Secrets for toning for your boudoir shoot: Toning your legs

Featured post by Heather Whaley, Brookhaven Personal Trainer

I don’t know one woman that doesn't want nice legs. Especially when their legs are going to show up in a picture! In fact, it seems like many of us want to improve our legs/butt area more than anywhere else. As a personal trainer, I have found a few leg exercises that have become staples to my workout routines. That’s why I want to share the three leg exercises that work the best for me. If you add these three exercises to your leg days, I guarantee you will start to see results!


1. Squats

Squats are the ultimate leg exercise. If you ever have a leg day and don’t include any squats, you’re doing something wrong! This exercise will work almost all the muscles in your legs including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves & also the lower back.

​2. Lunges

Lunges are another exercise that is a MUST on leg day. Lunges also work the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, core and calves! If you want to tighten up your legs and lift your booty, make sure to incorporate lunges in your strength training. You can easily just pick up some dumbbells and lunge across the room.

3. Dead lifts

​This lift will target many muscle groups at the same time (similar to squats and lunges). There are two main variations of the deadlift. One is when you bend your knees and the other involves keeping your legs straight.

• Regular Deadlift (knees bent) -works the lower back, calves, forearms, glutes, hamstrings, lats, middle back, quadriceps and traps. Talk about working a LOT of muscle groups.

• Stiff Legged Deadlift -The primary muscle groups for the stiff legged deadlift are the hamstrings, glutes and lower back.

Leg Day Tips:
• Make sure to lift heavy! The legs are HUGE muscle groups on our bodies and you need to lift heavy for them to change and tighten up! Don't worry, lifting too heavy will not bulk you up as a woman (we don't have testosterone!).
• Wear weight lifting gloves or even straps if you can deadlift more than you can hold. I find that my hands hurt too bad when I try to do deadlifts without gloves. Wearing gloves allows me to lift a heavier amount.
• Add an incline walk or the stair stepper to the end of your workout to continue to work your legs and burn torch more calories.

What more help? Want quick results? Contact Heather Whaley for a complimentary personal training evaluation today! Heather Whaley is a certified personal trainer with the International Sports Sciences Association. Heather practices and teaches fitness and nutrition as the cornerstone to overall health and wellness. Her approach is to help people set realistic attainable goals that create successful and lasting lifestyle changes.

For more on Heather or to schedule a training session with her, check out www.BrookhavenPersonalTrainer.com for more info.