Download the BONUS Action Steps here
Action Steps for Reducing and Slimming the Lower Body
Action Steps for Adding Curves to the Lower Body
Action Steps for No Shape / Tree Trunk Legs – Adding Shape and Definition to the Lower Body
Download the BONUS Lower Body Exercises here
Go here to view Joey’s Ultimate Leg, Hip, Butt and Thigh Makeover Program
MANDY VFT
If it’s okay with you, Joey, because we’ve still got lots to cover and —
JOEY
Yeah, bring it on, let’s go.
MANDY VFT
Cool. We’re sort of going off in a bit of a different direction here, but I really want to cover these questions because these are specific questions in regards to shaping and defining the lower body that folk ask us at VFT and I want to make sure that — because I know that they’ll be listening to this, that I want them to know that we’ve covered this for them. We see in the media and curves are back and we get heaps and heaps of questions in regards to what to do to actually add curves to someone’s lower body. For example, if someone’s got like a flat butt and they want to lift and increase the size of their butt or they want to make their hips and legs more shapely and I was just wondering what — what are the key points that you would recommend for them to achieve this?
JOEY
Awesome. Awesome question. Okay, so let’s dissect this a little bit, okay?
MANDY VFT
I know there was a lot to that question there.
JOEY
Yeah, yeah. And again, you and I have to realize we have many, many different listeners, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
So on the surface most people will assume — and this is correct — that most listeners want to slim down and reduce their body, let alone their lower body, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Most people are overweight and they want to slim down and tighten up and tone up, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Well, that’s true. However, there’s another truth. There’s a certain percentage of the population, especially the population that follows us, that wants to add curves and some volume to certain parts of the lower body —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— they actually want to make them bigger, curvier, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And again, this doesn’t — age doesn’t matter.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
You still want that change. So most women who want to add curves to their lower body, they want to round out a flat butt, they want to increase and lift the curviness of their upper hips and thighs and their glutes. Most of the time that type of woman is not looking to slim down and lose weight.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay? She’s trying to add some kind of volume, some femininely curves, muscle tone, shapeliness, sculpt her lower body, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
The key points for that woman — is that she’s not going to do it with a change in her diet only.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
She’s not going to do it by taking certain pills. You’re not going to do it with certain garments that make your butt and hips and thighs look bigger and more toned and curvier when you’re wearing the garment.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Because when they come off, the truth is told.
MANDY VFT
And that’s it, it’s a whole different story.
JOEY
That’s it. When it’s time to get naked, you know, the jig is up, right? Whoever you’re with is going to see the truth, okay?
MANDY VFT
That’s it.
JOEY
So what these women need to realize is this is from doing specific exercises for that area of your body to make the muscles in that area develop in a way that allows them to take their full natural shape.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay? Now, most trainers and health clubs will tell you, oh, yeah, or you know, the machines we have and the way the exercises you do here are going to make your muscles the most they can be and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and that’s the generic presentation.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
But in reality that’s not the complete truth, okay? The truth is you do not need all these different weight machines for your lower body. You do not need to do all these different weight-lifting exercises for your lower body. What you need to do for your lower body — and this is all built on the physiological fact that our lower bodies, male and female, have over like 300 muscles in the lower body from the waist down.
JOEY
Yeah. So just take the lower body alone and you have over 300 different little muscles, specific muscles in the lower body. Okay. What this — what this becomes is a matter of synergistically stimulating those muscles in an organized way that allows them to develop properly to maintain and achieve their natural muscle density and strength so that the muscle is formed to its fullest without looking unnatural or freakish, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Because most — most women, even most guys, they’re not trying to be freaky bodybuilders or power lifters, right?
MANDY VFT
Right.
JOEY
You want to look fit, healthy and strong and sexy but you don’t want to look like a freak, okay? So if we back off these freakish workouts and crazy nutritional programs and diets and we come into the realm of how the average person just wants to look fit, healthy, strong and sexy for the average person and —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— living a realistic lifestyle and all you need to simply do is stimulate those muscle areas to develop to their own natural potential so that they’re strong, dense, shaped and firm and sculpted with minimal fat on the outside.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And that’s really all it comes down to.
