Best thigh and tummy exercises?

Toning is a buzz word that really has no definition and was used as marketing to sell products
One cannot perform a certain lift to spot reduce fat. Fat is lost by being in a caloric deficit and nothing else.

That doesn't mean one shouldn't resistance train, quite the opposite. One should resistance train at your current individual adaptation to achieve the plethora of benefits under the correct conditions.

^^ What they said.

"Toned" is a matter of gaining the right amount of muscle, and losing the right amount of fat for it to show, both of those to the extent that you personally find aesthetically pleasing.

A good progressive strength training routine that involves compound movements is your best, most efficient route to gaining muscle. If you're thinking it will make you "bulky", that's incorrect. Gaining muscle is a relatively slow thing, and women especially don't get big muscles without working really hard at it for a really long time, and some of us don't have the genetic potential to get "bulky" at all even if we want to.

If you start strength training, and many months down the road reach an appearance you like, you'll have plenty of time to adjust to a maintenance type of routine to stay there. You won't wake up one morning and suddenly find you've "gotten big".

A full-body routine will accomplish the core and leg goals you mention, plus more good stuff. Spot reduction doesn't work, and exercising limited areas really doesn't have the same appearance payoff.

Best wishes!

I've had ham-hock thighs all my life. Because of that, I always had to buy curvy-cut trousers no matter how small my waist or the number on the scale. Bring on those harem pants! Then I started high-knee jogging on the rebounder (mini trampoline) for 30 minutes every day. It changed the shape of my lower half far beyond mere weight loss. I was happy to get into my smaller sized jeans, but now my thighs swam in them! No more Petunia Pig thighs! No more saddle bags! So yes, I believe you can improve your shape through targeted exercise.

MsCzar wrote: »

I've had ham-hock thighs all my life. Because of that, I always had to buy curvy-cut trousers no matter how small my waist or the number on the scale. Bring on those harem pants! Then I started high-knee jogging on the rebounder (mini trampoline) for 30 minutes every day. It changed the shape of my lower half far beyond mere weight loss. I was happy to get into my smaller sized jeans, but now my thighs swam in them! No more Petunia Pig thighs! No more saddle bags! So yes, I believe you can improve your shape through targeted exercise.

That's awesome! I might have to try this! Thanks.

I have diastasis recti which is where there is a gap between my stomach muscles down the middle. What helped me is either a bosu ball turned to stand on the flat side or a balance board. I will try to balance on either one (not both together 🤣) whilst pulling my belly butten in towards my back and just generally shift around and practice balancing. After a few weeks I could balance on one leg! It has slimed my waist but I need to do more. The balance boards are cheap to buy at home but I only used the bosu at the gym as quite costly. Otherwise just generally try to pull your belly button and concentrate on good posture.