Good ways to tone legs?
#168781 - 04/10/05 09:25 PM
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Vicam
Reged: 02/24/04
Posts: 1955
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Hey Guys,
I'm looking for some good ideas for how to tone my legs, especially my calves. I have no idea why, but I have hugely disproportinate calves...they are really large. Even my ankles are really big, they look perpetually swollen, so much so that I can't even wear knee high boots because they don't do up.
Anyways, I could really use some good suggestions for how to tone them. I've had 50lb weight loss that doesn't appear to have made any difference
Thanks! Kelly
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That's a difficult one as presumably alot of the roundness of your calves is muscle already! I have really round calves too, but even now it's all muscle. I got shorter than usual knee-highs and even those don't do up the large 1/2 inch or so.
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I'd just suggest cardio for lowering your body fat % (so the muscles look more defined, make your ankles look smaller etc.) and then some weight training to build up the rest of your legs so they are in proportion to your calves - i.e. (if you have access to equipment) dumbbell squats, or leg press machine, and maybe some straight legged deadlifts too. Skip the calf raises though
All that will also, of ocurse, lead to weight loss too! Working the legs actually contributes to speeding up the metabolism (= your body's ability to lose weight) because it is the largest muscle group on the body.
HTH - good luck!
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A great calf exercise you can do on your stairs at home. While facing the steps, put the ball of your feet on a step and lower the heel down (to below the step edge), then push up onto your tippey toes. Repeat 12X both legs, in 3 sets.
-------------------- Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
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