MANDY VFT
On the opposite side of that or following on from that, we also receive plenty of inquiries from women, and men too, on how to reduce their butt and thighs. For example, they have participated in activities over the years that have bulked up their thighs or for example, they’re pear-shaped. Body fat tends to store more around the lower half of their body. With females wanting to make the most of their curves so they appear leaner, but still sleeker, shapely and sexy as well. And as you know, Joey, you’re saying on VFT’s blog, we get heaps of questions about this, you know, in the comments boxes and e-mails directly to me as well. So in your experience, what’s the absolute must-do’s that — you know, that we need to consider to accomplish this?
JOEY
Wow, where do we start? Oh my God.
JOEY
okay. So let’s take the woman who wants to reduce and slim down her lower body and make it, you know, firmly toned and shapely in the process.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Let’s take one likely improper path she might go down, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
She goes the mainstream average person health club gym, nutrition program route. All right. So she gets on the program and it has a gym routine and it’s a cardio machines, weights and this diet. You’re going to eat this many meals a day. You’re going to take, you know, protein supplements, shake and bars and this and that and she hangs with it for a couple weeks and you know, she’s getting stronger, she’s feeling more energy but the physical changes ain’t happening, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
She’s actually — she might even be gaining weight, getting a bit bigger even though she’s getting firmer, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
So what happens? All right, she starts to get discouraged. A month goes by, six weeks. You know, she’s not happy with changes that she’s getting compared to what she’s aiming for.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
So what could the problems be in that kind of program? Well, she could be doing too much, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
It’s very likely that she could be doing too much. She may not be need — she may not need to be doing all the lower body weights and machines and, you know, sets and reps that she’s doing and, you know, the cardio’s fine, but maybe she needs to cut down on all the other stuff and in the process be able to cut down on this prescribed nutritional intake that she’s been given now —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— along with the — along with the supplementation of protein and, you know, 15 or 20 grams three times a day on top of your normal proteins.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
You know, bottom line is for the average person, calories are calories. Not everybody is a competitive bodybuilder or a fitness competitor or power lifter.
JOEY
Right? So in essence, what they need to do is they need to find the proper synergy between what exercise types and volume they do in addition to the mixture of caloric intake they’re taking in on a daily basis — not every two hours, right? But on a daily basis overall, right?
JOEY
The truth is, the answers and the solutions are much simpler than what most people think or what they’re trying to be led to believe.
JOEY
There are trainers or consultants out there who genuinely try to get every single person that comes to them to eat completely 100 percent clean, right? And when I say clean, there are different definitions of that.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
But when I say clean, you and I know that trying to get them to eat like steamed chicken —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— steamed vegetables and like steamed brown rice.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— two times a day and their breakfast is four egg whites with oatmeal made with water and maybe some cinnamon added.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And you get to drink water and Crystal Light, okay?
MANDY VFT
Woo-hoo!
JOEY
And that’s not going to work.
JOEY
This is like real friggin’ life and we’re trying to get people to do things forever —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— not for three months.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
All right. So if something doesn’t feel realistic, if something doesn’t feel like you can do it for more than a few weeks and it feels more of a struggle as opposed to something natural that you can embrace after a while, then let your gut and your intuition lead you to the right answer. Okay —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— that wouldn’t be the right answer and it doesn’t mean that there’s not something that’s going to work for you out there. It means you just need to find a better variation of what is a good prescription for you that fits real life situations, short term and long.
MANDY VFT
Yeah. Well, I’m glad that we’ve covered diet because that was one of the questions. So we’ve knocked that on the head. So that’s awesome.
JOEY
Cool.
MANDY VFT
And now this is a really interesting question and I know that there are many women who struggle with this. But the e-mails are saying that they feel like it looks like they don’t have any knees or ankles. I’ll explain it better. Like their legs are thick and bulky and, you know, it starts right from the top of their thighs all the way down to their feet and so they find it really difficult to find a program that’s actually going to add any shape to their legs, you know what I mean? Because they’re just so straight up and down. And some women, their legs could be maybe thin — thinner and like that and other women they can be very bulky and like that from top to bottom. And I said —
JOEY
Right.
MANDY VFT
— I just wanted to know what advice that you can give to women who want to be able to add some shape and define their legs and thighs that are in that situation.
JOEY
This is an awesome question and I’ve got some deep insights into this, okay? Couple of reasons. One is that I have a brother and sister, right? So we’re three kids.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And I’m the oldest, my sister is the youngest. She and I are like four and a half years apart. My brother is in between us. She and I — we’ve both got like a lower body genetics from our mother, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
More or less. My brother, he got these lean-ass genetics and you can — there might be some pictures of him on Facebook in my Facebook profile.
