Me, Myself, and Thigh

As I mentioned before, I've been stuck in a bit of a rut for the past 7 months, as far as my weight goes. I've made a little progress in my inches since that time, but I'm stuck. And I realized that it's because I don't have a quantifiable goal. My goal had been to get to 170-175, which was where I was pre-JuJu, and I've done that (a couple times-argh!). So last night I decided to focus on one number and work every day on that.

I selected my thighs. I've never paid much attention to my thighs, and I don't even know what number to aim for, but I can see that they have some room for improvement (to put it nicely). ☺

Every day, I will do these exercises morning and night:

MUSCLE GROUP: OUTER THIGH

Lying Abduction:

Lie on your side with your hips stacked one on top of the other, head resting on your arm or propped up on your hand. Take legs about 45 degrees in front of you for balance. Lift the top leg off the bottom leg about an inch. Hold it parallel and flex the foot (toes pointed forward, not up.) Slowly raise and lower the top leg without touching the other leg between repetitions. Do 10-15 repetitions, being careful not to rock forward or back off your stacked hip position. Alternate legs and repeat.

MUSCLE GROUP: INNER THIGH

Lying Adduction:

Lie on your side and bring your top leg in front of the bottom leg. Bring the front foot up towards your thigh and rest your foot on the floor just above your knee -- toes pointing forward. Raise your bottom foot about 1 inch off the floor. Slowly raise your bottom foot up as much as comfortable, keeping a slight bend in your leg. Hold for 2-4 counts and slowly lower back to starting position. Complete 10-15 repetitions.

source: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52449&page=2

All of the other information I found about toning thighs I do at my Body Pump class: squats, lunges, and deadlifts.

I've been doing the Body Pump class usually twice a week, and step aerobics once or twice a week. My goal is to get two days of aerobics every week, and increase the weight I'm using for squats in Body Pump.

One site I was looking at stressed the importance of burning fat (aerobic exercise and eating well) + toning legs (strength training). Otherwise, your nicely sculpted muscles are hidden under a layer of fat. Seriously. Just ask my waist.

As for a thigh number, that's a hard one. I'll measure once a week, which gives me more incentive to keep up with my goals. I'll aim for half an inch loss (measured at the widest part of my thigh) for now.