Have you heard skinny is out of fashion now and us girls look so much better with sexy feminine toned and curvy legs? Whether your getting in shape for the beach or just want to look great in a party dress our athlete Dom spills her secrets to getting those pins looking trim and toned year round!
Barbell Squat
Begin with the barbell supported on top of the traps. The chest should be up and the head facing forward. Adopt a hip-width stance with the feet turned out as needed.
Descend by flexing the knees, refraining from moving the hips back as much as possible. This requires that the knees travel forward. Ensure that they stay align with the feet. The goal is to keep the torso as upright as possible.
Continue all the way down, keeping the weight on the front of the heel. At the moment the upper legs contact the lower legs reverse the motion, driving the weight upward.
Hamstring Curl
Adjust the machine lever to fit your height and sit on the machine with your back against the back support pad.
Place the back of lower leg on top of padded lever (just a few inches under the calves) and secure the lap pad against your thighs, just above the knees. Then grasp the side handles on the machine as you point your toes straight (or you can also use any of the other two stances) and ensure that the legs are fully straight right in front of you. This will be your starting position.
As you exhale, pull the machine lever as far as possible to the back of your thighs by flexing at the knees. Keep your torso stationary at all times. Hold the contracted position for a second.
Slowly return to the starting position as you breathe in.
Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Caution: Do not ever use so much weight on the exercise that you start using swinging and jerking as you can risk both lower back injury and also a hamstring tear.
Variations: Since you have three foot positions you have in reality three exercises.
Goblet Squat
Stand holding a light dumbbell or kettle bell by the horns close to your chest. This will be your starting position.
Squat down between your legs until your hamstrings are on your calves. Keep your chest and head up and your back straight.
At the bottom position, pause and use your elbows to push your knees out. Return to the starting position, and repeat for 10-20 repetitions.
Stiff Leg Deadlift
Grasp a bar using an overhand grip (palms facing down). You may need some wrist wraps if using a significant amount of weight.
Stand with your torso straight and your legs spaced using a shoulder width or narrower stance. The knees should be slightly bent. This is your starting position.
Keeping the knees stationary, lower the barbell to over the top of your feet by bending at the waist while keeping your back straight. Keep moving forward as if you were going to pick something from the floor until you feel a stretch on the hamstrings. Inhale as you perform this movement.
Start bringing your torso up straight again by extending your hips until you are back at the starting position. Exhale as you perform this movement.
Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Caution: This is not an exercise that is recommended for people with lower back problems. Also, it needs to be treated with the utmost respect paying special attention not to round the back forward as you move the torso down; the back should always be straight. Finally, jerking motions or doing too much weight can injure your back.
Variations: The exercise can also be performed with a dumbbell as described above.
Leg Extension
For this exercise you will need to use a leg extension machine. First choose your weight and sit on the machine with your legs under the pad (feet pointed forward) and the hands holding the side bars. This will be your starting position. Tip: You will need to adjust the pad so that it falls on top of your lower leg (just above your feet). Also, make sure that your legs form a 90-degree angle between the lower and upper leg. If the angle is less than 90-degrees then that means the knee is over the toes which in turn creates undue stress at the knee joint. If the machine is designed that way, either look for another machine or just make sure that when you start executing the exercise you stop going down once you hit the 90-degree angle.
Using your quadriceps, extend your legs to the maximum as you exhale. Ensure that the rest of the body remains stationary on the seat. Pause a second on the contracted position.
Slowly lower the weight back to the original position as you inhale, ensuring that you do not go past the 90-degree angle limit.
Repeat for the recommended amount of times.
Variations: As mentioned at in the foot positioning section, you can use various foot positions in order to maximize stimulation of certain thigh areas. Also, you can perform the movement unilaterally (one leg at a time).