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
But this SOB got these great genetics for his legs, lean, all out soccer player. My sister and I though, we got like these — these no-knee genetics, like your leg is — is just one big thing. There is really no knee and your ankles are going to be really thick and you’re going to have to work your asses off for having any kind of shape to your legs in terms —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— of your knee and ankle joints, all right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
So as a guy, no, it didn’t bother me too much, you know. Once I got into high school I was lifting weights and making my legs as stupidly big as possible and playing soccer. You know, my sister dealt with it as long as she could, went through all different types of workouts in her teen years and twenties. And I also dealt with clients over the years who — male and female — who have these — these are genetic issues.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
These aren’t like — these aren’t rare issues. This is like, this is your leg shape, this — these are how your joints are put together.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And this is how the overall shape of your lower body’s going to be in general.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Then that — the specific choices and decisions you make beyond that will — will define really specifically how your lower body looks when all is said and done.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay? I really hate — as a guy I hated my knees when I was young. Like my legs just looked like tree trunks.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
All right? Even though they were athletic and I can move and they were strong, I just didn’t — they were — they just didn’t have the proportion and symmetry I was looking for, especially I was getting more and more into body building in my teens and twenties.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
So what I realized was over the years a couple things affected how those aspects — those aspects of my lower body changed.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
When I got leaner, when it was time to compete and when my diet tightened up appropriately, I had awesome legs, like my legs looked phenomenal. I had nothing to complain about, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
The problems came when I was not relying on my training and diet to stay lean and right.
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
When I — and I would go off my proper eating and bulk up and pig out in the off season —
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
— I got — I got as thick as could be, right?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
All right. Now that combined with my natural genetics was a bad combination, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah, yep.
JOEY
All right. So fine, I’m a guy, big deal. This story with my sister, she had kind of — she had and has the same lower body genetics as me, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
She’s only like four-nine or ten. She’s tiny. She came and lived here this past summer for over two months and before that she and I had never worked out long term.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
When we were younger we worked out together here and there. We hit the gym together in our — when I was in my twenties and she was in her teens. She was in her twenties, I was in the late twenties, we hit the gym every now and again for a workout.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
But now I’m 40. She’s in her mid-30s. She lived here for over two months for the summer and everything we did was together, all right?
MANDY VFT
Yes.
JOEY
Everything — eat — we ate together, we performed workouts, the whole shebang. And now — so she’s following my stuff for over — almost three months.
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
And now this was unprovoked. She’s like, you’re not going to believe this but like I can’t believe myself but I have knees now. I can see my knees. Like my legs have like there’s definition and shape in my legs that I never had before. Like I can actually say that I don’t have these — I guess women call them kankles? Or big —
MANDY VFT
Yes, that’s it.
JOEY
She’s like, my kankles are like disappearing.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
She’s like, you know, 30 years in the making and this — I never thought this could happen.
MANDY VFT
Aw, that’s awesome.
JOEY
Yeah. It’s — again she — you know, she’s my sister, she’s done some of my stuff on and off, but she got — she’ll got full bore into it with me because that’s all we did here. When it was time to work out we worked out and we did all the stuff that I do and, you know, she — I held her to the repetition, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And the changes came and, you know, again, we didn’t hit, you know, 20 weight lifting machines and all these leg presses and hack squats and squat racks and all that. This was, you know, very specific lower body training all focused around body weight and movements, various angles using gravity. And you know, and here’s a woman with unfavorable lower body genetics who was able to see changes within a few months that she was never able to see any before.
MANDY VFT
Yeah. Oh, she would’ve been so impressed.
JOEY
Oh yeah.
MANDY VFT
So no doubt your sister thinks you’re like brother of the year.
JOEY
Absolutely. She knew it but now that — now there’s proof.
MANDY VFT
Yes. All that’s awesome and women that — and men too, you know, that are listening to this—I think that that will give them hope too because they’ve been floundering around for so long trying to find the — a solution and it hasn’t worked and I think that that’ll give them more confidence knowing that there is something that they can do to help.
JOEY
Beautiful. Love it.
