After the summer, I decided my internship had taken up most of my time and I was definitely lacking in the exercise category. I started doing some research and found some exercises that the famous Carrie Underwood does on a regular basis. Who doesn’t envy those legs? Guys love to look at them and girls will always remain envious of them. Have you ever seen a more perfectly sculpted pair of legs? Definitely not. Carrie has the sort of definition and tone that most women only dream about. And she’s clearly worked hard to get them – so we can hardly blame her for showing them off, can we?
Don’t imagine for a second that owning a pair of hot legs like this is out of your reach. Google will tell you that Carrie was 2 sizes heavier than her weight now when competing in American Idol and has only recently developed this beautifully toned body over the past few years.
Want to start laying the steps for your own incredibly defined legs? Here’s how it’s done:
1. Choose compound exercises that work all your major leg muscles in one hit.
From my research, I learned that weight machines are for people who want to build poorly balanced, chunky muscles. So not what women are after! Exercises like squats, lunges, side-ways lunges, dead-lifts, 1-leg dead-lifts or squats, and stability ball work like lying leg curls are the best ways to define your legs. To achieve the bonus effect of some powerful fat burning while working with weights, perform 4 or 5 types of these exercises back to back, for about 8-12 reps each, with no rest between exercises. Rest for 30 seconds after completing the circuit. Repeat this 3-4 times.
Aim for at least 2 sessions like this each week while working on core and upper body the rest of the week.
2. Sprint, baby, sprint!
Toning comes from sprinting. Long runs are good for burning calories, but sprinting on the treadmill works wonders on your bottom half. To blast off body fat come up with a sprint and interval cardio work out, and you’re good to go. I’d recommend 2-3 sessions of 15-20 minute sprint work each week, either on its own, or right after a leg session. Be at your freshest by doing your sprints after an upper/core dominant session rather than after a big leg workout.
3. Drain out any excess fluid that may be puffing you up.
It’s said that a good percentage of your despised ‘fat’ is actually excess fluid and water retention that you are carrying due to a combination of too much caffeine, too much sugar, too many grain-based foods, and a hormonal imbalance brought on by all this bad food with daily stress. Talk about a recipe for bloating and disaster!
I’ve come to a conclusion that bloating might possibly be the worst thing ever. I recommend sitting in the sauna or steam room. Not only is it relaxing, but it gets rid of all that extra water weight. It’s also easy to trim your body of excess fluid by making a few simple changes to the way you eat. Try cutting any form of table salt, sugar, caffeine, and starch.
Don’t think all that is worth the effort? Well that’s your call. Fight for that perfect bod early so you aren’t worrying about it during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Now that Carrie is pregnant, that's see if she can keep those perfect legs.
