper and deeper into the pelvic floor up to 10 times. Scoop back up to start position and repeat.
We tighten the pelvic floor by squeezing the muscles between the sit bones - this draws the sit bones closer together. YOu will feel the base of the behind gently tighten.
Keep the upper part of your behind relaxed along with the lower back (very important).
And don't collapse down in to the pelvis - the more you stretch up the deeper you will the muscles toning in the inner thighs as well as the whole thigh area.
So, by adding more pelvic floor pulses you will be working deeper in the inner thighs and in no time you will start to see a space at the top of the inside leg.
I hopes this makes sense for you if not - tell me and I'll try to explain it differently.
Please make sure that when you do this you are not contracting or tightening the lower back muscles. As with every exercise, if you feel this in your lower back - STOP!
|
|
SandyDown
|
OMG - I just tried what Sandra suggested... its an iffing iffing killer exercise .... but I do feel in in my inner thighs..
|
SandyDown
|
oh and forgot to add, am not extra fatty in my legs, they slimmed well, and its not really flappy skin (lucky) but its squishy and some areas are a bit of a jelly like - as I said as I've been doing other exercises, some how my Hams/quads are so toned, hence the inner thighs look really out of place there
Will report on improvements - usually Callanatecs work quite fast within a 2-3 weeks
|
Viking Dan
|
If you have an exercise band, tie one end to your doorknob, the other to your ankle and just rotate your leg inward. Stand further away to increase resistance.
Cheap and simple.
|
meatythang
|
I know most women are afraid of heavy weight but umm 60 reps? isn't that a little counter productive, Id say lift heavy to build up the muscle, nothing beats heavy squats,romanian DL's,lunges etc
|
ReddyMcMeaty
|
| meatythang wrote: | | umm 60 reps? isn't that a little counter productive... |
Maybe not.
http://www.t-nation.com/article/b...things_that_drive_me_nuts&cr=
The relevant part:
.....I will say again, and you will see me say this repeatedly in articles, "Heavy is not how much is on the bar; Heavy is how much stress a muscle is under."
The former is an external queue that has no meaning in and of itself. The latter is an internal performance indicator that bears fruit short and long term. As experts and trainees we need to stop being so one dimensional in our thinking.
The second problem with this assumption is that somehow people then equate load with intensity. In other words, I get letters where people "assume" they're training hardbecause they're training with heavy loads.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. And there's also an expert bias that "strength training" is CNS training; hypertrophy training is myofibril training; and conditioning training is metabolic.
These are only categories of reference and they're not mutually exclusive. There exists this bias that high volume training is somehow lower intensity. Untrue.
Workload capacity can be improved to a point where tremendous volumes can be handled at high intensities. Once again, these need not be mutually exclusive, and to think that way is to misrepresent research and decades of real life, in-the-trenches experience.
Case in point: Eric Heiden.
I always use this example when doing seminars for people interested in Hypertrophy Training. Eric Heiden was a very special athlete. He won multiple gold medals for the US in speed skating. He also accomplished what most exercise physiologists would say is impossible. He won Gold in all the sprint events and the endurance events as well; kind of like winning a marathon and the 100-meter sprint in the same Olympics.
What he accomplished was truly spectacular. Eric's physique was also well known. At about 185 lbs he had 28-inch thighs at a time when no one even in bodybuilding could come close. The sweep on his thighs was just incredible and something any bodybuilder would kill to have. Because Eric was training for speed, power, and endurance, he developed a very unique training style that's been ignored to this day, I think merely because it's so hard, and goes against the grain of thought, that heavy is a matter of load only.
Twenty-eight inch thighs.
Eric was known for what I call ultra heavy training. Remember that I said earlier that heavy is not how much load is on the bar, but rather how much stress the muscle is under. Eric was known to do leg presses with 500lbs. No big deal. However, Eric did sets of 100s reps with 500lbs!
Now that's heavy, if you understand load, overload, and time under tension in an explosive sense, and not with this crazy tempo interpretation of such.
Eric was also known to squat 205 pounds, butt to heels...for 300 reps. His leg size, shape, density, and sweep were what every bodybuilder dreams of. Yet no one trains like this because they equate "heavy" with load, rather than stress.
The only guy that came close to adapting that kind of training for legs was Tom Platz, and I guess he didn't train heavy either, since he didn't do low rep percent max's near his absolute strength base.
I trained at home all summer and I did sets of squats with only a "Bodyblade" behind my neck for 5 sets of 100 reps, and then single leg BW lunges for 4 sets of 50 reps.
That was the beginning of my leg workout every other workout — no weights, and my legs have never been better.
|
Carnation
|
Eric stayed at my house one time when I was a little girl. He braided my hair!
|
ReddyMcMeaty
|
hot
|
adwred
|
What? Weird! And cool.
|
Carnation
|
And I do remember his thighs! My uncles (who were cyclists and lived with us at the time) were friends with him, as well as the old 7-Eleven (any cycling fans out there) team, who also stayed with us. This was in the 70's, but I distinctly recall those guys eating raw hamburger!
|
meatythang
|
[quote="ReddyMcMeaty"] | meatythang wrote: | | umm 60 reps? isn't that a little counter productive... |
Maybe not.
http://www.t-nation.com/article/b...things_that_drive_me_nuts&cr=
hey im not saying its not functional, and for crying out loud hes a speed skater, which is anabolic like sprinting, which is also good aka HITT... i just think that if youve been doing 60 reps for awhile you should switch it up, the body adapts so quickly and heavy weights are fun!
mmm Eric Heiden, i lovest me some man thighs
oo and ps he has a book coming out soon
http://www.harpercollins.com/book...Faster_Better_Stronger/index.aspx
|
|
|
|