How to Get Smaller Thighs With Workouts

Tone Thighs with Strength Training

Step 1

Perform strength-training exercises for your thighs on two or three non-consecutive days every week. Allowing a day of rest in between workouts lets your muscles repair and recover.

Step 2

Use your own body weight at home to tone thighs by doing squats and front and side lunges. For a more challenging workout, hold dumbbells in your hands while doing these movements.

Step 3

Work all thigh muscles by using leg press, leg extension, leg curl, thigh abductor and thigh adductors machines at a gym. Complete one or more sets of 8-to-12 repetitions using a weight you can lift no more than 12 times.

Lose Body Fat

Step 1

Eat 250 to 500 fewer calories per day than you expend to reduce your body fat percentage. Avoid very low-calorie diets of under 1,200 calories per day as they may cause you to lose muscle as well as fat.

Step 2

Burn calories with cardiovascular exercises. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity cardio for good health, or 300 minutes for even more health benefits.

Step 3

Get enough sleep. A recent meta-study by Sanjay R. Patel and Frank B. Hu shows that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain.

Tips

• Try weight circuits in which you move directly from one exercise to the next, or even do short segments of cardio between resistance exercises, to combine cardio and strength training in a single workout.

Warnings

• Consult your health care provider before starting a new diet or exercise program if you are over age 40 or have existing medical conditions.

Things You'll Need

• Leg press machine

• Leg extension machine

• Thigh abductor machine

• Thigh adductor machine

• Leg curl machine

• Dumbbells