Inner Thighs!

I was talking to my trainer today and it seems that no matter what most women seem to do that fat on the inner thigh just won't go away!

As far as workouts go, I strength train 4 days a week and do cardio 5 days a week 60 minutes for every workout

My trainer actually wasn't sure what to say. You could always spot train but he has known women who have done that and still have a difficult time

I feel like the only people that don't have this problem are people suffering from anorexia or other eating disorders

Any ideas?

Your trainer apparently doesn't know how to tell you that there is no such thing as spot burning. Working a particular muscle does nothing to burn the fat over that muscle. You can work on losing general body fat, and eventually some of it will come from your inner thigh.

Also, look at your last statement - if the only people who don't have fat on their inner thigh have EDs, maybe that's a sign that if you try to get rid of it, you will look like you have an eating disorder. Which I will assume you don't want. So realize that it's healthy to have some fat there, and it isn't worth worrying about.

Yeah he was saying that spot training doesn't work and was thinking maybe it was one of those necessary fats that women hold in their bodies

I definitely don't want to look like I have an ED, I guess I should just realize that people aren't judging off my inner thigh fat! lol

join the club. My inner thighs look huge compaired to the rest of me now. All I can suggest is the step machine... it IS reducing my inner thighs, slowly but surely.

TRY THIS LINK. THESE EXECISES HAVE WORKED FOR ME. I HAVE BEEN DOING THEM FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS AND I HAVE NOTICED A DIFFERENCE.

http://www.women-workout-routines.com/inner-s ide-of-thighs.html

Awesome! thank you for this!

Study upon study has shown that spot training isn't the most effective way to lose the weight, around any particular area of your body. As others have said, it's in the reduction all around. I highly wonder what other "advice" your trainer is giving you!

You have to look at the overall picture.

You are doing well when if comes to the time and the days that you are training. I do hope you are giving your muscles days of rest too! I highly doubt, by the amount you devote to your excercise, that you are packing on and excess of dangerous weight, so I would not worry too much about the inner thighs! :) If you haven't yet, I would advise taking up a yoga class or pilates class. They are amazing for strengthening you inner core (and everywhere else!) and providing the nice, lean muscle mass we all love. Play it up a bit! See what works for you, but constantly challenge your muscles.

However, in regards to the 'overall picture,' how about your diet? Is it rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole wheat, nuts, WATER? Low sodium, as that can tend to make the body feel 'bloated' (at least it does with me!) Try for 4-5 SMALL meals a day.

Also...Sleep... does wonders for your body. :) 

Over-all, listen to your body and what works for you. Do not cut out the nessisary foods that your muscles need to strengthen and tone.  I'm not saying for certain that you will lose that pesky inner-thigh extras with my suggestions, but it's important to keep excersise enjoyable! (and yes, it CAN be!) :) But like you said as well, there are some areas of us women that we just tend to pack on a little more than others...and really, it's not always as bad as we think. :)

Good luck!

I'm with your trainer - I think it's a necessary fat. And at this stage I sink my head into my hands and wonder what the world has come to where a necessary, anatomically correct shape is seen as undesirable. I'm not saying it's just you, because I catch myself thinking like this too. But am I crazy? Am I saying that every single woman in the world looks wrong? If nothing else, can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be to be, um, intimate with a woman with no inner thigh fat? Frankly, the world has gone nuts.

It's funny that as much as I work out, inner thighs are my main problem still! I recommend the stair machine and doing walking side lunges.

while true that you can't "spot train" to reduce fat from any particular area, and you must work on general healthy overall fat reduction, the other side of this equation isn't often mentioned...

What happens is this.  people spot-train the thighs to try to reduce them.  This doesn't reduce thigh fat alone, but it DOES increase thigh muscle mass under the fat. So what do you get?  BIGGER THIGHS!  More frustration.  Work even harder on those thighs.  Get frustrated and depressed.  Blow the diet.. etc etc.. vicious cycle, that needs to be broken.

The answer is to exercise the whole body evenly : the increased general muscle tone will increase the metabolism, burning more calories in your sleep.  Let all the muscles in your body contribute to the increased metabolism, and forget thigh exercises completely.  Do the big muscles.  Quads, hamstrings, lats, chest, shoulders.  (Biceps and triceps if time permits - but the are already worked from the others anyway.)  These increases in these larger muscles' size will contribute much more to your general metabolic fat burning than anything else.  Those little inner thigh muscles... they don't have much to contribute except to increase your thigh size.

Also do some cardio exercis and eat a balanced normal healthy diet.  The results will come.

And if you're a women, don't worry about bulking up from the weight training, unless your testosterone levels are already high enough that you need to shave your face... or you're taking testosterone or steriod supplements!  It's hard enough for average MEN to bulk up from weight training - and we have a little more testosterone coursing thorough our veins.  (Another myth that I have heard women say  - "weight training will make me bulk up like a body builder")

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg89mceoOwE

Look at this you tube clip, it will give you an workout for your inner tights, but you are also hitting other areas as well. It want feel like it's a total spot train.

you are getting abs, arms, and inner tights, and you are using a Resistance band.

I do also use the moves that is in the link above. 

i've done weight training, running, pilates, etc... but nothing's ever tightened my inner thighs like barrework and ballet.. try taking some classes, in my experience controlled movements from the inner thighs are the best way to work them. Dance will also give you super strong legs, and there's alot of plyometrics involved because of strong explosive movements and impact exercises when you're doing choreography phrases or even at the barre. I'd really suggest incorporating it!

How many ways is it possible to say the same thing? Well, I don't know, but let's see if I can get this point across:

 There is no such thing as spot reduction.

You can't train a specific muscle and reduce the fat over it.

 Spot reduction of fat doesn't actually happen without liposuction.

