If you’ve turned on any chat show in the last two years you would know that women love Michelle Obama’s toned arms. And trainers all over the world have tried to capitalize on this fascination by teaching us how to get arms like the First Lady. But as I read through a whole bunch of articles about her toned arms I noticed a distinct lack of clear instruction. Sure, there are some amazing pieces that give general tips on how to get toned arms but no one really wrote about what you should do in terms of diet, exercise, etc.

In this post I am going to do an in depth look at how to get toned arms like the very beautiful Michelle Obama. I will try to include as much information as possible so you can begin your workout today.

Toned arms in 4 weeks?

The title of this post indicates that you will have nice toned arms in four weeks time. And while that might be possible for some of our readers it won’t be possible for everyone. It is, however, a very good goal to keep in mind.

Why won’t it be possible for everyone? The fact of the matter is, if you want to have a toned body you need to lose body fat. And this is a very long term affair. Some of you might already be at a level where you can just do a few little tweaks and wind up with the definition you want, others will need more time. So while I want everyone to keep the four week goal in mind, don’t be too disappointed if you don’t see final results in that time.

One thing is for sure, if you do four weeks of proper diet and exercise according to this post, you will be well on your way to success. I’m betting you will be well ahead of your friends who are still dabbling around.

Spot reducing fat from your arms

The first thing you need to know is that you cannot spot reduce fat from your arms. A lot of women out there think that if you want to get toned arms you need to do some magical exercise that will burn fat just off of the arms. It doesn’t work like that. If you want to get toned arms you need to lose fat off of your whole body. If you want to get toned abs you need to lose fat off of your whole body. There is no easy way out.

And that leads us to the first and most important part of this post – your diet.

Dieting for toned arms like Michelle Obama

photo credit: garryknight

Without any shred of a doubt the most important part of getting toned arms is your diet. It is what you put in your mouth that determines how toned your arms are, even more so than how much you exercise. If your diet is not on track you will not get the arms that you desire.

The maths of arm toning
In our epic article on how to lose weight for good we talked about the mathematics of weight loss. This is a very important concept that I urge you all to read an understand for it will change the way you think about diet and exercise. I will not explain it all again but here is a quote from the article to give you an idea:

If you have a can of Coke with lunch everyday of the week you are taking in 155 calories x seven days a week. That is 1085 calories a week. Now, there are 3500 calories per pound of body fat. So, if you take in 1085 calories from one can of Coke per day in three weeks you have added a pound of fat. That is 17 pounds per year. Just from your daily Coke.

You can see from this little bit of maths that your diet is going to have a much bigger impact on your weight loss than the exercise that you do. Just one Coke will take you 30 minutes to burn off on the treadmill. So what about all the other excess calories that you eat every day? How long must you need to burn all of them off? It is vital that you get your diet in order if you want to tone up.

What to eat for arm toning
So what exactly should you be eating if you want to get toned arms like Michelle Obama? The most important thing is to stay away from man made processed foods that are full of our three main enemies:

• refined sugar
• salt
• saturated fats

These foods are full of empty calories. An empty calorie is basically energy that comes from food that provide no nutritional benefits. For example, if you have a can of Coke you get 150 calories but no minerals, vitamins or nutrients. On the other hand, if you have a salad you get the same amount of calories but a nice amount of protein, fiber, minerals, etc. You need to be avoiding the man made foods that are just full of empty calories. These are a disaster for any woman who wants to lose weight.

A long term approach to short term gains
The main point here is that you don’t want to go on another diet. You aren’t trying to lose weight by eating just lemons. What you want is a lifelong change in your eating habits that will allow you to lose weight, get toned and then stay toned as the years go by. Most women revert back to their old shape and weight. We don’t want that to happen.

Some of the foods you want to be eating on a daily basis include:

• green leafy vegetables
• milk and small amounts of cheese
• unsalted nuts and some seeds
• free range eggs
• lots of fresh fruits, the more colorful the better

I’m not a big advocate of meat but a lot of trainers and dietitians will tell you to take in lean proteins from animals. My personal experience has been that I have lost weight faster eating a vegetarian diet. I also feel better. A lot better. Meat tends to weigh me down and make me feel depressed. It is also a thoroughly unethical industry that I don’t really want to be supporting. But that is another story.

