Losing weight after having a baby

Love your legs: 3 moves to help you lose the thigh jiggle – TargetTraining Shape, March, 2004 by Stacy Whitman

TRAINER’S STRATEGY

Do traditional multimuscle exercises on unstable surfaces to strengthen and tone your entire lower body while improving balance and core strength.

WHY IT WORKS

To help you look more sculpted, trainer Jennifer Zerling has added stability challenges to proven lower-body moves (squats and lunges). Doing these exercises on unstable surfaces recruits more muscle fibers to boost your strength, develop better balance and reduce your injury risk, Zerling says. Begin with a squat on a BOSU Balance Trainer, using a low-cable pulley. “This move teaches you to stabilize through your center of gravity,” Zerling explains. Next, you’ll do a lunge on a Reebok Core Board, which transfers your weight from foot to foot, forcing you to activate stabilizing muscles. Finish with the side stability lunge on an Airex Balance Pad to work your legs and engage your upper hips and inner thighs.

MUSCLE MECHANICS

This workout targets the quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, upper hips, inner thighs and calves. The upperhip and inner-thigh muscles work primarily to stabilize your legs to ensure proper alignment and protect your knees.

DETAILS

To do this workout, you’ll need a BOSU Balance Trainer (bosu.com), a low-cable-pulley machine, a Reebok Core Board (reebok.com) and an Airex Balance Pad (fitter1.com), all available at most gyms or at Web sites as indicated. If one training tool isn’t available, you can substitute a different one from another exercise. Warm up with 5-10 minutes of low-intensity cardio. End by stretching your back and lower-body muscles. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds.

SHAPE READER MODEL

Tina Marie Bergen, 26, alternates 45-60 minutes of Pilates, yoga, running or strength training 4-5 times a week. “Mixing it up gives me the ultimate total-body workout,” Bergen says.

step-up Core Board lunge

Strengthens lower-body muscles; spine extensors and abs work as stabilizers.

* Place hands on hips or hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms hanging at sides.

* Place right foot directly in the center of a Reebok Core Board, feet hip-width apart in a lunge position, left heel lifted; contract abs.

* Bend knees, keeping right knee aligned with right ankle as left knee approaches the floor.

* Keeping shoulders back, push off with left foot as you lift left leg up, bending leg and raising it to hip height, and straightening right leg without locking knee.

* Lower left leg to the floor to return to starting lunge. Do 1 set of reps with each leg to complete 1 set.

TRAINER’S TIP Keep weight over the heel of standing leg as you lift the opposite knee; squeeze glutes as you straighten the standing leg to activate hamstrings and butt muscles.

cable BOSU squat

Strengthens lower-body muscles; spine extensors and abs work as stabilizers.

* Attach a rope or a double handle to a low-cable pulley and place a BOSU Balance Trainer in front of the weight stack about arm’s distance from machine.

* Stand on the BOSU with feet hip-width apart. Once you feel stable, hold the rope, arms extended, palms in, shoulders down and shoulder blades retracted; keep neck aligned with spine.

* Bend knees and sit into a squat, knees behind toes.

* Hold for 1 count, then push from your heels to return to standing position without locking your knees.

* Repeat for all reps and sets.

TRAINER’S TIP To place more emphasis on your inner thighs, hold a small squishy ball between your thighs as you squat.

side stability lunge

Strengthens lower-body muscles; spine extensors and abs work as stabilizers.

* Place hands on hips or hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms hanging at sides.

* Next, stand on an Airex Balance Pad with left foot flat and right ball of foot lightly touching pad, abs contracted and chest lifted.

* Keeping left leg straight, take a large step sideways with right foot, bending right knee to align with right ankle.

* As you lunge, don’t let your right foot rotate inward. Hold for 1 count, then return foot to starting position on pad.

* Do 1 set of reps lunging with right leg, then switch legs and repeat to complete 1 set.

TRAINER’S TIP To keep the emphasis on your legs, be sure to maintain an upright and centered torso; don’t lean into the lunge.

love your LEGS advanced WORKOUT SCHEDULE Make your workout more challenging by increasing the number of reps and the intensity, following the special instructions as noted. exercise cable BOSU step-up Core side stability squat Board lunge lunge sets 2-3 2-3 2-3 reps 12-15 12-15 with 12-15 with each leg each leg weight range 30-50 8-10 pounds 8-10 pounds pounds in each hand in each hand special Perform as a After the Alternate legs instructions one-legged knee-up, within each squat, extend leg set. bending one straight in leg at hip front of you height (reps at hip height, on both sides then bend equal 1 set). and lower. TARGET QUOTE “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” –George E. Woodberry, biographer

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