Inner Thighs??

[Metalbabe]

I started working out two months ago mainly because I want to tone up my legs. Anyway, my current routine consists of calve raises, squats, deadlifts, leg extensions, and leg presses. I do a total of 16 sets and about 15-20 reps per set 3-4 times a week. I also changed my diet up a bit since I've started working out so that I only eat foods high in carbs in the morning and early afternoon and mainly protein at night. I've been seeing results on my quads and lower leg region but my inner thighs still need some work.

 

http://myspace-728.vo.llnwd.net/00524/82/78/524648728_l.jpg

 

What workouts do you guys suggest I do to shape up my thighs some more? They've been bugging me for a long while now....they look better than they did two months ago but I still have a long way to go. If anyone can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it!! Also, if you guys have any diet recommendations, please let me know!

[bronco]

I'm not sure what you mean by toning up. If you mean loosing a bit of fat, leg exercises has little to do with it, cardio and diet is what's needed for that. If you also mean gaining a bit of muscle, I think you should alter your training a bit, see below.

Anyway, my current routine consists of calve raises, squats, deadlifts, leg extensions, and leg presses. I do a total of 16 sets and about 15-20 reps per set 3-4 times a week.

I would say you got a pretty good set of exercises there, but I think its a bit unbalanced between the front and the back of the legs. I would ditch the legextensions and put in something specific for the hamstrings instead, like stiff legged deadlifts, legcurls or Glute-hamraises. Also you could probably ditch the legpresses and concentrate on squatting.

Another thing is I think you might be training too light.16 sets 3-4 times a week is very high volume, I think you should train harder and lower the volume by either only training the legs once a week or lower the amount of sets each time.

 

I also changed my diet up a bit since I've started working out so that I only eat foods high in carbs in the morning and early afternoon and mainly protein at night.

I wouldnt bother eating different kinds of food in different times a day cause I dont think it makes very much difference.

 

good luck witht the training .

[bronco]

Oh, I forgot, I would also suggest lowering the reps to something in the 6-12 range. I dont think very high reps is very usefull for building muscle, and not at all usefull for strength.

[Richard]

At some gyms they have a machine specifically for the inner thigh. I have forgotten what it's called. But it's a seat that you sit in with your legs apart, with pads on the inside of your thighs, then you pull your legs together against resistance.

[AdrienneP]

At some gyms they have a machine specifically for the inner thigh. I have forgotten what it's called. But it's a seat that you sit in with your legs apart, with pads on the inside of your thighs, then you pull your legs together against resistance.

 

That's a useless machine. Any compound exercise is enough to hit these (squats, lunges, deadlifts)

 

Your exercises look good. What rep ranges are you working in? Are you doing straight-leg deadlifts? Make sure you are changing the exercises up often enough so your body doesn't get used to the same thing. You also want to incorporate lunges. There are whole slew of different kinds of lunges, so you have plenty of variety and they are GREAT for your legs and core.

 

"Toning up" means gaining muscle while losing fat. Diet is essential to both. You can work out until you can't walk anymore, but if your diet is off, you won't see the kind of results you want.

 

~ Adrienne

[Metalbabe]

I'm not sure what you mean by toning up. If you mean loosing a bit of fat, leg exercises has little to do with it, cardio and diet is what's needed for that. If you also mean gaining a bit of muscle, I think you should alter your training a bit, see below.

Anyway, my current routine consists of calve raises, squats, deadlifts, leg extensions, and leg presses. I do a total of 16 sets and about 15-20 reps per set 3-4 times a week.

I would say you got a pretty good set of exercises there, but I think its a bit unbalanced between the front and the back of the legs. I would ditch the legextensions and put in something specific for the hamstrings instead, like stiff legged deadlifts, legcurls or Glute-hamraises. Also you could probably ditch the legpresses and concentrate on squatting.

Another thing is I think you might be training too light.16 sets 3-4 times a week is very high volume, I think you should train harder and lower the volume by either only training the legs once a week or lower the amount of sets each time.

 

I also changed my diet up a bit since I've started working out so that I only eat foods high in carbs in the morning and early afternoon and mainly protein at night.

I wouldnt bother eating different kinds of food in different times a day cause I dont think it makes very much difference.

 

good luck witht the training .

 

Before changing my routine up a bit last week, I worked out about once or twice a week because my workout was more intense and I needed several days (sometimes even a week) to recover. I did the same amount of sets and reps I'm doing now, however, I used more weights and I did each workout 4 times in a row consecutively (i.e. 4 sets of squats, then 4 sets of calve raises, etc) and now I do one set of each workout after another until I do each one a total of four times by the end of my workout (i.e. 1 set of squats, then 1 set of calve raises, then 1 set of leg extensions, and finally 1 set of deadlifts -- I follow this pattern a total of 4 times). I also put more emphasis on cardio now...I do cardio for about 15-20 before I workout. So do you think I should go back to my old routine and lower my reps a bit?

 

Your exercises look good. What rep ranges are you working in? Are you doing straight-leg deadlifts? Make sure you are changing the exercises up often enough so your body doesn't get used to the same thing. You also want to incorporate lunges. There are whole slew of different kinds of lunges, so you have plenty of variety and they are GREAT for your legs and core.

 

I currently do about 15-20 reps. And yes, I do straight-leg deadlifts. I read somewhere that if I spread my legs a little more apart while doing squats, it's going to put more emphasis on my thighs...is this true? I'm going to try this out today when I workout. And also, one of my friends told me that the efficacy of lunges are pretty weak...I don't know if that's true or not but it has prevented me from trying it.

 

Great tips so far....thanks guys. I'll look into them a little more......and see what I can do.

