healthymeansbeautiful:

How to improve flexibility in your legs (Because, who wouldn’t want to be able to do that!?)

Increasing flexibility requires that you hold your stretches for extended periods of time. This means that you must select exercises that allow you to adopt a stretched position and maintain it without undue stress or discomfort. To improve your flexibility, you should hold your stretches for at least 30 seconds, but be prepared to hold positions for up to three minutes to maximally develop your leg flexibility. Always warm up before stretching to minimize your risk of injury.

Supine Hamstring Stretch

To perform the supine hamstring stretch, you need a hand towel or 4-foot long piece of rope. Sit on the floor and loop your towel around your left foot. Lie back on the floor and extend your left foot up towards the ceiling while keeping your right foot on the floor. Gently pull your left leg towards you by pulling on the towel. Keep your shoulders relaxed as you try to increase the stretch on your hamstring muscles. Once you have held the stretched position for the desired duration, slowly return your left leg to the floor and perform the exercise on your other side.

Supine Inner Thigh Stretch

The supine inner thigh stretch uses gravity to gently increase your flexibility. Sit sideways onto a wall with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor. Lie back onto the floor and simultaneously swing your legs up so that they are resting against the wall and your body is perpendicular to the wall. From this position, slide your feet out and down to create a V shape with your legs. Relax your inner thighs and allow your legs to spread further apart. Hold this position for the desired duration before rolling both legs to one side and slowly standing up.

Prone Quadriceps Stretch

To stretch your quadriceps — the muscles on the front of your thigh — lie on your stomach with your legs straight and your hands beneath your forehead. Bend your left leg and reach back with your left hand to grasp your foot. Gently pull your foot in towards your butt. Only pull your foot as close to your butt as your knee health allows. Hold this position for the desired duration and then carefully swap legs.

Standing Calf Stretch

The standing calf stretch uses gravity to increase the flexibility in your lower leg muscles. Stand on the edge of a step so that the balls of your feet are on the step and your heels are in free space. Use your arms for balance and hold on to a nearby wall or other support. Slowly lower your heels as far below the edge of the step as possible. Try to relax and gradually increase the depth of the stretch. Hold for the desired duration and then carefully dismount the step.

(Source: wildspine, via liftheavyshit-and-kickass)

healthlustre:

trying something new never hurts

(Source: startinganewleaf)

eat-rice-first:

1healthyhappyfitnessblog:

get-healthy—get-fit:

halfhissize:

Get Your Best Legs

First know that you can’t reduce fat in just one place. Your body takes a little bit of fat from everywhere, more or less in some places due to your genetics. Doing a ton of leg exercises isn’t necessarily going to make all that fat disappear, at least not by itself. We do these exercises to shape and tone the muscles so your legs have a great shape. If you aren’t eating healthy and doing cardio those sexy muscles are going to be hidden no matter how many squats you do. Gaining muscle helps, it increases the metabolism thus burning more calories, but you have to work the rest of your body and have a clean diet too.

Try to do one video or pick five exercises and do 3 sets of 8-12 reps (or until you feel the burn) about 3-4 days a week. Do cardio 3-5 days a week too, it can be running, biking, swimming, Zumba, kickboxing, whatever gets your heart pounding and sweat dripping. You can combine strength workouts and cardio into the same day if you want. Make sure to eat protein after your workouts, it helps build muscle!

These are, in my opinion, the best thigh and leg exercises and videos. I’ve included links to instructions for most of the exercises and a variety that you can do at home or at the gym. If you workout at home try to get some 8-10 lbs dumbbells, or get a backpack/duffel bag and fill it with heavy books to challenge yourself.

If you have access to a gym try these machines & equipment:

• the leg/hamstring curl machine
• the leg press machine
• the leg abductor/adductor machines
• squats with a barbell and/or dumbbells
• barbell deadlifts 
• lunges with dumbbells
• bulgarian split squat

If you don’t have access to a gym try these exercises at home:

• wall squats
• jump squats
• bridge/hip lifts (try them with your feet on a chair/bed)
• hip lifts on a balance ball (you’ll get an almost instant burn!)
• leg lifts
• inner thigh lifts
• the fire hydrant
• sumo squats
• suicides

These are my favorite leg videos:

• Inner Thigh Insanity
• Slimmer Inner Thighs
• Legs & Thighs Workout
• Itty Bitty Bikini
• Long Lean Legs Workout
• POP Kicks Kickboxing
• Bikini Beach Bum
• Tone It Up Legs & Core

These are seriously the best legs I have ever seen!!!

For my follower asking about toning up & leg workouts! & anybody else :D

tonedgoals:

phox101:

Back envy!

HOLY SHIT.

(Source: iwannabefinallyfit)

mygoalisstronger:

Best Waist Exercises to Get a Sexy, Sculpted Waistline!

