Top 10 Leg Toning Tips

Women’s legs still seems to be the hot topic around the women’s fitness blogs so I thought I would write a list of the top 10 women’s legs toning tips.

1 - Take it slow

Getting the perfect set of toned legs takes time and hard work. Learn to relax your mind and keep your goals long term. If you take it slow the results will be lasting instead of fleeting and unstable. It will also seem like less work.

2 - Mix it up

Mix up your legs training so that your legs never get used to one type of exercise. If you spend a lot of time doing long distance cardio, change to some short high intensity workouts. This has worked wonders for me and my clients in the past.

3 - Use heavy weights

A lot of women are afraid of using heavier weights because they think they will get bulky or injured. Take your time, learn the techniques properly and start adding weight each session. You will see progress much faster.

4 - Hill Sprints

I love running hills! It is one of the hardest forms of exercise you can do. It works your whole lower body so well that sometimes I am fooled into thinking I don’t need to weight train! Use hill sprints on a regular basis and you will see amazing weight loss and leg toning results.

5 - Learn to eat well

Toning a muscle is more about diet than it is about working out. For a long time there was this theory that if you use high reps and low weight you will tone your muscles. This is crap. If you are fat you will not have any muscle tone. So, learn to eat well everyday - protein, fruit, vegetables, etc. If you want toned legs you have to lose the fat.

 6- Drink water

As always I have managed to fit in a tip relating to water. Water will help you lose weight, keep you full as well as making your muscles look full and tight. Drink water all throughout the day - everyday.

7 - Slow reps

When doing your squats, lunges and other leg exercises start slowing down your reps to at least five seconds. If you cannot do both motions that slow then at least perform the negative as slowly as you can. So, if you are doing a squat, make the squatting down part five seconds long. This will boost your progress very quickly.

8 - Stretch

Part of weight training is recovering and your muscles can recover faster if you keep them flexibile. Stretch before, during and after a legs workout so that they are ready for the next one. And never train when sore unless you need to do the cardio and aren’t worried about muscle gain.

9 - Eat good protein

Get lots of protein after your workout and all day from good quality sources like meat, fish, milk, eggs and whey protein. Muscles need protein to grow so if you want to tone your legs make sure you help them as much as possible by getting enough protein.

10 - Keep them busy

The best women’s legs in the world are on women who stay active and use them a lot. Do weight training, cardio, martial arts classes, tae bo… anything to keep moving! Your legs do a lot of work during the day so you really need to challenge them.

Health tip # 55


Make changes gradually,  Just as there are no "superfoods" or easy answers to a healthy diet, don't expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. For instance, if you don't like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too

Health tip # 52

 Train with a barbell: Again, this improves posture and can also lend a hand in toning up the lower parts of your body as well.

Choosing The Right Diet!

While the new flashy sports car that everyone is driving can be appealing to you, it may not be right for you depending on your situation. There could be the obvious obstacle that you must overcome to obtaining it, and that is its cost. Or, if you have a family of five, it’s simply not a reliable form of transportation. So why do some choose to follow “fad” diets, diets that everyone else follows?

Diets are a lifestyle choice, and as such, they should be very unique to your overall lifestyle and should not simply mimic what those around you are doing. The countless fad diets you hear being advertised on television are simply not for everybody.

To figure out the diet that is right for you, there are a few standard questions you can ask:

1. Does it match the style in which I eat?

While it may be healthy to eat several meals a day and the diet suggests this, but you know you can realistically only eat lunch and dinner – you won’t last long. Alternatively, if you travel a lot and have to eat out and can’t eat the diet’s recommended home cooked meals or spend a lot of time preparing your own dinner, you should avoid it.

2. Can truly I exercise this much?

Some diets mix in a lot of physical activity, while others keep it simple to aerobics. If you’re the kind of person who can’t stand exercise, or isn’t very active, following a diet that requires 5-6 visits a week to the gym won’t be something you can realistically follow.

3. Am I willing to deal with this forever?

When many people start a diet, they have a goal in mind to lose X amount of pounds. This is the incorrect mindset to have – a diet isn’t a temporary thing, it’s a lifestyle decision. So, if you think to yourself, “Well, I only have to deal with this for 6 months to lose 20 pounds” you’re wrong. As soon as you go off your diet, you will quickly regain those lost pounds.

To keep the weight off permanently, you need a weight loss plan that you can follow every single day for the rest of your life.

4. Are the foods practical?

There are multiple parts to this question. First, don’t pick a diet that excludes your favorite food groups or is simply not something you like, As said previously, a diet isn’t a temporary thing – you should be comfortable with following it for the rest of your life. Secondly, can you afford the food? While eating fresh fruits and vegetables all day can be rewarding to your health, fresh fruits tend to be much more expensive than other types of diet food.

5. How serious am I about this?

Do you go out to bars with your friends on weekends? Or do you want to have a little bit of birthday cake at your child’s birthday party? Diets only work because we can stick to them. The fact is, we don’t like to be chained down by them either and you need to consider that when choosing a diet. Some diets allow you some flexibility, while others make you eat nothing but cabbage soup for every meal.

Take your goals into consideration, your lifestyle, and your ability to follow a diet and you’ll be sure to select one that is right for you.

Health tip # 49


 Experts say weight training should be done first, because it's a higher intensity exercise compared to cardio. Your body is better able to handle weight training early in the workout because you're fresh and you have the energy you need to work it.