Lean Legs

Having Lean Legs is a struggle for many women. This article gives 7 great tips on how to achieve great looking toned legs.

Lean Legs Tip 1 – Lift Heavy

Lifting heavy is necessary in order to firm up your legs. There are many benefits for lifting heavy.

First, you will stimulate more muscle fibers. This stimulation will tone your legs.

Second, lifting heavy will create a high demand for your body to use a lot of calories. This in turn will burn fat from all over the body and help you get lean legs by generating a cardiovascular effect from your workouts.

Third, heavy lifting for a short time will gain or maintain muscle mass in your legs as opposed to light lifting for a long period of time which has been known to break down muscle tissues to use as fuel. And as you probably already know, the less muscle mass you have in your legs, the less tone and lean they will appear.

A good workout for getting lean legs with weights is the lunge. Grab a set of dumbbells or a barbell that is heavy enough to perform walking lunges for about 20 steps. Then, rest for 30 seconds and repeat for another 20 steps for your second set. Try to complete a total of 4 sets using heavy weight. Don’t be discouraged if you find yourself out of breath or you legs muscles are burning. That is how you know you’re doing the workout correctly.

Lean Legs Tip 2 – Plyrometrics

Doing exercises like…

• bench jumps
• squat jumps and
• alternating jumping lunges

…will target your type 2 muscle fibers. These exercises are designed for high intensity and are great for burning fat. Lean legs will soon appear after a few weeks of this type of training.

The reps and sets for these exercises are very similar to those of the heavy lifting exercises. Start out with 20 reps of any of the plyrometrics you choose. Then rest for 30 seconds. Complete for a total of 4 sets.

Also, plyrometrics are great to super set with your heavy lifting exercises for a faster and more effective way of acquiring lean legs.

Here is a quick example of how to execute a super set using both heavy lifting exercises and plyrometrics:

Set 1
Dumbbell lunge – 20 reps
Squat jump – 20 reps
Rest – 30 to 60 seconds

Set 2
Dumbbell squat – 20 reps
Jumping lunge – 20 reps
Rest – 30 to 60 seconds

Set 3
Barbell lunge – 20 reps
Bench jumps – 20 reps
Rest – 30 to 60 seconds

Set 4
Barbell squat – 20 reps
Alternating jumping lunge – 20 reps
Rest – 30 to 60 seconds

As you can see, the rest between the first exercise and the second exercise in each set is non existent. Also, you have the choice of either keeping the exercises the same or changing them up for each set as shown above.

Lean Legs Tip 3 – Sprints

As much as jogging burns fat and is good for your heart, it is not a effective way of getting lean legs. Sprints on the other hand will tighten and tone up your legs.

One of the best ways to sprint is on a quarter mile oval track. Sprinting down the straights and walking the curves will give you a great high intensity interval training workout. Performing this workout consistently will have you burning fat and developing lean legs in no time.

Lean Legs Tip 4 – Bleacher Runs

Since most quarter mile tracks are at high schools, bleachers are usually right next to it. Running up a flight of bleacher will really get your quadriceps feeling pumped.

An easy way to make this routine effective is to run as fast as you can up a flight of stairs and then walk slowly down for your recovery. This will incorporate interval training for fat loss and will tone your legs. Do around 15 to 20 total bleacher runs for a great workout.

Lean Legs Tip 5 – Nutrition

You can not forget proper nutrition when developing lean legs. Eat plenty of protein and vegetables. The protein will help maintain and build your leg muscles. The vegetables will shed water from your legs, helping with the appearance of leanness.

Lean Legs Tip 6 – Water

Drinking water will make your body shed water. Sounds confusing but its true. The more water you drink, the more your body will release the water. If you are dehydrated, even in the slightest amount, your bodies natural response will be to hold on to any water that you have. This water retention will make your legs look puffy and you will not have the appearance of lean legs.

Lean Legs Tip 7 – Training Till Failure

Work your legs until failure. Women have been known to store their body fat primarily in the hips and thighs. This is because hormonally, women have larger amounts of estrogen. Working out your legs with heavy weights and with high intensity will increase testosterone and human growth hormone, both of which will increase fat burning and help balance the ratio of estrogen to testosterone. For women, this is one of the more important tips for getting lean legs.

Henry Chervenka

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