 The only vague possibility for spot reduction is that high-intensity interval training may lead to a slightly greater mobilization of abdominal fat in females, but the results of that one study that said it might be possible have been irreproducible for anyone else so probably not.

 There's nothing you can do to make your body lose fat selectively from one spot over another, your body will mobilize fat deposits for energy where and how your genes have predetermined that it should, regardless of what you do to train.

 Oh, and there is no such thing as an exercise that can change the length or shape of a muscle, that requires surgery. Muscles can grow/stay the same due to sufficient stimulation, or shrink/atrophy due to insufficiently challenging training. If the workouts you are doing leaves your muscles looking smaller, it's in fact an insufficient trainng stimulus for them.

 Yoga is not strength training, neither is pilates. There's room for both in a fitness toolbox I suppose, but please don't confuse them with strength training, they're nothing of the sort. They will do nothing for you in terms of developing muscle compared to the results from proper strenght training, and they can't do much for you in terms of fat loss either - proper strength training has everything else beat all to heck and gone when it comes to fat loss.

Original Post by melkor:

How many ways is it possible to say the same thing? Well, I don't know, but let's see if I can get this point across:

 There is no such thing as spot reduction.

You can't train a specific muscle and reduce the fat over it.

 Spot reduction of fat doesn't actually happen without liposuction.

 The only vague possibility for spot reduction is that high-intensity interval training may lead to a slightly greater mobilization of abdominal fat in females, but the results of that one study that said it might be possible have been irreproducible for anyone else so probably not.

 There's nothing you can do to make your body lose fat selectively from one spot over another, your body will mobilize fat deposits for energy where and how your genes have predetermined that it should, regardless of what you do to train.

 Oh, and there is no such thing as an exercise that can change the length or shape of a muscle, that requires surgery. Muscles can grow/stay the same due to sufficient stimulation, or shrink/atrophy due to insufficiently challenging training. If the workouts you are doing leaves your muscles looking smaller, it's in fact an insufficient trainng stimulus for them.

 Yoga is not strength training, neither is pilates. There's room for both in a fitness toolbox I suppose, but please don't confuse them with strength training, they're nothing of the sort. They will do nothing for you in terms of developing muscle compared to the results from proper strenght training, and they can't do much for you in terms of fat loss either - proper strength training has everything else beat all to heck and gone when it comes to fat loss.

 I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Yoga uses your own body weight as resistance, like for tricept pushups, lunges and balancing poses. A Warrior 3  uses core, leg, upper and lower back muscles to perform this pose. Your balance is being used to strengthen the mucles in these areas. It's not as severe or direct as say a few reps with a dumbell, but they do strengthen muscles over a gentle, long period of time.  

Now, if you really get into the mediative and health benefits of Yoga, they are said to aid in digestion, nervous system function, blood circulation, and emotional well being. These results of practicing Yoga could be a significant tool in weight loss.

Original Post by m0m6:

 I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Yoga uses your own body weight as resistance, like for tricept pushups, lunges and balancing poses. A Warrior 3  uses core, leg, upper and lower back muscles to perform this pose. Your balance is being used to strengthen the mucles in these areas. It's not as severe or direct as say a few reps with a dumbell, but they do strengthen muscles over a gentle, long period of time. 

 Sitting at a desk typing all day uses your core, leg, upper and lower back, shoulder and arm muscles all of which work against your body weight.  Does that mean sitting at a desk all day is strength training also?

http://www.fitday.com/webfit/exerciseinfopage .html

go to this link to find out howmay calories you are burning per hour accordign to your weight, height and age. I didn't think that just sitting here typing actually helped to burn calories.

Here's some EXCELLENT spot training advice:

Train yourself to love all your spots. :D

I'd trade my tummy pudge for inner thigh fat any day though! Let's TRADE!
(edit: Obviously I'm still in training myself....)

Just keep training. Lower body fat % overall is the only thing that will improve inner thigh tone. But in the mean time... take my advice above!

I can't vouch for yoga, but I can say that I love Pilates. I don't like how it's so easily dismissed as being pretty much useless.

I found that a lot of Pilates techniques have helped me firm up. It's really good at working your core, and a lot of the exercises on my Pilates DVD's I've seen on my strength training DVD's. So I'm confused as to why everyone is always hatinnnnng!

Sorry, this is off topic to the OP.

Original Post by jblarghp:

I can't vouch for yoga, but I can say that I love Pilates. I don't like how it's so easily dismissed as being pretty much useless.

2 questions:

1) when was the last time you used any movement done in pilates in real life?

2) How do you increase the resistance when you've gotten 'strong enough' to do the movements?

1) I sleep on my back sometimes, usually not with my legs in the air though.

2) A lot of the Pilates DVD's I've done have used hand weights and resistance bands. Sometimes I start off without using either, and then add them in. I figure I'll use heavier weights or add more resistance when that time comes.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by m0m6:

 I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Yoga uses your own body weight as resistance, like for tricept pushups, lunges and balancing poses. A Warrior 3  uses core, leg, upper and lower back muscles to perform this pose. Your balance is being used to strengthen the mucles in these areas. It's not as severe or direct as say a few reps with a dumbell, but they do strengthen muscles over a gentle, long period of time. 

 Sitting at a desk typing all day uses your core, leg, upper and lower back, shoulder and arm muscles all of which work against your body weight.  Does that mean sitting at a desk all day is strength training also?

 Oh, now your just being silly and you know it!

sitting at a desk is static, it doesn't require you to make small and automatic adjustments in your muscles to keep your balance like a yoga pose does.  Plus the chair and desk are supporting a fair amount of your weight, so your muscles are firing at near the same level.

I think a better example to use would have been someone standing on one leg for an hour or two with their arms straight out.