5 Moves to Get Leaner, