How to tone my thighs

I say just continue the squats and weight machines. Unfortunately, we can't decide which area our body will lose fat first. It may be that your thighs are the last place your body burns fat in. Don't give up your efforts as over time you'll see the changes.

With that weight and your measurements, I'm sure you already will look great in shorts and swimsuit.

Looking at your measurements, I am thinking you are doing the right things and would suggest working to gain muscle - your legs and arms could be 1-2" bigger and still look slim. That muscle would shape your body closer to what you want. So eat a little more and do heavier weights, allow your body to build up some muscle.

After your broken foot heals, of course!

You mentioned medicine ball squats, because of the size of the ball and weight it pulls the center of gravity and bulk of the weight away from your body, this may not be the best way to build leg definition because you can't drive through the weight with your quads / hams it is more of a lower back / core exercise since the weight is in front of you and not inline with your legs / feet.

I love squats and it bugs me when I can't do them and in a short time being a heavy guy I saw drastic changes in my shape and tone of my legs

My two recommendations are:

1) Goblet squats - holding the dumbbell close to your body keeps the weight centered allowing you to drive through with your legs and hips giving you a great let workout. There are a lot of great videos on YouTube and this can be easily done at home.

2) Barbell - high bar back squats - This was extremely intimidating to me personally but when I practiced my form it became my favourite exercise. High bar back squats keep the weight on your shoulders and is a great lower body workout.

Start with the bar (no weights as it is about 45lbs) keep your form tight even with the bar you will feel it burn. Add more weight as comfort permits.

I went from having bags of mashed potatoes for legs to having rock hard quads and strong hamstrings in less than 4 months.

I do legs more often than not. I would say at least 3 days a week, maybe more if I end up doing more than 5 days a week. I do all the leg exercises you suggested except the walking lunges because of of my foot, good mornings and hack squats i don't know what those are. I do 3 sets of 12 for everything except the regular squats. For those I do 5 sets of 10. I definitely can up the weight. Today i did that for most of the exercises. I just couldn't do it for the squats.

Hack squat: http://youtu.be/EdtaJRBqwes

yeah the squats with the medicine ball I do for core. But honestly I feel it in my arms legs butt.

That is where you should feel any squat exercise. Squats are not core exercises, they are leg and glut exercises. You feel it in your arms only because you're holding the medicine ball.

Personally, I feel a traditional barbell squat (or you could use kettle bells/Dumbbells to start) would benefit you much more.

In a traditional barbell squat, your arms are only used to stabilize the weight on your traps and you can focus on using your legs and gluts to move the weight rather than holding onto a large medicine ball. You'll also be able to balance better and get a more effective squat.

Don't be intimidated by the hack or a traditional squat. Start light and move your way up after perfecting the form. They will be much more effective in reaching your leg goals than medicine ball squats.

wishfullthinking79 wrote: »

@drwilseyjr I only use the medicine ball because PF doesn't have kettle bells. I am a member of another gym that I frequent less. Now it does have kettle bells.

For the traditional squats. Can that be done with the smith machine or squat rack? So today I increased the weights on machine you lay down on and press up with your feet. Forgive me I do not know the name. Is that beneficial?

I need to take a class to learn this stuff. I am running around blind chasing my tail.

You can do traditional squats in a rack or with the smith machine. If actually try it with the smith machine so you can practice your form without being worried about balance at first. Especially with your foot injury.

The machine you speak of is a leg press machine. It's definitely beneficial. Increasing weight is, too, if you're looking to burn more calories and build muscle in your thighs.

Here's a few videos to help with form and some pointers:

Squat form:
http://youtu.be/Dy28eq2PjcM

Squat mistakes:
http://youtu.be/f7YDEHg6Es4

Squat variations:
http://youtu.be/C73Y3EsJWIk

And some explanation of form, weights vs. body weight, range of motion, etc:
http://youtu.be/66nOUUkMw44

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If you like including some cardio, consider rowing machine instead of arc trainer, if your gym has a rower, and your foot can take it. Learn how to do it with correct form - it's basically a high-rep, low-weight leg press with some glute/back/arm work thrown in. If you're lucky & they have a Concept2 rower, do not set the resistance on 10.

Before the lifters out there object: Not saying to replace the weight work! I'm just suggesting this as a possibility for more leg-intense cardio.

Lifter, here. All rowing motions are great.