They can be done anywhere!
While we may not be getting Spring weather in NYC any time soon, the season is upon us, which means that soon enough, we'll be frolicking around sans tights. I spoke to the owners of The Bar Method Hoboken to find out how to quickly get your legs in shape. Here are exercises for your calves, inner thighs and hamstrings. I do the calf raises as I brush my teeth.
Calves
Heel lifts are the easiest and fastest way to lean and shape your calf muscles. A full range of motion is key to lengthening the back of the leg. They tone your seat and hamstrings as well, and strengthen your knees. Heel lifts also improve posture, body alignment and balance - so many benefits! They're performed in class right before thigh work strategically to warm up the legs, so thigh work is more effective!
Try it at home:
Hold on to something stable, and stand a half arms' reach from it.
Place your feet in hip width and in a parallel position.
Squeeze your glutes tightly, and lift and lower your heels full range for a minute.
Repeat 20 times to feel the burn!
Inner Thighs
Legs together thigh work targets the inner thighs the deepest! Keeping your heels high protects your knee joints and targets the quads deeper, but squeezing the legs together engages the adductor muscles, which helps trim the inner and outer thighs, and slims out the waist too. If you need a deeper challenge, drop lower or squeeze tighter!
Try it at home:
Hold onto something stable, and stand a half arms' reach from it.
Place your feet all the way together as if you superglued your legs shut.
Lift your heels high, bend your knees and sink 1/3 of the way down from standing.
Squeeze your inner thighs tightly.
Stay in it for a minute or two and you'll find your shake!
Hamstrings
Kneeling seat is one of our most effective exercises to shape your hamstrings. By maintaining a gripped seat, or Bar Method "tuck," you isolate the largest glute muscle, the gluteus maximus, and also the hamstring. Both of these muscles need to work together to re-shape the back of the leg. A flexed foot in this exercise makes it even more intense for the hamstrings!
Try it at home:
Standing seat, waterski seat, diagonal seat with a bent leg, and fold-over with a bent leg all target the hamstrings extremely well also!
Keep the motions small when you perform any of them, and you'll see the results and definition in no time!
