Toning Exercises For Legs

Men and women both like to tone the muscles in their legs. There are some very popular toning exercises for men and women to tone their legs. This can be accomplished with free hand exercises or with exercises requiring the use of weights.

Have you ever seen people running or jogging on the road and they had bands wrapped around their ankles? They were probably accomplishing two things with one routine. They were building muscle tone while they exercised. This is one way that people can tone their leg muscles. This can be accomplished by taking a brisk walk, too, and wrapping weights around the ankles. One or two pound weights are good enough to accomplish the tone necessary, without causing bulk.

Believe it or not, most men do not want to bulk up and build muscle. They want to tone their muscles and look sleek and not have these huge muscles mostly seen on TV ads. Of course, men do not want to do the same exercises as women, though, as they do have a role to live up to. They can’t let their buddies see them doing such exercises, so there are different exercises for men and different ones for women, just as there are now different exercise places for men and women.

Men and women do aerobic exercise programs together, though, such as step aerobics. There are some aerobic step programs that will build and bulk the legs and there are some that will simply tone the legs. It can depend on how tall the step is, too. A great step aerobics program can be found through the Reebok videos, found in many video rental places or stores that sell these types of videos. There are many other videos that work on toning the leg muscles.

Here are a couple of toning exercises for legs that women can do. As with any exercise, it is a good idea to do some stretches and warm ups before beginning the actual exercise routine. Stretches can actually be a great way to tone the leg muscles. Sit on the exercise mat and straighten out both legs, spreading them apart, like a straddle or split. Lean forward and try to touch one of the leg’s toes. Do not force the stretch. Do this with each leg at least 10 times each. This is called one set of 10 reps.

Do this exercise at least 3 times per week. This can also be done in a standing position, inside or outside, as long as there is an object at hips height to place the foot on when it has been stretched out and up. Do not overstretch or this will cause an injury in the leg or back.

Another good toning exercise for legs is one that can be done from a standing position. Men and women can do these following exercises to tone their leg muscles. Stand straight and relax the arms. Begin to curl up and lean forward, bending toward the floor. Curl and bend the body until the hands nearly touch the toes. Do not bounce or try to overstretch.

After reaching the toes with or trying to touch the toes or floor, uncurl and straighten back up, slowly, until the body is straightened out completely, only this time the hands will continue to stretch up like trying to touch the sky. This exercise can be repeated at least ten times. This exercise will work on the back of the legs and the back, abs, and spine.

This next one will work on the thighs; part of the legs. Lie down on a mat and keep the arms on each side. Face the palms of the hands down onto the mat. Breathe a good breath of air in and then raise the feet, gradually, till they reach approximately half a foot above the floor. Let the breath of air out as the feet are being raised.

Make sure the legs do not bend. Keeping the toes at a pointed position, try to make round circle with the feet, while they are up in the air. Try do make circle in two different directions, like a clock would go and then the other way around. Just a couple of circles in each direction is good and then allow the feet and legs to go back down, slowly, till they are all the way down to the floor.