What are some of the best exercises for legs and thighs to lose inches and shred??
I have been trainin with women who is pear shaped. Her trouble area and most unconditioned part of her body is legs & thighs. Our workouts are focused on leg/butt. We do alot of cicuits w stregthening, cardio & now plymetrics for her lower body. I train her at her home 2x a week. She lost 5 lbs (goal is 10)and lots of inches everywhere except for thighs (only 1 inch). Its been 3 months.
Hello Melisa,
it is tempting to work ‘problem areas’ particularly hard in the belief that the fat can be bullied away. As you have already noticed, this is not the case, nor is a likely to. The body stores fat where it wants to, and it will withdraw from fat stores in the same fashion. While it is possible to spot-build, it is not possible to spot-reduce.
One thing I want to mention. You add in your comment to your question that your client suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and hypothyroidism. I am quite familiar with those and realize that rheumatoid arthritis can manifest differently in people. But as it is an auto-immune disease that attacks its own joints, I am usually very conservative in my training approach. Evidently, though, your client seems to tolerate the high-intensity training.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com
Hello Melisa Byrns,
Her conditions do not help the situation. She is making progress and may need some more time, that’s all. I would do some more full body training and bump it up to three days a week, as tolerated.
Focusing work on the leg/butt may be adding muscle which hides the fact of losing fat and inches, which happens to be her stubborn area, anyway.
Celebrate the accomplishments and keep up the balanced routine.
Take care.
Karin and Natalie bring up some excellent points. I feel that it’s important to keep in mind her overall well-being and not sacrifice that for the sake of “inches lost.”
Out of curiosity, how long have you two been training together?
Also, how much have you two talked about what she eats? Is she helping or hindering progress with how she spends her time outside of the training sessions?
Below you’ll find a link to a great IDEA article that, if you haven’t already looked at, might be of interest to you:
– https://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/training-clients
Although a bit dated, the majority of its information would be great to know for anyone working with an arthritic client. Let me know if you have any questions come up should you get the chance to read it. I’d be happy to help the best I can.
The thyroid has an effect on metabolism. You mention she has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. With her condition it will be much more challenging to lose weight.
The only thing I can suggest is resistance training for hypertrophy, however, that might pose a problem because she has RA.
Tricky situation.