If you want to tone your thighs and achieve an overall conditioned look, swimming is a great way to meet your goals. Swimming is a form of cardiovascular exercise that works your heart and lungs while helping you burn calories and tone muscles. Establishing a consistent workout that focuses on toning your quads and hamstrings can help you burn off that extra layer of fat for a lean and healthy look.
Benefits of Swimming
Like most forms of cardio exercise, swimming can help keep you free from heart disease and improve your overall daily health. When practiced regularly, swimming will help you burn off extra calories and tone muscles in your legs and arms. Unlike other forms of aerobic exercise, such as biking or jogging, swimming has the added benefit of being a low-impact sport. Your body's buoyancy in the water will protect your joints from hard impact, allowing you to increase muscle endurance without damaging any connective tissue.
Toning Thighs
Kicking is an essential element to any swimming workout, allowing you to propel your body in the water. Kicking continually against the water's resistance will, over a period of time, begin to build muscle in your legs. Use a kickboard to specifically focus on working the muscles in your lower body. Meanwhile, the regular cardio exercise will help you to shed any overall extra layer of fat, allowing your newly toned thigh muscles to show.
Swimming Workouts
To insure that your swims are an effective way to tone your thighs, establish a regular swimming routine. Try to make it to the pool three to five times a week for 20 to 60 minutes of relatively high-intensity workouts. Even if you are not an expert swimmer, treading water or kicking your legs while holding onto a kickboard or the side of the pool can help develop healthy thigh muscles. More experienced swimmers can vary their workout with strokes like the front crawl, the backstroke, the sidestroke, the breaststroke and the butterfly. Practicing a variety of strokes while you swim laps can help tone various leg muscles for an overall sleek and muscular look.
Alternatives
A good swim can often be exhausting, and varying your cardio exercise can help you stay motivated. Running, jogging and biking are all great alternatives that work your upper leg muscles, toning your thighs. Including two or three days of strength training in your weekly exercise plan can also supplement the work you are doing in the pool. Wall sits, squats and lunges are all effective strength training techniques to develop your leg muscles. As an alternative to swimming on your own, sign up for a water aerobics class. Your instructor can offer new workout techniques and ideas, and being part of a class can help you stay motivated and accountable to your workout goals.
References
Writer Bio
Joelle Dedalus began writing professionally for websites such as PugetSoundMagazine.com in 2009. She received her B.A. in English education at Iowa State University and is currently a M.F.A. candidate in creative nonfiction writing at Emerson College in Boston, where she is developing a manuscript on literary travel. Her areas of expertise include travel and literature, the outdoors and the arts.