Your legs carry the weight of the body and move it around all day long. You might think this therefore would keep them lean and give them a sculpt, muscular look. In fact, the legs are an area of the body where excess weight often appears.
Step 1
Clean up your diet. Overall weight loss is one of the quintessential factors involved with slimming your legs. Eliminate foods high in fat and refined flours, like deep fried foods, sweets, processed baked goods and white flour products. Choose lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables and whole grains instead.
Step 2
Liquid calories are still calories, and they can cause weight gain to your legs. To save yourself calories, eliminate all high-calorie beverages like soda, sweetened teas, sugared coffee drinks, processed fruit juices and alcohol. Drink water instead.
Step 3
Cardiovascular exercise burns calories, which can help you slenderize everything, including your legs. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, run up steep hills. This is a training tactic used to develop more muscle endurance and power. As an added benefit, it also works the muscles of the legs intensely.
Example of how you can do hill training: Find a nearby hill that is about 100 yards long. Start with a 10 to 15 minute warm-up jog on flat ground. Come to the hill and run up it as quickly as you can. Jog back down and run back up. Do this 12 to 15 times and finish with an easy jog on flat ground for 10 to 15 minutes. Do this routine three times a week on alternating days.
Step 4
Complex exercises involve more than one joint and they recruit more muscle fiber than isolation exercises. To do walking lunges, take a long step forward with your right foot. As soon as you place it down, bend both your knees so your right one is 90 degrees and your left one is about 2 inches from the floor. Come back up, step forward with your left foot and do the same thing you did with your right. Continue lunging for 10 to 12 steps. Take a 30 to 45 second break and do another set. Perform four to six sets total. If you want to increase your intensity, hold on to dumbbells.
Step 5
Step-ups are another complex exercise that works your quads, glutes and hamstrings. To do these, stand in front of a chair. Step up on top of it with your left foot then your right foot. Step back down with your left then your right. Step back up with your right foot then left and step off with your right then left. Continue this pattern 10 to 12 times and do four to six sets. If you want to add more intensity, you can hold dumbbells in your hands.
Step 6
Hamstring curls can be done with a stability ball. Lie on your back and place your heels up on the ball. Lift your hips up in the air until your back is straight. While maintaining a straight back, bend your knees and curl the ball in toward your butt by contracting your hamstrings. Extend it back out all the way and repeat 10 to 12 times. Do four to six sets.