You’re probably already feeling sleeker, stronger and more sculpted—and the best muscle makeover is yet to come. It’s time for stepped-up moves called triples, which target three muscle groups at once, always including your stomach.

For each of the moves in this plan, created by Skip Gagnon, exercise physiologist at The Golden Door Spa at the Wyndham Peaks Resort in Telluride, Colorado, keep your abs pulled in tight the entire time.

To ensure good form—and great results—Gagnon has clients tie a piece of string around their waists; when abs are totally tucked in, the string goes slack. Try it! Do two sets of 12 to 15 reps of each move. Or substitute your own total-body strength-training program, as long as you do three 20-minute sessions a week.

You may want to become a better runner or cyclist. You may want muscular thighs, or slimmer, more toned thighs. What you identify as your goal will influence how you work these muscles. But, no matter what your goal is, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the major muscle groups of your thighs and how to train them.
It’s important to have a basic understanding of the major muscle groups of your thighs and how to train them.

Get to know your upper leg
There are numerous muscles in the thigh that can be separated into these main muscle groups.

Front Thigh
Your quadriceps consist of four long muscles that run down the front of your thigh. They work together to primarily extend, or straighten, your knee. You use your quads every time you take a step, jump or kick.

Rear Thigh
Your hamstrings are three long muscles that run from your rear-end to the back of your knee. They actually perform two movements. They flex your knee (bring your heel to your rear-end) and extend your hip (pull your thigh backward). Your “hams” help you walk, run and sprint.

Inner Thigh
Your adductors consist of four muscles whose main function is to squeeze your upper legs together. They also help to stabilize your thigh when walking, running or jumping.

No Outer Thigh?
You don’t have a distinct muscle group for your outer thigh. It is just a combination of your outer quadriceps and hamstrings muscle. So when you train these muscle groups (front and rear thigh), you’ll also develop your outer thigh.

Exercises
You’ve probably noticed a common theme with all the areas of the thigh. Although each area performs a distinct movement, they are all active in movements such as walking, running, jumping or squatting. This means you can either perform exercises to isolate a muscle group or you can do one exercise to train all three groups at the same time.

Isolate the muscle groups with machine exercises:
Quadriceps (front thigh) – machine knee extension.
A classic seated exercise to isolate your quad muscles.

Hamstrings (rear thigh) – machine knee curl.
This exercise is typically performed lying face down, where you bring your heel to your rear-end.

Adductors (inner thigh) – machine hip adduction.
Isolate your groin muscles with this leg-squeezing machine.

Train the whole thigh:
Squats – front squat, dumbbell squat.
These exercises will help you develop correct lifting technique while strengthening your legs, rear-end, and lower back.

Lunges – front lunge, back lunge, side lunge.
A great way to strengthen your thighs and rear-end while improving your balance.

Machine leg press.
An easier way to train your whole thigh compared to squats and lunges, because it eliminates the balance element.
It’s important to have good flexibility in your upper legs to reduce knee problems and low back pain.

Squats and lunges are great exercises because they strengthen and develop the muscles in movements similar to real life activities such as running, jumping and squatting. In addition, these exercises are major calorie burners because all of these large muscle groups are active at the same time. Just make sure you use correct technique!

Stretching
It’s important to have good flexibility in your upper legs to reduce knee problems, low back pain, and muscle strains. The hamstrings often lack flexibility, so you may need to emphasize this area in your stretching routine. Here are a few suggestions for the basic areas of the thigh:

Front thigh — kneeling quadriceps stretch.
A great stretch for the quads, also stretches your ankles.

Rear thigh — seated forward bend.
This is the classic sit-and-reach stretch for your hamstrings.

Inner thigh — butterfly stretch.
A seated stretch where you bring the soles of your feet together, close to your groin.

More stretches and exercises can be found in the Interactive Fitness section. You can learn proper technique, tips, and cautions, as well as view the exercises from three different angles. Add them to your Gym Bag for future reference, or create your own workout with them. Also, explore workouts and programs that emphasize the lower body. Add them to your calendar and get started today!

Endurance Training – Cycling, rowing, running or stair-climbing done at a moderate to high level (70-80% of maximum heart rate) for 45 – 60 minutes will help with endurance. These recommended activities allow for high intensity workouts that increase endurance levels.

Weight Loss – All six of the aerobic activities listed can be weight-loss activities, if done at a moderate to high intensity level for at least 30 minutes. Weight loss is about calories burned, the more you burn, the more weight you will lose.
Muscle Definition – Circuit/aerobic weight training will help to achieve definition. Choose a circuit of exercises with minimal rest (30 seconds) between sets. The result is a substantial increase in caloric expenditure, ultimately helping you to decrease body fat and heighten definition.

Muscle Building – A common cardio exercise choice for bodybuilders is to train at roughly 60%-80% of your maximum heart rate, cycling, running, stair-climbing, or rowing for at least 20 minutes. Another option is to use circuit/aerobic weight training on your “light” days to ensure heart health and increase caloric expenditure. This will keep you lean while you are building up on the weights.

Circuit training consists of going quickly from one exercise to another for an extended period of time, say 20 minutes. It is promoted as giving both strength and aerobic training in the same workout. It does that, but you compromise both. The strength aspect is not as effective as a dedicated strength workout, and the aerobic benefits are less than with strict aerobic training. Nevertheless, circuit training does have its place. For one thing, if your schedule is so tight you will not have the time to do both aerobic and strength workouts, you can at least get some of the benefits of each. Or, you can use it as a change of pace, or because it is fun. It will also keep you in shape if you’re spending most of your exercise time on a seasonal sport. There are ways to make circuit training more effective. If you want to do circuits, home training is ideal. At the gym, you may find someone sitting on the machine you need to use next, which breaks your rhythm and disrupts your circuit. At home, you just sail through.

For circuit training, use a weight that is about 60% of 1RM (the weight you can lift only once) for a given exercise. Do exercise 1 for about 45 seconds, take about 15 seconds to set up for exercise 2, then continue. Although the weight is light, you still need to take 3-5 seconds per repetition, so that you will do about 10-15 reps before moving on. Rotate body parts so you won’t overwork a particular muscle. A typical circuit would be: bench press (for chest), row or pulldown (back), squat (legs), military press (shoulders), biceps curl, triceps kickback, calf raises, ab crunches. Rest a minute and do another circuit. With a 3-minute warm-up (jog in place, climb stairs, jump rope) and a couple minutes stretching at the end, you have a good over-all workout in 25 minutes.

If you want to emphasize the cardio aspect, you can do super circuits, which involves doing cardio intervals in between exercises. Expand the period between exercises to 30 seconds, or even 60, and use that time to do cardio exercise. A stationary bike is the best to use for this, because it doesn’t usually require a lot of programming of the equipment. You could use a treadmill, if you keep it running, and if you are sure you can get on and off safely. Or, of course, you can run in place, go up and down an interior staircase, jump rope (a good cardio exercise), or even bounce on a rebounder.

Want more lower body or just heavier weight workouts? Do something like this: squats, bench press, bentover row, lunges, incline press, pull-ups, for one minute each, for your circuit.

If you have more time, you can do a third set. Two circuit workouts a week is good, but three would be better. Don’t do these two days in a row.