How do those two phrases make you feel? I'm willing to bet that you don't feel very good after reading them.

They probably make you feel fat. For that I apologize.

I don't want to make you feel fat. I want to make you feel like a lean, strong woman capable of doing anything she sets her mind to.

But how do you feel that way when you've got all that extra flab hanging on your thighs?

Good question.

There are a few things you need to start doing right now if you want to get rid of the thigh fat and get a set of strong, lean legs.

The first one is obvious. You need to clean up your diet.

That doesn't mean you need to rush out to the bookstore and grab the latest best-selling fad diet. That'll just make things worse in the long run because you'll gain more weight than you lost when you go off the diet.

All it means is you need to get rid of fat gaining foods like processed carbohydrates, too much chocolate (at least switch to extra dark), anything fried, and calorie-bomb coffee drinks. You then need to replace those things with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fat fighting nuts like almonds and lean sources of protein like chicken and turkey breast, and lean cuts of beef.

The next thing you need to do is focus on interval training for your cardio over the boring, monotonous 60-90 minutes you're used to. By doing interval training for your cardio, you'll burn more fat than with the moderate-paced stuff you've been force-fed for years, plus you'll get done in a fraction of the time.

There are lots of different ways you can do interval training. You can do it on a treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike by mixing bouts of high intensity exercise for 20-40 seconds with bouts of very low intensity exercise for 60-90 seconds. Repeat the cycle for around 12-15 minutes and you're done!

You'll be done with your cardio sooner than many of the ladies have even entered their "fat burning zone." A zone which doesn't exist by the way.

The next thing you need to focus on is performing resistance training properly.

To really lose fat off your thighs, you need to stop focusing on those isolation exercises like the hip adductor/abductor machines, leg extensions, etc. and start focusing on big compound movements like squats and lunges. There are so many variations of squats and lunges that you should never get bored with them.

And don't worry. Doing those exercises will not give you bigger thighs. I don't care what you may have been told, it's practically impossible for most women to get big thighs from doing those types of exercises.

Here's a quick leg workout I gave to a client of mine who was wanting to lose thigh fat.

I told her to do this mini-circuit right after her warm-up.

1A) Walking Lunge - 10 reps per leg 1B) Plie Squat - 8 reps 1C) Mountain Climbers - 30 seconds

I told her to perform those 3 exercises as a circuit moving from one exercise to the next with little to no rest. You should also perform this circuit 3-4 times before moving on with the rest of your workout.

Perform this mini-circuit before you do anything else in your workout, 2-3 times per week for 4 weeks and I guarantee you'll lose thigh fat.

Copyright (c) 2008 Ed Scow