For something called the “love” handle, is there anything hated more than a pair of flabby love handles?

 

Why do they call it that anyways? I can’t think of one person who loves their “love” handles…

Love handles are an accumulation of excess fat on the sides of the abdominals.

Next to the lower stomach area, the waist and love handles is the biggest problem spot on the stomach. Once the excess fat fills the front, lower abdominal region to capacity. It starts spilling over to the waist and love handles (Yikes!)!

So, no one likes having a pair of flabby love handles, or a fat waist. It’s annoying, unattractive, and makes you very self-conscious.

For men, it means not having the confidence to take off their shirt or do anything that involves showing their skin like going to the beach.

And, for women it means not being able to wear their favorite pair of jeans for fear their love handles will show, or their “muffin tops” will pop out. Or, being able to wear their favorite crop tops or belly shirts, as it will also expose their flabby love handles and waist.

But, it’s not just all about looks, as having a bulging waistline can also have an impact on your health. A waistline of 35 inches or more increases women’s risk of heart disease and diabetes. And, a waistline of larger than 40 inches increases the chance of heart disease and diabetes for men.

Love handles are a traditionally tough area to target. Unless you play tennis, the obliques are not used often in daily life. Fortunately, working the obliques with obliques exercises slims the waist and trims love handles.

Remember though, you also have to eat a sensible diet in order to shed excess cushioning. All the oblique exercises in the world won’t do a thing if you eat foods high in fats and refined carbohydrates, or if you don’t engage in daily cardio exercise.

In other words, there is no such thing as spot training. You have to burn fat with a sensible diet, and cardio activity, period. As well as strength training, which will speed up your metabolism to burn more fat!

But, what are the best waist exercises to sculpt your waist? Before getting to the waist and obliques exercises, a few reminders:

• Remember to take two or three seconds to rise, hold for one or two seconds, then take at least two or three seconds to lower.
• Perform one set—or 15 repetitions—of a given exercise. If that’s too strenuous, simply do as many high-quality reps as you can. Initially do three sets per exercise, as you progress, feel free to do more sets.
• Remember: quality, not quantity. Your abdominal does all the lifting. For a more effective workout, don’t come all the way down at the bottom of each rep.

For the complete list of the obliques exercises tips, go to the ab workout tips page.

As you’ll recall, some of the exercises that work the upper and lower abdominus rectus also target the obliques…

• Bicycle
• Captain’s Chair
• Hip Lift
• Corkscrew
• Declined Torso Twist
• Crossovers Obliques Exercises
• Reverse Crunches

Waist Exercises

• Seated Torso Rotation
• Side Bends

Oblique Exercises

• Criss-Cross Crunches
• Waistline Trimmer
• Exercise Ball Side Crunch
• Windshield Wipers

Exercise to Handle Love Handles

• Side Crunch
• Seated Knee Drop
• Standing Crossover
• Plank with Knee Touch
• Plank with Knee Bend

Yoga Obliques Exercises

• Warrior II
• Extended Triangle Pose
• Side Plank
• Revolved Abdomen Pose
• Revolved Wind Releasing Pose

Gentle, but Effective Yoga Oblique Exercises

• Bharadvaja’s Twist
• Half Lord of the Fishes

Conclusion of Waist Exercises

Love handles are a build-up of excess fat on the sides of the stomach caused by an overindulgence of fatty and refined foods, and a lack of exercise.

It’s also due to exercise, because the first step many people take to reduce their love handles is with waist exercises. Big mistake…

Because you can do all the waist exercises in the world, even the best waist exercises. But, if you don’t get enough cardio and strength training exercise consistently, and if you eat refined and fatty foods everyday. Then even the best waist exercise to handle love handles, won’t be able to handle them!

So, have no fear, you will make your love handles disappear! Because by following these tips, you’ll kiss the “love” on those love handles good-bye!

For more tips to get rid of your love handles, check out Mike Geary’s bookThe Truth About Six Pack Abs. Many of the exercises he talks about in his book are extremely effective to tone your ab core and love handles.

http://www.best-abs-exercises.com/waist-exercises.html

(via lovefitspo)

motiveweight:

fitnessgifs4u:

Dynamo Push Up Exercise

If you’re serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you’ll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

Think there’s no way you could do this? I think you can! All you need is a good plan, plenty of discipline and about 30 minutes a week to achive this goal!

No doubt some of you can already do 50 consecutive push ups, but let’s face it, you’re in a big minority. Most of you reading this won’t even be able to manage 20 pushups. Actually, I’m sure many of you can’t even do 10.

However, it really doesn’t matter which group you fall into. If you follow the progressive push ups training program, I’m positive you’ll soon be able to do 100 push ups! CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Click HERE and follow for more Fitness Gifs 4 U everyday.

(via curvecreation)