For the next 12 weeks I’ve decided to focus on toning up my leg muscles. My inner thighs are quite flabby and while it’s impossible to reduce fat from a specific part of your body, I can work on toning leg muscles while making tweaks to my diet to help reduce overall body fat.

So What’s The Plan?
I’m making some minor changes to my current workout routine to emphasize my legs.

Step 1. Learn To Love Lunges, Step-Ups and Squats.
Sigh…all 3 exercises I hate with a passion. All are difficult for me, which means they work. With the knee feeling great, I can add these evil great exercises back into my routine.

I found this great workout via Fitness Blender’s YouTube channel.

It includes lunges and squats along with some other great leg exercises. The only thing missing are the step-ups, which I’ll do using my stairs. I plan on using the video twice times a week for the next 2 weeks, before switching to a more challenging leg video.

Step 2. Circuit Training Three Times A Week.
I’m already doing this with my trainer Mondays and Wednesdays. I just need to add in one more day to do on my own. Since I have fat to burn in my arms and belly, I’ll include other muscle groups in addition to my legs.

Step 3. High-Intensity Interval Training A Few Times Each Week.
My spin classes certainly fit the bill, as does my 5K training. Although, I think I need to change my interval cycle for my 5K training. Right now I do a 50 sec walk and a 10 sec run. That’s getting too easy for me. I’m thinking of trying out 40 sec walk and 20 sec run.

Step 4. More Yoga!
Yep, I’m hooked. Not only is yoga a great workout, but also I’m finding it necessary following a particularly tough cycle class or session with my trainer. I’m not as sore the following day when I add yoga into the mix. Right now I’m only going to one yoga class a week. I’ve decided that I need to add 2 more classes into my busy schedule (yikes!) over the next 12 weeks. This is a toughie to work out, but I’ll continue with my Friday morning class and hit up one of the weekend classes for now.

Expectations
I’m not expecting for the flabby thighs to go away within 12 weeks. It took me years to build up the fat and it’s not going away in 3 months. However, I am expecting stronger legs and hope to see some loss of fat in my thighs. I’m not sure that will translate into smaller measurements as I’m working on building and toning my leg muscle. If I continue eating smart I’ve got a good chance cutting some of that body fat…whether or not it’s in my thighs is a different story.