Green tea as a bonus food
Green tea is something that I often talk about on this website as something that all women should be drinking. It is amazing for your health and studies have shown that people who drink green tea daily have a smaller chance of getting caner and heart disease. There is also some evidence to suggest that it can help you burn fat at a faster rate. I strongly recommend that everyone who reads this take up drinking a nice pot of green tea every day and see how it makes you feel.

Exercises to get toned arms like Michelle Obama

photo credit: lululemon athletica

Now that we have covered some of the important dietary points we can move on to a bunch of exercises and workouts that will help us get those coveted arms. Remember, when you do any exercise you need to make sure you are doing it with proper technique and according to your level of fitness. I always encourage my friends and readers to meet with a trainer for your first session and learn exactly how to do each exercise so that you don’t end up with an injury that lasts the rest of your life.

Burning fat is the way to toned arms
Let me tell you something that you might know, you might not. You already have toned arms. They are there right now. The problem is that they are being hidden under a layer of fat. So if you want to tone your arms you need to burn the fat that is covering them. That is the point of eating right and that is 80% of the exercise. If you want toned arms you need to exercise so that you are burning fat at a proper rate.

High intensity workouts are the best
One of the things we try to do here at FWF is educate women on the benefits of high intensity workouts. For too long now we have been told the slow jog on the treadmill for an hour is the best way to lose fat and get toned. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. The best way to get into the shape of your life is to workout at an intense pace. Some of the absolute best ways to do this include:

• Kickboxing classes
  I know a lot of women will groan at this and think that they will never try it but I guarantee you it is one of the best ways you can burn fat and get toned in a really quick time. Three kickboxing classes a week will absolutely change the way you go about your fitness. When kick a bag you use your entire body; your legs, abs, hips and arms. The same goes for punching. You will get your heart rate up to super high levels and you will find that your body changes very quickly.
• Skipping
  Here she goes about the skipping again I can hear you all say. But it really is one of the best ways to burn fat and tone your arms – you get the worst burn! Bruce Lee once said that 10 minutes of skipping was the same as 30 minutes of running and I tend to agree. Get yourself the best skipping rope and go for it!
• Circuits
  One of the most intense workouts you will ever do is a circuit. These focus on resistance and cardio exercises and are a great way to get the fat burning and the muscles working. So how do you do them? Simply choose one exercise for each body part and perform them one after the other with no break in between. Once you finish them all, take a short rest and then start again. Try to do the whole circuit as many times as you can.

It is really important not to overdo it though. A high intensity workout should not be done every day as your body needs time to recover and heal. Try and aim for three times a week with a few more gentle workouts in between. If you can do that for four weeks you will see some incredible results.

The importance of weight training and resistance exercises
Women seem to hate weight training because they are worried that it will make them bulky and manly. Well it won’t. I have said it before and I will say it again. Weight training and resistance exercises only help to make you thin and toned and healthy. They will not make you muscly because women, for the most part, do not have enough testosterone to grow big muscles. When you look at women in the gym who weight train they always have thin and hard bodies – never bulky manly ones.

It is time for all women reading this to add some weight training to our regular cardio workout. Mixing weights with cardio has some major advantages including:

• Elevating your metabolism
  When you weight train you elevate your metabolism. This is a very good thing because it means you will be burning calories even when you aren’t at the gym.
• Burns more calories
  Mixing weight training with cardio actually burns more calories than if you just did one slow cardio workout. The lifting of the weights is a very hard motion and it takes up a lot of energy.
• Your body becomes fitter and healthier
  There have been scores of studies that show that weight training makes you extremely healthy and a lot fitter. Basically, without getting too technical, when you weight train you turn your body into a fat burning machine. The more weights the more fat burning.

How often should you weight train?
If you want to get into weight training you should start slowly and work your way up to about three times a week. If you can mix it in with your kickboxing or other high intensity workouts you will be on the way to a very quick set of toned arms!

Conclusion

Getting toned arms like Michelle Obama is a long process. Sure, it can be sped up but please don’t think that it is an easy road. You need to be committed to a near perfect diet and a workout routine that doesn’t quit when it gets boring. Remember, if you have any other tips you can leave a comment below as it might really help someone out there on their journey.

photo credit: cmav

Have you heard of negative calorie foods? Well its high time you did! These super healthy foods are a woman’s best friend when it comes to weight loss. Why? Because you lose weight by just eating them.

What is a negative calorie food?

Negative calorie foods are natural foods that have a net effect of weight loss when you eat them. Remember in this post on portion sizes for weight loss when we talked about the equation for weight loss being calories in + energy out = weight gain? Well negative calorie foods aid in this process by negating the calories in part of the equation.

How do negative calorie foods work?

Negative calorie foods are not foods with no calories. They actually could have quite a few calories. The reason they are called negative is because they take more energy to digest than are contained in the food itself.

Let’s take a stick of broccoli as an example. It might have 50 calories in it but it might take 60 calories worth of energy to digest. So you are, in effect, having a weight loss reaction. Digestion takes up a lot of energy in our bodies so it is important to use as many negative calorie based foods as possible.

What are some negative calorie foods?

Here is a simple list of some negative calorie foods that you can start to incorporate into your diet. Keep your portion sizes under control but enjoy the weight loss benefit that these can bring.

• Asparagus
• Fennel
• Broccoli
• Leek
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Apricot
• Mandarin orange
• Blackberry
• Melon
• Blackcurrant
• Peaches
• Clementines
• Damsons
• Raspberry
• Grapefruit
• Rhubarb
• Guava
• Strawberry
• Honeydew Melon
• Lemon
• Cucumber
• Cauliflower Peppers
• Celery
• Radish
• Spinach
• Tomato

As you can see they are all fruits and vegetables. Does that give you any hints about what we humans are supposed to be eating?

photo credit: nozomiiqel

Over the last few years there has been a great emphasis on eating the right foods and eating them at the right time. In my experience, however, a lot of women fail to realize that one of the major reasons for being over weight is because your portion sizes are too big. In this post I am going to talk a little bit about this and what you can do to fix the issue.

Why portion sizes matter

When it comes to losing weight there is a simple mathematical equation that explains 95% of weight loss. That equation is:

Food in + Energy burned = Weight gain

Basically what this is telling us is that if you take in more calories than you burn with exercise and bodily functions then you are going to gain weight. And one of the major reasons for weight gain is having too much at any one sitting.

If you eat big meals it is very likely that your metabolism is going to be slowed down and very heavy. Eating smaller meals throughout the day keeps that metabolic system revving and as such it is likely that you will expend more energy.

Over five years those calories add up

photo credit: Tobyotter

Imagine that you eat 400 more calories per day than you are supposed to if you want to lose weight. That 400 might not seem like much over the span of a week but of the span of five years that adds up to a good couple of pounds of flab. And that is how you need to view extra calories; they add up.

The same is true, however, of negative calories. If you can cut your portion sizes in each meal and lose 200 calories per day then over five years that is going to be several pounds that you have not added to your waistline. It is that simple.

Some ways you can cut your portion sizes include:

• Buy a can of soda instead of a bottle
• Use small bowls so they look full
• Don’t go back for seconds
• Cut extras like rice and pasta and just have vegetable rich stews
• Just don’t make as much

Conclusion

Don’t think of this as a quick fix. Think of it as something you will do for the rest of your life. Cut your portion sizes at each meal by even just a small amount and you will lose weight over the long term.

photo credit: sirmightymac

Every woman wants to look great in a mini skirt. Most of the time we get a little pang of jealousy when we see another girl walking past in one that we wish we could fit in to. But those toned and tight legs and butt are achievable. In this post I am going to give you a few cardio, diet and exercise tips to make it happen.

How to look great in a mini skirt

Looking great in a mini skirt does not just happen over night. It takes weeks and months of hard work and discipline. The reason most women don’t achieve this is because they give up too early. If you can work hard for about two months you will start to see dramatic results.

We need a three pronged approach to get that great body:

• the right cardio;
• the perfect diet; and
• the best resistance exercises

I have divided this post up into those three sections so you can digest the information easily. Remember, it takes hard work and mental discipline. It is not a quick fix. There is no such thing.

