OnFitness Magazine - March/April 2022 - 60

WWW.ONFITNESSMAG.COM | VOL 22 NO 5 | 2022 60
SMART
TRAINING
heavier weight with fewer repetitions (ten
each side), and lighter to moderate weight
with more repetitions (twenty each side)
on the second day.
Squat/squat jump
The squat works your entire lower body
and elicits a fat-blasting hormonal
response unparalleled by many other
movements, especially when using
challengingly heavy weight.
For an additional metabolic bang,
combine a squat with a squat jump, further
upping the caloric and hormonal impact.
Beginners should use no weight when
performing this movement, while
advanced trainees can use a twenty-five to
forty-five-pound barbell across their back.
This movement alternates one traditional
squat with one squat jump.
Lower into a full squat until your
LEANER,SLIMMER,
ANDMORETONED
LEGS
Mickie Cambridge
ips and thighs, saddlebags and
cankles, glutes and tree trunks, a
million names for the most
stubbornly unchanging bane of many
women's existence: the lower body.
Any way you say it, the literal bottom
line is that women want leaner, slimmer,
and more toned legs. The lower body is
often the most troublesome area for
women to shape up, simply because it's
nature's natural bestowed fat-storing
region.
From an evolutionary perspective, the
fat that is stored in your thighs and butt is
fat that your body wants to be there. For
childbearing purposes and because
estrogen is highly active in this area,
women's bodies hold onto fat in these
places relentlessly.
Thus, to break through the
evolutionary barrier to reduce fat and
sculpt the underlying leg muscles, it will
take all the tools in our muscle building,
fat burning arsenal: dedication to weight
training workouts, exercise intensity using
the right types of movements, and strict
attention to diet. Consistency for a month
will yield remarkable results.
H
First and foremost, eat clean
If you want to lean out your legs, you need
to address your overall body composition,
which includes shifting your nutrition into
that which will promote fat loss.
Walking lunge with reach
Incorporating all the muscles of the lower
body, the lunge not only elicits a strong
testosterone release (beneficial for fat loss),
but the movement pattern itself is ideal to
target the exact point at which most
women store fat: the butt/hamstring tie-in
on the back of the leg.
This movement goes beyond the
traditional walking lunge by adding a
forward bend at your hips during the
lowering phase. At the bottom of the
movement, you'll have your chest down on
your front thigh, with dumbbells in each
hand touching the ground next to your
front foot.
This additional " reach " stretches your
butt and hamstrings that much more, in
turn applying greater force on your
working muscles.
Incorporate this movement into your
workouts twice a week, once using a
thighs are parallel to the ground, then press
back up into the starting position. Next,
lower down again into the same squat, but
this time instead of simply standing back
up, perform a powerful squat jump with
the barbell still resting on your traps.
Land softly on your feet with bent
knees. Repeat squat/squat jump combo for
ten repetitions of each.
Single-leg step-up
This version of the step-up has more leg
shaping potential because the movement
pattern assures the maintenance of tension
at the butt/hamstring tie-in throughout.
Holding moderately heavy dumbbells,
place your right foot on a bench. Press up
until you're standing on top of the bench,
but keep your left leg dangling off the back
of the bench (such that your right leg
holds all of your weight).
Step back down with your left leg,
keeping your right foot on the bench the
entire time. Perform ten to fifteen
repetitions on your right side, before
completing repetitions on the left leg.
If done correctly, your butt and quad of
the working leg should be burning by the
completion of the repetitions.
Hill sprints
While it is helpful to perform targeted leg
exercises, one cannot underestimate the
power of interval cardio in the lean-out
equation. Hill sprints are ideal because
their leg-heavy focus provides the required
lower body " burn, " alongside heartpumping
interval cardio to burn calories
during and after the workout.
These are done outside on a hill or a
treadmill. If you go outside, complete a
five-minute warm-up and then sprint as
hard as you can to the top of the hill, then
walk back down. Complete ten to fifteen
sprints like this.
If you're using a treadmill, set it to the
hill workout, and don't hold onto the
machine. Z
Please support our journalism, subscribe now! Onfitnessmag.com/subscribe.
http://WWW.ONFITNESSMAG.COM http://www.Onfitnessmag.com/subscribe
OnFitness Magazine - March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OnFitness Magazine - March/April 2022
