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Are you overwhelmed by the volume of your thighs? Before telling you how to reduce them, you have to know that Volume or fat is not lost locally but generally. As Alberto Egea says, coach sportsman and personal trainer specialized in fat loss in women, “it is important to remember that localized fat loss is a widely debunked myth, our body loses fat in a generalized way; however, “You can focus on improving muscle tone and overall body composition, which in turn can make your thighs look firmer and slimmer.”.
“I don’t like to play with women’s illusions, I prefer to be honest with what science has shown, and that is that it is not possible to lose fat locally,” Egea emphasizes. “In fact, The way our body stores and loses fat is largely determined by genetics and it cannot be changed through specific exercises,” he adds. Here are the keys to speed up your metabolism.
As Egea continues, “When we lose weight and body fat, the reduction occurs across the board throughout the body, although the order in which fat is lost may vary from person to person. “Some people may notice changes first in certain areas, such as the abdomen or arms, while others may see differences in the thighs or back. first; “This is completely individual and outside of our direct control,” she notes.
“What is under our control are the actions we take in our daily lives to improve the present. with which we are not comfortable and for this it is very important to eat a diet that keeps us in a caloric deficit for the time necessary to lose excess fat, in addition to accompanying it with strength exercise that gives firmness to the muscles”explains the coach.
Keys to reduce volume in the thighs
As Alberto Egea explains to us, the keys to reducing weight and volume and this means improving the appearance of the thighsthese are:
- Create a calorie deficit. This boils down to eating “slightly” fewer calories than you need in order to eliminate the fat that gives the appearance of flaccidity to those areas of the body. Here are 50 low-calorie foods.
- Introduce strength exercise in the legs. Muscle toning can improve metabolism and change the appearance of your thighs, making them appear firmer. Here are 4 super powerful leg toning exercises.
- Avoid quick solutions. What comes quickly, goes quickly. Furthermore, aggressive weight loss will also cause you to lose muscle and ultimately, you will leave with less weight but more flaccid.
- Be constant. This does not mean that you cannot fail even one day, it means that you carry out a caloric deficit and strength training that is adapted to your tastes, your current level and your lifestyle so that it is much easier to comply with it over time. This will be what really gives results.
Don’t be afraid to do strength training
Cardio or strength? As Egea says, “The fear of gaining excessive volume through strength exercise and ‘looking like a man’ is a common mistake and very widespread, especially among women.” “This happens because when you see female bodybuilders you think that as soon as you do something, you’re going to get like this; To reach these levels requires effort, time, work and extreme perseverance.”, adds Egea, so calm down.
“The reality, however, is that Strength training is one of the most effective tools to improve body composition, including the reduction of fat and the increase in lean muscle mass, making you look much better in front of the mirror and with your clothes,” the trainer clarifies. Conclusion? We should not be afraid of strength training because, in fact, it is what will help us the most: “Far from making you gain unwanted volume, it will help tone the body, reduce body fat and improve general health,” Egea emphasizes.
“The key is to find a balance that allows you to enjoy your workouts and achieve your health and aesthetic goals,” adds Egea. Here you have 18 strength exercises to gain muscle mass without machines.
All the benefits that walking will bring you
“While it is true that walking is an excellent (and simple) cardiovascular activity that may help lose body fat, including volume in specific areas like thighs without significantly increasing muscle mass, is not enough, says Egea. “If you do not accompany walking with adequate strength trainingthose legs will probably gain a little firmness but not as much as you would like,” he adds.
Furthermore, as this trainer continues, “going for a walk to see results requires a lot of time, something we don’t have today; Introducing strength training along with shorter walks will help you not only have better results on your thighs but also save time”.
“Having said that, The appropriate time to walk depends on the frequency and, above all, the intensity at which you do it, since walking at a pace of shuffling your feet is not the same as walking at a pace at which we are short of breath.” The latter, according to Eges, is the most recommended way to do it.” This coach gives us some keys to improve the results of walks in your daily life:
- Don’t look to run the marathon tomorrow. Changing from white to black if you come from a sedentary life will create stress, take up a lot of your time and cause discomfort in your legs in the short term, causing you to become demotivated and last two days.
- Go at a good pace. Regardless of your level, try to walk at a pace at which you are panting, normally it is a pace between 5-6km/h or which is the same, about 7,000-8000 steps per hour if you have a watch.
- Look for mini hikes. Parking the car a little further away than normal, getting off at a subway stop earlier, going to buy bread on foot or going to the furthest park with your children, for example, can be a simple way to introduce walks without practically realizing it. . Here are tricks to get more exercise in your daily life.
- Use the stairs. We have legs to use, use the stairs and, if going up them is difficult at first, always start by going down them, even if you live or work on a fourth floor, you can go up one floor and the rest by elevator. Thus, gradually, you will get used to it.
The ideal exercise to combine with your walks
“As we have previously stated, strength training will be the perfect complement of walking to reduce the volume of your thighs,” emphasizes Egea, who recommends combine any of these exercises after our walks. “These are the sedentary women aged 35-55 who start with us who currently work”:
*The backward lunge will count as two exercises, since one will be with one leg and the other with the opposite leg.
Besides, You can do them in the form of a circuit as the trainer explains to us:
- Perform each exercise for 20-30 seconds.
- Rest between exercises for 20-30 seconds.
- Complete 4 rounds, that is, perform each exercise 4 times, one after the other.
- If you need to rest between rounds, take a minute to breathe.
- Do this routine at least 3 times a week.
“This way, In 15-20 minutes you would have a simple strength training focused on the legs so that you can reduce the volume of your thighs without the need for material and that can be done anywhere,” says Egea.
These guidelines, as the coach emphasizes, “are more than a guide so you can learn what you don’t have to do (only walk or do specific exercises for thighs thinking that you will lose volume) and what you do have to do (combine walks at a good pace, leg strength training and calorie deficit to lose thigh volume).
If you don’t know how to start, Alberto Egea has created a free 7-day challenge with which you can start taking your first steps. Egea has the recognition of the Online Coaching Academy, which has awarded her in both 2022 and 2023 for having helped more than 300 women in their processes for a new lifestyle that allows them to lose weight from home. After working in Australia as a trainer in 2019, he trained as a private trainer and specialized in fat loss, biomechanics applied to strength exercise, and coaching for women. bandypump.com