When it comes to the best thigh exercises, you see a lot of ads promoting all of these fancy so-called thigh-toning machines, and inner-thigh blasters, and thigh squeezers, and so on. Trust me when I say that you don’t need any of these silly “thigh-blasting” machines to tighten and tone-up your legs and butt for good.
As always, the best exercises for the thighs come in the form of free-weight or bodyweight exercises. You really need not look any further than various forms of exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts to get those sexy tight thighs that you desire. Also, there are dozens of variations of these basic exercises that you can choose from, so the truth is that you are really just wasting your time with all of these fancy thigh machines and inner-thigh gadgets.
Let me give you an example of one of the best thigh exercises you can do. I’m sure you’ve done some form of lunges before. There’s probably about a dozen different variations you can do and they all kick butt!
One of my favorite variations of lunges are walking lunges. Instead of standing in place and either lunging forward or lunging backward one step and coming back, with walking lunges you keep moving forward on each step for a certain distance and then turn around and come back. Challenge yourself for more distance each time or start carrying dumbbells to increase the resistance. Walking lunges done right are a real thigh-burning exercise!
A couple pointers to keep in mind when doing walking lunges:
1) Step far enough forward so that your front shin stays approximately vertical and your front thigh is about parallel to the ground at the bottom of the step
2) The leg that is trailing you should have a bend in the knee at the bottom but your knee should just come short of touching the ground. Do not touch the back knee to the ground during these exercises.
3) Pause for a split second at the top of each step before lunging forward again.
Alright, now that you have the basic walking lunge down, let me give you a couple ideas for variations that change the emphasis just a bit for working the inner thighs, outer thighs, and butt in a slightly different manner.
One variation is that you can step at an angle outward on each step forward. Another variation is that you can step at a slight angle inward on each step forward. This inward stepping walking lunge is fairly unique and sometimes called a cross-over lunge. It really stretches out the butt and hips.
So go ahead and give these lunge variations a try and you’ll be tightening up those thighs in no time flat. Just say no to the fancy machines and use these classic bodyweight exercises and some free weights and you’ll be much better off.
Michael Geary (CPT) is a recognized International Fitness Expert, contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine, and author of the internationally-selling book, The Truth about Six-Pack Abs.
[wlsp_jvftbasecontentvaluablebanners]