MANDY VFT
Joey, I have another important question here for you. We receive a lot of e-mails from women after pregnancy telling us, you know, how much they’re struggling with their lower bodies and they’re pretty much overwhelmed with all the advice that they’re given and often it’s conflicting advice about how to get their lower bodies back on track. I know you have a lot of clients and inquiries too from women wanting instruction and guidance about this. What would you say or what are the most fundamental key components that women can focus on after pregnancy to slim and shape their legs, hips, butt and thighs?
JOEY
That’s an awesome question and the key about this question is this. We have in general two different groups that would be coming out of the pregnancy, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
And those two groups are one group who has not been exercising throughout their pregnancy.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And the other group who has, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay? So now those are two general groups. Inside those groups we have subgroups, but for lack of time and for some simplicity’s sake we’re going to just focus on these two general groups, one who has and one who has not been exercising, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
The group who has not been exercising who had this revelation during pregnancy and is ready to get into the proper program, it’s very simple. Number one, you get clearance from your specialist or OB/GYN to start exercising.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay. Number two, you choose a program that seems more realistic in terms of this new lifestyle you’re going to have.
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
Okay. Going from not being a mom to a mom is a big change.
MANDY VFT
Sure is.
JOEY
Right. And even if you had kids before who are older and now you’re going to have a newborn, it’s still a very different lifestyle.
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
All right. So you want something that’s going to fit your lifestyle and fortunately if you’re choosing one of my programs you’re going to be starting off on the right foot anyway, lucky you, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah, yeah.
JOEY
Let’s say you’re one of the women who has been exercising throughout pregnancy, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
After pregnancy you still have to get your OB/GYN’s clearance to exercise again.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
No matter what. And the key is you still have to take a progressively gradual approach to whatever it is you’re going to do.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay, because, you know, we don’t have to go too deep into this but pregnancy itself and the actual event of giving birth has many hormonal effects on the female body to allow that baby to come out of your body.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
Okay. So it’s joint, it’s muscular, hormonal, the stomach muscles, the pelvic region, the abdominal wall, you name it, the core. There’s a lot that has gone on there and there’s a lot that has to readjust over the next, you know, two to nine months again to get back into normal condition —
MANDY VFT
Yes.
JOEY
— for you to be able to take things to the next level. So even if you have been exercising your exercise program has probably been either naturally modified because of your instincts —
MANDY VFT
Yep.
JOEY
— or your OB/GYN has guided you to modify things to be more in tune and in line with what you’re capable of for each stage of your pregnancy.
MANDY VFT
Yes.
JOEY
All right? So when you’re cleared to exercise again after giving birth, you still have to take a conscious approach to what you’re going to start doing and how you’re going to go about progression with it, all right? It’s just that in general you may be at a slightly more advanced level than the woman who has not exercised throughout her pregnancy.
MANDY VFT
Yes.
JOEY
All right. That being said, both groups will still have some dissimilarity, okay? You’re a mom, you have a newborn, your day and your schedule is going to be very different, more challenging.
MANDY VFT
Yes.
JOEY
So you’re going to want to follow something that fits in to this new lifestyle —
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
— that allows you to be gradually progressive and allows you certain flexibility to plug in to your schedule when it’s allowed. [dog bark]
MANDY VFT
Sorry, that was my Labrador.
JOEY
So in terms of the pregnancy issue, women have to be mindful regardless of if you have been exercising or not, that they’ve just given birth.
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And their body has really — it’s — number one, it’s performed a miracle, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yep, that’s right.
JOEY
And number two — number two, it has to be treated very specially in terms of the comeback, okay?
MANDY VFT
Yeah.
JOEY
And so the woman — the mom needs to coordinate with the OB/GYN and her own instinct and intuition as to what she can and feels good doing over the next few weeks and months once she’s cleared to exercise.
MANDY VFT
Yeah, and I think —
JOEY
And at a certain point everything is gain. Once she gets to a certain level, you know, she can go all out.
MANDY VFT
Yep. You know, and I think it is tough because women do feel so much pressure to get back into shape very quickly, don’t they?
JOEY
They do. I mean, you know, it’s — again, there are many different types of women but relatively speaking no matter — no matter who she is, pregnancy always feels to them like they’re always worse off no matter where they started.
MANDY VFT
Yeah,
JOEY
And they want to get at least back to where they were and if not, into better shape as compared to right before pregnancy, so —
MANDY VFT
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah.
JOEY
Sometimes it’s a very — sometimes it’s a very healthy and good catalyst for a very good future which is very positive.
MANDY VFT
Yeah, that is. —
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