The right cardio for toned legs and a round butt

photo credit: C1ssou

So what sort of cardio should we be doing if we want to look good in a mini skirt? The answer is simple: high intensity. High intensity cardio will get you results faster.

Why high intensity?
If you have been reading Free Women’s Fitness for a while now you will know that high intensity cardio burns more calories than low pace running and walking because it continues to burn calories after the session is finished. Your heart rate gets boosted so high you speed up your metabolism for a long time.

What exercises are good?
We want to target the butt, hamstrings, thighs and calf muscles especially and as such we should be doing exercises like sprinting, hill runs, kickboxing and other forms of exercise that target the lower body.

How often?
You should be doing cardio at least four times a week for at least two months. After that you can scale back or move into something less stressful on the body. However, hitting your body with a good dose of high intensity work will do you wonders.

The right diet for that mini skirt goal

photo credit: quinn.anya

The next (and most important) element is the diet. If your diet is lacking in any way you simply will not lose the weight or tone the legs. Why? It is simple: it takes an hour to burn 200 calories on the treadmill but it takes 30 seconds to eat that many calories. So, if your diet is out your exercise will be fighting an uphill battle.

What to eat?
The most important thing you need to know is that an all natural diet is the best. You should try to avoid any food or drink that is man-made or processed. This means avoiding bread, refined sugars, pasta, etc. You want to stick to foods that are natural, organic and good for you. Here are some foods for weight loss.

How often?
As you all know, timing is almost as important as the stuff you eat. If you eat three big meals a day your body is going to get weighed down and your metabolism will slow. However, if you eat a small meal every three hours your digestion will be cranking and helping you to burn energy. Did you know that the very act of digesting food burns calories? Why not keep it digesting small amounts instead of letting it all get converted into fat.

The best exercises for that mini skirt figure

photo credit: Jessa9

There are actually a few things that women seem to ignore when training for that mini skirt figure. One of those things is that heavy weights are actually good for you. They won’t make you bulky but they will burn calories and help you to tone those muscles.

Types of resistance exercises
The best types of exercises you can do if you want to tone your legs and butt are ones that involve many muscles at once. These are called compound exercises and include the jumping squat, the squat, lunges, hill sprints, etc.

How to do them?
All exercises should be done slowly and with perfect technique. Why? Because this way you rely on your muscles to do the work and not your momentum. Momentum is easy. Pushing is hard work. This burns calories. Make sure you learn how to do the exercises really well before you hit the heavy stuff. Injuries last a long time.

How often?
For the first two months you should hit the gym (or living room!) every day that you aren’t doing cardio. This is a perfect routine as it should give you enough recovery time whilst still doing the amount of work that you need to do.

Bonus tip: Work the shoulders
Did you know that the perfect hour glass figure is actually an illusion created by the shape of your upper body as compared to your lower body? If you build up your shoulders more it will make your waist appear thinner and as such your mini skirt much sexier. If you want to look amazing in that short skirt you should work your shoulders with military presses, push ups and so on.

Conclusion

In just two short months you will feel more comfortable in that mini skirt. All you have to do is the right cardio, resistance exercises and food. Please don’t give up before the results start to happen. Push through the mental pain barrier and achieve the body you have always wanted.

photo credit: g_kat26

What you drink during the day can have almost as much an effect on your weight as what you eat. If you drink two or three cans of Coke a day you are going to gain weight. Its simple. So what should you be drinking when trying to lose weight? Here are a few ideas.

1. Green Tea
Green tea is, without a doubt, the best thing a woman can drink when trying to lose weight. It should be a part of everyone’s daily intake and it should be drunk many times per day. As you will see in the post linked to above, green tea can reduce your chances of getting cancer and it can actually help you to burn calories. What a wonderful drink.

2. Water
You knew this was going to be in here! Boring old water. Well, the truth is, we need to learn to love it. Water is the basis of all life on Earth and we need it to stay hydrated, healthy and awake. It is a good idea to drink a tall glass of water every time you have a meal. This will help you flush out a lot of toxins and help keep your appetite suppressed.

3. Milk
Milk is not often thought of as a good drink for weight loss. But, in reality, milk is a very valuable drink for all women. Not only does it contain a lot of calcium, it has a lot of protein which can help you lose weight by adding more lean muscle mass. A glass of milk with breakfast is a great idea for long term health and weight loss.

