lower body toning

[brownpiggies]

can anyone give me tips how to tone and get rid of all those fats at the thigh, hips, butt area ??

[froggie]

Hi Brownpiggies,

General fat loss in hips, thighs and butt would occur when you lose weight (more weight loss correlates to more fat loss).

To lose weight, consume less and engage in more activity to burn more calories.

More specifically to lose fat and tone up, you can try aerobic exercises like jogging, skipping, brisk walking, swimming, or even taking up dance classes for at least 30min daily. Try to eg jog at a comfortable pace ie you don't get out of breath until you feel your breathing ease up, then maintain this pace for 20-30min. Aerobic exercises help to increase your metabolic rate which in turn helps burn fat faster. Even activities like walking the stairs or the escalator at the shopping mall count!

This probably sounds like a lot of work, but you can try it once every week to get into the momentum of things, or do it at 10min intervals during the day (provided you reach your targeted heart rate). Once you get the hang of it and like more challenge, increase your exercise intensity (eg slow jog instead of walking) gradually or you can up your exercise to twice or thrice a week. Yup and vary your routine so you won't get bored (eg jog at different parks, or do short distance sprints, or alternate swimming with jogging). Good idea to get friends along too.

I have big thighs and hips too. Found jogging and swimming extremely beneficial. When I first started jogging, I couldnt complete a slope and had to resort to walking and panting halfway up. But in a month I was able to conquer the slope and even run up twice. Set specific goals for yourself (eg jog 15min today), and don't be too hard on yourself (ie jog slowly for 15min daily until you feel you're comfortable to extend it to 30min). I never did any skipping (not since primary school) not till recently when I picked up the rope again. Took me a week before I could skip for 1min WITHOUT getting my foot stuck in the rope, but I was pleased with myself for lasting 1min haha.

In addition to aerobic exercises, you can also try squats and lunges. These exercises specifically target your lower body, esp thighs and butt. Be prepared if they're sore the next day.

So there you go, hope this info is helpful to you. Try to work with gradual increases rather than a sudden big jump in routine and basically give yourself time to get used to your new lifestyle. People generally tend to stick with 'easy-to-do' exercises long term rather than a big long 1hour daily exercise routine. Over a few weeks you should be able to see some visible fat loss, no joke; for me I was happy to get slimmer thighs and toned calves so it's motivated me to keep up with my exercise. Good luck!

[prana]

Double-pronged strategy: (1) Cardio-vascular activity for general weight loss (2) Spot reduction by specific exercises working the muscles in HTB area

(1) Walking, running, swimming, cycling, skipping, anything that gets/keeps you moving will get your heart/lungs working (thus CARDIO and VASCULAR) This in turn should increase your METABOLIC rate i.e. the rate at which your body burns calories. To do this effetively, a rough guide is to keep moving for about 30-45 mins with minimal rest. Always start with warm up & finish with cool down. 5-10 mins of walking & stretching, following by 20-30 mins of activity, then slow walking to cool down & stretching again.

(2) SPOT TONING: A huge range of exercises can be done for HTB area. Good examples are squats and lunges. also when lying on your side, do side leg lifts. Lying on your front, lift 1 leg at a time as high as you can while keeping your shoulders flat on the floor. Watch your posture as you don't want to hurt your back or knees.

How many should you do? Work out in *sets*. Start with maybe 3 sets of 10 times per set. That's for EACH exercise. As you get fitter increase the repetitions per set ... and/or increase the no. of sets.

Also warm up before your exercises. So 10 mins of stretching & light walking/moving before you start.

So some days just do the cardio vascular... other days just warm up & toning exercises ... on those days you have more time, do a longer routine i.e. warm up 10 mins, maybe 20mins of toning exercises, 20 mins of walking/jogging, end with 10mins slow walk & stretching.

[Prochy]

Sorry, there's nothing like spot fat reduction ...