[Metalbabe]

"Toning up" means gaining muscle while losing fat. Diet is essential to both. You can work out until you can't walk anymore, but if your diet is off, you won't see the kind of results you want.

 

So do you think it will be wise for me to continue eating carbs in the morning and mainly protein at night? Or do you any other suggestions, diet-wise?

[FormicaLinoleum]

I read somewhere that if I spread my legs a little more apart while doing squats, it's going to put more emphasis on my thighs...is this true?

I have heard this as well. I think narrower stance squats work the quads more, and the wider the stance the more it is going to work the inner thighs as well. You could try mixing it up, sometimes doing a narrower stance and sometimes a wider one.

[AdrienneP]

I read somewhere that if I spread my legs a little more apart while doing squats, it's going to put more emphasis on my thighs...is this true? I'm going to try this out today when I workout. And also, one of my friends told me that the efficacy of lunges are pretty weak...I don't know if that's true or not but it has prevented me from trying it.

 

Yes, that is true. Wide-stance lunges will work your inner legs, mid-stance will work both sides equally, and close-stance will work the outer area.

 

Lunges are awesome. I don't know who told you that (was it a guy? - no offense), but they are missing out. They require more balance than squats, and therefore, they are extremely beneficial in strengthening your core. They are great for quads, inner and outer thighs, hammys and glutes.

 

Also, if you are not an easy-gainer in the muscle department, I would suggest lowering your rep ranges.

 

So do you think it will be wise for me to continue eating carbs in the morning and mainly protein at night? Or do you any other suggestions, diet-wise?

 

This works well if you work out in the morning. You need the most carbs before and after your workout.

 

~ Adrienne

[Shelby]

You can also try changing the position of your feet when doing leg presses. By having your feet wider than shoulder width and toes pointed slightly outwards, u will target your inner thighs more.

-Also, try Lateral Lunges (to target your Adductors more, put one leg on a bench or BOSU).

-The Adductor Machine works well too.

-You can also do Body-Bar Adductor Leg Lifts.

-My favorite is the Adductor Weight Plate Shuffle. Put a weight plate on the floor and scoot it along with the inside of your right foot. Do 10-12 reps and switch legs. You can also do this with the outside of your foot to work your Abductors (outer thighs).

 

Hope this helps!

[bronco]

Before changing my routine up a bit last week, I worked out about once or twice a week because my workout was more intense and I needed several days (sometimes even a week) to recover. I did the same amount of sets and reps I'm doing now, however, I used more weights and I did each workout 4 times in a row consecutively (i.e. 4 sets of squats, then 4 sets of calve raises, etc) and now I do one set of each workout after another until I do each one a total of four times by the end of my workout (i.e. 1 set of squats, then 1 set of calve raises, then 1 set of leg extensions, and finally 1 set of deadlifts -- I follow this pattern a total of 4 times). I also put more emphasis on cardio now...I do cardio for about 15-20 before I workout. So do you think I should go back to my old routine and lower my reps a bit?

Well, in my opinion it makes no sense to keep the number of sets and reps but lower the intensity to be able to work out more often. So I would say either go back to something like your old routine or reduce the amount of sets to about 3 pers muscle group, but make them heavy. And yes I think you should lower the reps, I think for most people it doesnt make much sense to be above 12 reps. And if nothing else its deadly boring with those kind of reps is it not ?

 

I read somewhere that if I spread my legs a little more apart while doing squats, it's going to put more emphasis on my thighs...is this true? I'm going to try this out today when I workout.

Narrower stance puts more emphasis on the quads, while with a wider, more of a powerlifting stance the hams are hit harder. I wouldnt bother using difference tances to hit the legs a little different though, might as well stick to the stance you feel more comfortable with. But of course variation doesnt hurt either .

 

And also, one of my friends told me that the efficacy of lunges are pretty weak...I don't know if that's true or not but it has prevented me from trying it.

I think they are good.

[bronco]

Double post

Edited March 18, 2006 by bronco

[bronco]

Triple post

Edited March 18, 2006 by bronco

[Kathryn]

Definitely do lunges. In some ways, they are more effective than squats because, as Adrienne noted, they require more balance, thus more work for the stabilizing mucles (and the inner thighs work primarily as stabilizers for the lower body).

 

One legged squats of various kinds (with the non-working leg either held bent behind you or in front of you; or just the tippy toe of the non-working leg touching the ground for a bit of balance help; or the non-working leg on a paper plate--on carpet--or rag--on wooden floors or linoleum--or on a stability ball, squating down with weight on the working leg, then moving the other leg out at 10 or 2"o'clock, depending on which leg you are working, working up to doing the 'in-out' move while you are lowering and lifting ) also work the entire leg well, and call on the stabilizing ability of the inner thigh muscles as welll as others.

 

I've recently heard that to work on 'flabby inner thighs," it's better to concentrate on hamstring and glute exercises than on inner thigh isolation moves. Don't know how true that is, though.

[Guest]

I do cardio for about 15-20 before I workout.

 

If you're trying to build muscle, you should probably do your cardio after your weight workout, so you have more energy to expend on the weights. You might want to do a 5 minute warmup before lifting, and then finish off with 20 minutes or so.

 

And yes, I do straight-leg deadlifts.

 

These should be "stiff-legged", not "straight-legged". Make sure you're bending your knees slightly. This will take undue strain off your lower back.

 

I read somewhere that if I spread my legs a little more apart while doing squats, it's going to put more emphasis on my thighs...is this true?

 

A wider stance on squats is going to put more emphasis on your posterior chain--i.e. your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings, and take the emphasis off your quads. Whatever stance you use, make sure your feet are in line with your knees (generally this means your feet will be pointed out slightly). This will prevent any knee problems.