4. Soda water
A simple carbonated water can be a very nice treat when you are trying to lose weight. Especially in the hotter months, there is nothing better than a glass of chilled soda water with some lemon and lime juice added in. It keeps your hydrated and it is tasty without the sugar. A great weight loss drink

Conclusion

Do not ignore what you drink if you are trying to watch your weight. It can make or break your fat loss progress. If you make your main drink water, green tea or soda water you will be fine. It is time, however, to give up the Cokes and other sugar based drinks.

photo credit: stu_spivack

Every time I sit down with friends I am shocked at how little they know about food. Last night I went out with a friend who said that she was on a weight loss diet but then proceeded to order a main size pasta because it was “low in fat”. Bad idea. In this post I am going to show you 5 common foods that are making you fat.

1. White bread
Of all the common foods out there it is white bread that is doing the most damage to your waistline. If you could cut out one food from your diet today and never eat it again this would be a good choice. White bread is full of refined sugar, preservatives and a lot of salt. All of these things slow down your metabolism and make you fat.

2. Pasta
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, pasta is not great for your weight. It is extremely high in carbohydrates and as such it will fat you up. The other thing about pasta is that you usually add fatty foods to it as a topping. Cheese is one of them. Mixing fat and carbs is a surefire way to put on weight.

photo credit: grggrssmr

3. Coffee
Yep, that’s right. Coffee is making you fat. But not because of the coffee itself, because of all the sugar, cream and biscuits you add to it. Ask yourself how many sugars you have in your coffee and then times that amount by how many coffees you have in a day. Pour that amount on to the counter so you have a visual impression of what we are talking about. Do you realize that almost all of that will be stored as fat? Slow down on the coffee.

4. Beer
The older I get the more I realize how dependent many people are on alcohol. It seems as though no event is alcohol free. Even after sporting games people go and get drunk. But these nights out are making you fat. Beer has a lot of calories in it and it is also a massive metabolism depressant. The more you drink the less calories your body will burn.

5. Fat free meals
Fat free has to be one of the most misleading marketing schemes in the history of food. Fat free does not mean it will help you lose weight. In fact, fat free foods are some of the WORST foods you can eat if you are trying to burn fat. Why? Because they pack the food with preservatives, salt and especially sugar. None of these things are good for you. Next time you see a fat free item pick it up and look at the amount of sugar and salt in it. You’ll never buy it again.

Conclusion

If you can avoid these five foods your diet will be well on its way to becoming more healthy. How many of these foods do you eat?

photo credit: DanieVDM

Sometimes when you are trying to lose weight it is difficult to know what foods to eat. Snacks, breakfast, lunch dinner… it can become a bit overwhelming. In this post I am going to give you some great ideas for what you should be eating when it comes to weight loss time.

How to pick your foods: what should you eat?

When you go to pick out a pair of shoes in the store you know what you are looking for. If a pair of shoes isn’t possessing all the right features you simply won’t buy it. If it doesn’t have the right name, the best fabrics, the correct shape, etc. you won’t put it on your feet. The same should be true of food. You need to learn what to look out for and when the food on the shelf doesn’t meet those requirements you don’t put it in your stomach.

1. Food should be natural
When it comes to losing weight you need to get rid of all the highly processed foods and start choosing natural. Natural foods are good for you. The human body has adapted over many thousands of years to rely on these foods and thus works best when you eat them.

The best natural foods are plant based. This means fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and so on. The human body’s digestive tract is perfectly built for these foods and our cells operate extremely well when we eat them. Try to get as much of these foods as possible.

2. Foods should be low in sugar
When you are looking for those extra sauces and flavors to go on your natural foods you need to make sure that they are low in sugar. Sugar is, without a doubt, your number one enemy when it comes to losing weight. It will add pounds to your butt and waist before you even know it and it will add zero in terms of healthy benefits.

3. Foods should be colorful
When you are in the fruit and vegetable isle looking for the ingredients to this week’s meals you should keep your eye out for one thing – bright colors! There are many theories that suggest that the human eye sees in color in order to help us find the right foods. And the best one’s are bright!

