thigh exercises

Don't waste precious time squeezing your legs together on the boring adductor machine. Instead, opt for these three effective exercises that require no equipment whatsoever.

Pilates Side-Lying Leg Lifts

This Pilates move will help tighten up and tone your inner thighs for bathing suit season:

• Lying on your side, lengthen your bottom leg and cross your top leg over it. Rest either your knee or foot on the floor. Prop your head up with your hand, or rest your head on your arm.
• As you exhale, lift your bottom leg up, and inhale as you lower it back down. Your torso should stay still while you do this.
• Do as many reps on one side for 30 seconds, and then repeat on the other side for an additional 30 seconds.

Keep reading for two more equipment-free inner-thigh moves.

If you're looking for one move that will whip your lower body into shape, it's time to try gate swings.

This deep inner-thigh stretch tones your glutes, quads, and both your outer and inner thighs, and it also gets your heart rate up! The cardio element comes from a little plyometric jump that helps you transition between the two positions of this move. The directions seem straightforward, but trust me, you'll feel the burn with this one.

• Start with your feet in a wide, second-position stance with your toes pointed slightly outward. Bend your knees and lower into a squat, using your hands to help push your knees wide apart to deepen the inner-thigh stretch.
• Push off your knees to get leverage, and jump your right leg in front of your left, landing in a standing "cross-legged" stance.
• Immediately jump your legs back out to a wide squat with your hands at your knees.
• Push off your knees and jump your legs together, crossing your left leg in front of your right.
• Repeat as many times as possible for at least 40 seconds.

This move is great to use as a dynamic warmup before strength training.

Photo: POPSUGAR Studios

Try this thigh-sculpting move in the comfort of your own home, and see it work some magic on your gams. This barre-optional exercise from Pure Barre helps shape the body without the need for any equipment. Try it tonight!

The Setup

If you don't have a barre in your home, find a doorway you can stand in easily.

• Stand straight with your heels together and toes slightly apart to form a V shape. Bend your knees and place your palms against either side of the doorway for balance.
• Picture the barre behind your lower back, which will help remind you to tuck your pelvis under and pull your abdominals in.

Step One

• Extend the right leg straight out in front of you, with pointed toes.
• Take two counts to lift the right leg up until the foot reaches hip height, then lower it back down for two counts. Repeat five times.

Step Two

• On the last leg lift, keep your right leg up. Try to hold your leg in the highest position you can.
• Bend your right knee, and then lengthen it back to straight. Do this 10-15 times.
• Remember to keep your left knee bent to help stabilize your body.

See the rest of the variations and cooldown after the break!

Holding this wide ballerina stance, aka second position, will tone trouble areas around the thighs and get you up and off the mat. Bonus: you can also skip some of those bicycle crunches, because the obliques get stronger from doing this exercise. Try this Pure Barre move at home, and since no equipment is needed, there's no excuse to skip the exercise!

The Setup

• Begin with your legs wider than hip-width apart, and turn your toes slightly out. Bend your knees, coming into a wide squat position and keeping your shoulders directly over your hips.
• Place your hands on your hips, and pulse up and down in a one-inch range in this position for 15-20 seconds. (If you feel unsteady, then place a chair in front of you to use for balance.)

The Reach-Over 

• Keeping your knees bent, reach your left arm up and bend sideways to the right.
• Maintain the side bend as you pulse up and down, in a one-inch range; the further you reach, the more your obliques will work. Do this 15-20 times while keeping your hips even. Repeat on the opposite side.

Keep reading for two variations after the break.

Make sure to always stretch your inner thighs after you tone and tighten them to get even more out of your hard work. From lying on your back to posing in an active yoga stance, these stretches will have you bouncing back to the next activity in no time.

Single Leg Extension

Lie down for a rewarding stretch you can do after you're done exerting yourself.

• Hug one of your knees in toward your chest; from here you can choose whether or not to extend that leg for a deeper stretch. While extended, hold onto your leg from behind your calf, or use a resistance band if you can't reach.
• From whichever point you decide to stretch from, bent or extended, cross the active leg across your chest and hold it here for five-10 breaths for an IT band stretch.
• Now open your leg to the opposite side and just allow gravity to let your leg relax, feeling the stretch in your inner thighs. Then, switch sides.

See two more stretches after the break!

Squats are effective, but they can get a little tedious. By lifting off of one leg, you can put more weight into each side to get a quicker burn. Try this single-leg version for that cute dent dancers obtain in the side of their seat, or bathing suit line. Even if you won't be on the beach anytime soon, you can still show off your hard work in Winter leggings.

Chair Squat

• Begin with your feet on the ground, hip width apart.
• Take a bend in your knees and rock your weight back so that it's supported in your heels.
• Take your arms out front and bend from the elbows, drawing your hands up in fists.
• Flatten your back and try to hold this posture for the whole exercise.

Learn how to do the move after the break!

Tone your tush and your inner thighs with one swift move. Standing with your legs wide in a second-position stance works your backside as it supports you, and your inner thighs work as you rotate your legs open. Try this exercise in your living room or the weight room at the gym where you can use a mirror to check your posture.

Note: all of these movements are so minute that you will hardly be able to see them. They are small yet effective, and you will definitely feel the burn when doing them correctly. The tinier the action, the more controlled and successful it is.

Second Position

• Start in second position, with your legs opened wide to the sides and your toes turned slightly outward. Placing your hands on your hips, bend your knees, going as low as you can. Make sure your shoulders remain directly over your hips and your back stays in a straight vertical line. Use the mirror to monitor your posture. Do make sure to keep your heels directly below your knees to avoid harming the joint.
• While holding second position, in a pulsing fashion lower and raise your hips one inch for 10 to 15 reps.
• Stay at your lowest point and reverse the emphasis of the pulse and begin to lift your hips up one inch in a very tiny range of motion for 10 to 15 reps.

Arms Extended

• Extend your arms straight out in front of you with your palms facing down and hold this position for 20 counts.
• Bonus burn: keeping your arms out in front of your body, pulse your knees backward — the movement is small. If you find that it is too hard to press your knees back slightly, bring your toes forward until they are almost parallel, for if your feet are too far turned out, you won't be able to rotate your thighs in the hip sockets. Do this 10 to 15 times.