TeamFLEX Newsletter

Weight Loss Spotlight

Firm Hips

The hips are definitely a problem area for a lot of women. Women just seem to carry all their fat cells in the hip area which is where women usually put on unwanted pounds first.

To firm and tone your hips and the surrounding muscle groups you need to have discipline and consistency while working out. Losing weight in this area and tighten the muscles take time but it isn't impossible. A lot of times just getting your diet cleaned up will jump start the weight loss in the hip area. Genetics seem to play a major role when determining your shape as a woman.

In the old days, wide hips were something a man was looking for when picking his wife. Wide hips meant a good strong body for child bearing. The norm has changed and nowadays women in the fashion magazines have basically no hips at all which is unrealistic and doesn't really give a good image for today's women to try to live up to.

Once again, the lounges are a miracle exercise to shape up your hips and lose a few pounds in this area.

The adductor and abductor muscles are your inner and outer thigh muscles. It's easy to remember which is what because of the logic in the name. Adductor is the inner, bringing the legs together, like adding. Abductor is the outside leg muscles running all the way up to your gluteus maximus muscle.

The adductor and abductor machines really targets these two muscle groups and you can usually do more repetitions then 15-20 on the abductor machine because of the enormous strength of this muscle group.

If you don't want to build but are just interested in firming, keep the weight low to moderate and do a higher amount of repetitions instead such as 30-50 but all with proper form and full range of motion.

The moment you start losing your good form in the exercise, it's time to stop because you have reached the point of failure for that particular muscle. Take a small break for 60 seconds and begin a new set. Repeat the full circle three or four times, depending on your exercise level.

The adductor muscles, your inner thigh muscles, are one of the few muscle groups that if you are a woman you want to keep the weights light on. The reason you don't want to put a heavy resistance on your inner thighs is that if the adductor muscles get bigger it will feel like if you put weight on in your thighs. This muscle group has a tendency to fill up with blood and stay pumped up for a longer amount of time since you use the legs in everything you do.

Keep the weight low and do more repetitions instead just enough to exhaust the muscle. You can work the inner thigh muscles by doing the squats we mentioned earlier using the stability ball and keeping your feet turned out so that the position between your left foot, your body and your right foot forms a triangle. Then squat down the same was as when your feet are positioned straight forward and you will feel it target your inner thighs more then your quadriceps.

Just walking on the treadmill at a 5.0 inclined level keeping a somewhat steady pace, will also shape your hip muscles. Try to take long steps contracting your leg muscles every step you take.

The stationary bike gives you great leg and hip tone for your muscles as well. A session of 30-45 minutes is a great firming and shaping workout for your whole leg.