I don't belong to a gym, and I don't have a huge workout machine at home. I'm doing cardio (treadmill) for about 25 minutes/day, 4-5 times a week, and I'm on a reduced cal diet - trying to eat a "proper" balance of foods. I want to work my legs a little more to tone up. I bought a set of ankle weights (5 lbs each weight) in hopes they would help me to work my legs - specifically my upper legs (hamstrings, quads, inner/outer thighs). Is this realistic? Will simple little ankle weights help at all or am I wasting my time and $$$? I'm going to try to use them 3-4 times per week, doing various exercises to work these areas? Any thoughts?
Using any resistance will help to tone your muscles as well as to burn more calories. There are plenty of things you can do with the ankle weights and even just body weight to tone up your thighs, legs and rear (i.e. raises, lunges, squats etc). How long have you been working this regimen?
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
I've been doing the treadmill/cardio for about 3 months now. Just bought the ankle weights yesterday and used them last night. The treadmill has helped to tone up my legs - but I still need a little help with the upper leg area and butt.
Chances are that it is going to just be a matter of continuing fat loss as that is where women tend to carry fat (first place it goes on, last place it comes off). As you get leaner, that muscle tone will become more pronounced.
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
When you're on the treadmill are you running or just walking. 'Spot reduction' is an exercise myth that died in the 90s - so to reduce your thighs you're just going to have to go for overall loss. Though you CAN spot tone.
Any additional weight will add resistance and make you work harder. When I do lunges I hold two, 10lb weights and i definately work harder because of it.
Also, I don't think twenty minutes is enough - you must do at least 40 minutes of cardio to get your heart pumping (60% more or something like that) You have to be absolutely sweating and panting if you want to see a difference. I see people (esp women) in the gym ALL the time walking on the treadmill or just doing a light job and not even sweating and wonder why they waste their time.
When you're working out ask yourself, 'on a scale of 1 to 10, how much effort am i putting in?' As long as you're young with no medical conditions, theres no reason NOT to push yourself. Think about all those people who join the miliary and are forced to run, climb, lift etc - but how often do you hear about people having a heart attack in boot camp??!! None!!
When i first starting working out seriously with cardio I could literally only run for 3 minutes before I felt absolutely exhausted. The problem was twofold. One, i was not breathing properly -in fact I was often HOLDING my breath!!! So, I made a concerted effort to breath - suck in air, blow it out (obviously and loudly) After doing this, i could then do 20 minutes instead of 3.
Two, psychologically is difficult to exert yourself; you feel your heart pounding, you feel tired etc and you feel like you 'ought' to rest. But, try and distract your mind from thinking about your exertion - cover up the treadmill counter (nothing worse than watching...1 minute....2 minutes...) also, get yourself some uptempo music to listen to through a walkman. Also, aim for 3-6 miles per hour - forget the gentle trot (unless you're already in shape)
So, my suggestion is MORE EFFORT!!! Believe me I HATE working out, but if I'm not absolutely panting when I'm done, that just a waste of 1 hour.
Also, try rollerblading/rollarskating - thats REALLY good for legs and its a great cardio workout too.
