Toning thighs?

What do you mean by "toning?"

If you want to "tone" you want to lose the fat covering your muscles - this will typically be done by eating at a calorie deficit and doing resistance training to maintain the muscle there. That being said, you have to have enough muscle in the area for it to show so looking toned is not only about lower bodyfat but about sufficient muscle base as well.

How do you get there?
-You want to eat a a slight calorie deficit (you can add some cardio but don't overdo it)
-Follow a progressive resistance program (for best results) with focus on the lower body,
-Adequate protein (around 0.8-1g per lb lean body mass /goalweight minimum)
-Lots of patience and consistency.

In some cases you can be at a healthy weight but lack muscle, so you will want to look into maintaining your weight but still lifting and getting protein to build muscle and lose fat over time. I don't know your stats though so more details about you are needed.

That's the thing, if you want to define the muscle on your thighs you'll want to have less fat covering them, therefore the ''calorie deficit'' answer above. There is no (according to my humble opinion) exercice that will burn the fat specifically on a part of your body, fat loss is distributed evenly on all the body, including around your internal organs so that is why it is so difficult to notice in the begining.

That being said, if you want ''stronger'' or ''bigger'' thigh muscles, the best things that work for me are
- Leg press, less repetitions of higher weight (plus if you position yourself correctly you can switch and work the glutes instead)
- Leg extensions, regular sets (3x12)
- Biking, low speed high resistance for about 15 minutes, keeps my heartrate lower but I am still sweating

Works for me but I am not a fitness guru!

Lianapugzoe wrote: »

I know about the calorie deficit. But it's the exercises specifically for certain areas I was referring too.

okay, well . . . don't know what areas. but:

- barbell squats did a lot for my quads and some for my hamstrings.
- deadlifts did a lot for my hamstrings and some for my quads.

that's when i was lifting. for the past month i've been intentionally NOT lifting and especially not doing exactly those two things since i've developed a hamstring/glute med overuse injury that has me banned from doing anything hip-flexion-y. so just doing targeted and non-flexed rehab/physio work instead. my totally-anecdotal observations from this other path:

- nordic falls (like an eccentric/'negative' version of the glute-ham raise) are 'for' the hamstrings in general on the rehab level, but also surprisingly effective at getting my adductor magnus muscles to show up on the cosmetic side.
- side-lying hip abduction with weight progression is 'for' the glute medius, but it's subtly changing the side profile of my legs too.

i'm not even giong to go there with the whole tone versus fat versus muscle thing. except to say: imo it's not either/or. no sense losing fat if there's no muscle to be 'defined'. and minimal sense building muscle alone if definition is what you hope for.

I want to tone my thighs as i have a thunder thighs

Heavy squats/dls to build the muscle...calorie deficit to shrink the fat.

My thighs are the last place for the fat to reduce; so I've worked towards making the muscles huge. This has at least improved the texture of the cellulite.

If you can take up running. I've always had muscular, shapely legs but running just seems to lean them out

Squats and lunges of all kinds. Regular and sumo squats, weighted and otherwise, static lunges, bulgarian split squat, walking lunges, side lunges, reverse glute lunges, box steps and jumps, squats with bands, frog jumps, squat jumps. Also calorie deficit to decrease fat and expose those gainz.