Think bright green spinach, deep yellow bananas, blood red tomatoes and full orange pumpkin. These are the types of foods you should base your diet around.

4. Eggs and meat should be free range
While I do not believe that meat is 100% necessary for a healthy weight loss plan I know a lot of people like to eat it. If you are one of those people you might consider purchasing free range meats and eggs. There are two reasons why: it is ethical and it is healthier.

Non-free range animals are kept in terrible conditions. They are often force fed their food and kept in cages that don’t allow them to turn around or stand up. Many scientists also believe that this makes them a lot less healthy to eat – hormones and cancers produced by a terrible life are then eaten by us. Choose free range or miss it all together.

Conclusion

If you stick to these basic principles you will find that selecting your meals will become a lot healthier. Weight loss, actually, is more about getting healthy than it is about trying to lose weight. Try it and see how it goes for you.

photo credit: gahdjun

One question I get asked a lot is whether or not drinking water will help you lose weight. The answer is simple – you bet it does. In this post I am going to show you the main reason why drinking lots of water will help you shed some of that pesky fat.

Why does water help you lose weight?

Here are a two simple reasons as to why drinking water will help with your weight problems. Remember, all of this is just science until you put it into practice. Start drinking more water today and see the results for yourself.

1. Water stops you from snacking
The main reason that water helps you lose that belly is because it makes you feel full. As we all know, water has 0 calories so consuming it will just hydrate you and make you feel full. This means you will be less likely to snack on things during the day.

2. Water keeps you hydrated
Many people do not know this but one of the symptoms of dehydration is actually hunger pains. If you are not drinking enough water there is a chance that you will be feeling hungry and that leads you consume more calories. Drinking will keep you hydrated and, as mentioned above, stop you from snacking during the day.

Conclusion

Water is essential to good bodily health. If you don’t drink water you will be dehydrated and this will lead you to snack. Try drinking at least five tall glasses of water each day and see how you feel. I am betting you will lose a few pounds over time as well.

photo credit: liquene

Do you spend all day sitting in front of a computer watching your butt grow? Well not anymore! In this post I am going to show you some simple ways to burn more calories while you are at work.

1. Eat every two hours
The best thing you can do is learn to eat a regular small meal every two hours instead of just breakfast, lunch and dinner. You see, digestion takes up more energy than any other bodily process and as such you can burn calories by eating! How amazing is that. Eat a healthy meal every two hours and you will find yourself losing weight without doing anything.

2. Park the car further away
If you drive to work you can get a good workout everyday by parking the car a little bit further away that you usually do and walking the distance. This is a surefire way to burn some calories as there is no way you can get out of it!

3. Ride to work
You can go a step further than number two and ride to work. Riding is fantastic for your health and also is a very nice thing to do for the environment. Riding is carbon neutral and it will help to reduce your carbon footprint on this Earth.

4. Sit on a fitness ball
Fitness balls make excellent seats. They are now being used by big firms all around the world as they wake up to the amazing potential that these bouncy, colorful balls have. The main reason to sit on a fitness ball is because it keeps your back mobile. Moving your back during the day will help you to avoid a lot of common back complaints. The next main reason is because you can drop back whenever you want and do a few abdominal crunches. A great way to burn some calories.

5. Take the stairs
Stair climbing is one of the best ways to burn calories at work. In fact, running up stairs is one of the best exercises you can do – period. If you work in a big building just get off the elevator a few floors early and walk the stairs up to your office.

6. Get a set of dumbbells for your office
One very helpful thing that you can do is get a pair of light dumbbells for your office. If you are too busy to get out for lunch you can just do a few sets of shoulder raises, squats and other light workouts in your office. This burns all your lunch calories!

7. Go for a walk at lunch
When you have an hour lunch break it is a good idea to get out of the office and go for a walk around the city or the local park. Every step you take is a step towards a new and slimmer you!

photo credit: madaboutasia

Would you like to have sexier legs? Do you want to turn your soft and chunky legs in to smooth, firm and toned ones? Well it is possible. In this post I am going to show you how to use some simple exercises and diet tips to make your legs sexy.

