Authored by Andy Chasse’ in Weight Issues
Published on 07-15-2009

It seems everyone has this problem these days. People focus entirely too much on the upper body, while ignoring the lower body until the end of time. Why, though? It is a common fact that a large portion of the population stores fat in the thigh region. This is especially true for females. Lower body training is tough, but refreshingly simple; there is no good reason to put it off any longer!

Although the lower body is made up of more than just those fat thighs, we’re going to ignore the calves and butt this time around. The anterior portion of the thigh is made up of a group of muscles called the quadriceps. The rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, and vastus medialis are all included in this group. These three muscles coordinate their efforts to allow for knee extension and hip flexion. The posterior section of the thigh may be referred to as the hamstrings. This muscle group is formed by the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus. The hamstrings perform in a manner exactly opposite of the quadriceps. They manage hip extension and knee flexion. In addition to these major muscles, a number of other important muscles assist in lower body movement and stabilization. Running diagonally across the thigh, the sartorius aids in knee and hip movement. The gracilis is a crucial hip adductor located on the inner thigh. Even in addition to these muscles, there are a plethora or other hard workers that we don’t need to get into right now.

With all of that scientific junk out of the way, how does one go about getting rid of fat thighs? Obviously, manipulating both nutrition and exercise is fundamental to this process.

1) Optimize the diet. This step is open to a wide variety of interpretation. However, here are the key components.

• Don’t starve yourself. This is the most common problem amongst lifters trying to tweak the diet. Starving yourself isn’t going to get rid of fat thighs.
• Three meals don’t make the cut anymore. Plan to eat six to seven times each day. Remember that this does include snacks. This will ensure that your metabolism is at an all-time high.
• Enforce the 10% rule on cheating. Cheat more than 10% of the time and you will be going nowhere fast.
• Drink that H2O. Water is a bigger player than most realize. Don’t underestimate its abilities.
• Don’t be afraid of fat. Fat isn’t all bad. Even saturated fat is perfectly fine in moderation. Avoid trans fat, limit saturated fat, and embrace everything else.

2) Train the quadriceps. Although there are tens upon tens of pivotal quadriceps exercises, the squat is definitely one of the most important when it comes to tightening up fat thighs. The squat is a well-known compound exercise that requires joint movement at the hip, knee, and ankle. Although the glutes actually function as the main mover in the squat, the quadriceps are the main synergist, or helper. In the squat, the hips flex as the butt moves towards the ground and the knees extend as the butt ascends from that bottom position. As stated above, the quadriceps are responsible for both of these functions. Utilize the close-stance squat to place greater stress on the quadriceps. The wide-stance variation draws more of the hamstrings into the motion. While this is certainly beneficial, the exercise below will take care of hamstring activity.

3) Train the hamstrings. Training this muscle group is just as necessary as training the quadriceps when it comes to trimming down fat thighs. The number one exercise counterpart to the squat is the deadlift. Specifically, the wide-stance deadlift. This is a very tough movement on both the hips and hamstrings. Be sure your technique is spot on before performing the deadlift at a high intensity. Rather than being placed on the upper back, the bar will now be placed on the floor. The lifter will then proceed to raise it from the ground to a full lockout. A full lockout simply means that the lifter must pull the shoulders back in the straightened position.