In between your 2-week ab challenge, why not sprinkle in a few leg days? We’re highlighting simple exercises you can do at home with only one piece of (optional) equipment needed. Each move focuses on toning your inner and outer thighs for strong and sculpted muscles. Learn the five-step routine and follow along in the tutorial video below.
The Routine:
Lateral Lunge to Leg Lift
Romanian Deadlift to Bent Leg Abduction
Squat and Cross-Body Heel Lift
Side Plank Leg Lift
Inner Thigh Lift
The Move: Lateral Lunge to Leg Lift
How to: To start this movement, make sure you are stepping out far enough in your lateral lunge to sit in a complete squat for the bending leg. Sit back into your heel and engage your core as you sit into your lateral lunge. Push out of the lateral lunge, and as you get back upright with a straight leg, flex your leg and engage your glute to lift your heel to the sky. Quality reps are more important than speed, so make sure you feel your muscles working for you in each phase of this compound movement! To modify this exercise, perform a squat instead of a lateral lunge.
The Move: Romanian Deadlift to Bent Leg Abduction
How to: Grab your dumbbells for this combo movement! Slightly bend your knees, draw your core in, and make sure your back is strong and engaged before starting this movement. Hinge your hips backward and stagger or lift one leg to isolate the front leg’s glute and hamstring. Engage that glute by squeezing it to bring your hips back forward to neutral, and then lift the back leg outward to the side of your body. Bring your leg back to start and repeat.
The Move: Squat and Cross-Body Heel Lift
How to: Start in a sumo squat position with feet wider than your hips. Sit your hips back and down into a squat and stand back up as you lift your heel internally toward the opposite side of your body. The important part in engaging your adductor, or inner thigh, is to make sure you are trying to lift the arch of your foot up toward the sky. Return your foot back to the sumo squat position and repeat with the opposite leg on your next rep. Add more of a challenge to this movement with ankle weights.
The Move: Side Plank Leg Lift
How to: Start in a side plank with your elbow on the ground and your hips lifted off the ground. Take your top leg in the plank and arch it over your bottom leg toward the front of your body and then up and over your leg again to touch behind your body. Maintain core control in this move for an extra bonus of targeting your abs! To modify this exercise, bend your bottom leg and perform the side plank on your knee.
The Move: Inner Thigh Lift
How to: Start seated on your left glute on the floor with your right foot planted on the ground and your left hand on the ground. Your left leg should be extended out front with your inner thigh facing the sky. Stabilize your body and bridge off the ground using your right leg, with your left leg extended straight out. Lift your left leg straight up toward the sky by contracting your adductors, controlling your core to make sure you don’t swing. Tap your foot back to the floor and lift again with your leg flexed and your toe pointing away from your body. To modify this exercise, keep your left glute on the ground and drop down to your elbow to perform the movement.
A former Division 1 high jumper and record holder at West Virginia University, Sydney is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sydney and her fiancé Dustin created the Royal Change digital media company and post a new, completely free workout every day. They have a quickly growing audience with over 53,000,000 views since they started their YouTube channel. Royal Change’s mission is to always provide high-quality fitness to everyone, everywhere, at any time.
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