Exercises for Sexy Legs

The first thing you need to do if you want to get some sexy legs is start a regular exercise program. This exercise program needs to be made up of:

• Basic weight training
• High intensity cardio; and
• Simple stretching

Now I am not talking about a lot of exercise. Four times a week should be enough. But, the more time you can devote to your training the better your results will be. Be careful not to over train, however, as this will lead to exhaustion and poor muscle recovery.

Basic weight training
First we will look at the weight training aspect of getting sexy legs. There are certain exercises you can do that shape and build the muscles in your glutes, hamstrings, thighs and calf muscles. It is vital to do weights. Weight training not only makes your legs stronger and firmer, it burns a hell of a lot of fat.

Do not buy in to the myth that weight training will make your bulky. It won’t. Women simply do not have enough testosterone in their body to cause excessive muscle growth. Weight training is used to burn fat, increase the metabolism and strengthen the muscles.

Here are the exercises you need to do:

• The weighted squat:
  This exercise is the best exercise you can do for your lower body. It uses every muscle below your waist and is a fantastic way to burn fat and develop your firmer muscles.
• The weighted step up:
  This exercise is done by taking some medium heavy dumb bells and stepping up on to a stable bench or table. It is especially good for the glutes and thighs and is an essential exercise for sexy legs.
• The jumping squat:
  This exercise is done by squatting down to the ground with one foot forward and then springing in to the air as high as you can. Whilst in the air, change your feet so the back one is now in the front and repeat. This exercise is tough but brings super fast results.

Beginners should start with a light weight and perform as many sets as they feel comfortable doing. As you master the technique and become stronger you should add more weight and/or more repetitions so that your muscle development does not stagnate.

High intensity cardio
I always choose high intensity cardio over low intensity cardio. Why? Because it is so much better!

High intensity cardio like sprinting, stair runs, martial arts, boxing, etc. burn more calories. They also cause your heart rate to stay elevated long after the exercise session has finished meaning you will be burning fat long after you leave the gym.

The main advantage of HIC is that you can do everything you need in under 30 minutes. No more jogging on the treadmill for an hour and a half – just bang out 25 minutes of boxing class and you will have achieved so much more!

If you want to get sexy legs it is a good idea to choose HIC that targets your legs. For example, stair sprinting, running up hills and kickboxing are all excellent choices. If you want more traditional gym exercises you could do fast paced exercise bike riding, stair master or sprinting on the treadmill.

Try and do three sessions like this per week in order to get the maximum benefit.

Simple stretching

photo credit: k4dordy

The last piece in the exercise part of our ‘sexy legs puzzle’ is some simple stretching. Stretching is extremely important to the health of your legs and will keep them limber and firm. Take a look at the legs of any gymnast, martial artist or yoga instructor!

Yoga is my favorite way of stretching my legs because it is also extremely good for your health and mind. It is relaxing at the same time as being challenging. Some of the best workouts I have ever had have been in a yoga class as we did deep stance poses and stretches. You legs always feel rejuvenated and healthy after a good yoga class.

For a real challenge I recommend Hatha or Bikram Yoga. If you don’t feel like a new person after a yoga class I will personally write you an apology.

Diet tips for sexy legs

photo credit: mela sogono

The best thing you can do if you want to have sexy legs is forget about whatever diet you are on. Forget about fad diets and milkshakes. Forget it all and start eating healthier.

Most diets either promote no fat or no carbs. Both of these are extreme. We need some fat to be healthy. We need some carbs to be healthy. The diet you need to be on is an all natural one.

If you want to get sexy legs (or just lose weight!) you should replace man made foods like chips, pasta, baked good, snack bars, candy, soda, etc. with natural foods like nuts, fruit, vegetables, water, milk, eggs, etc. When you do this you will find you get the perfect balance of proteins, carbs and fats and you will burn fat without even trying.

And you will become healthy. How many women do you know who have become sick, gaunt or moody when on a low carb diet? It happens for a reason – their body isn’t happy. Forget diets and go natural. This is the best thing you can do for your body.

You can get sexy and toned legs!

With a little bit of commitment, dedication and the right information you can have some extremely sexy and toned legs. Perform regular weights, cardio and stretching sessions and eat a natural diet. These are the secrets that you have always wanted.

Not as tough as you might have thought!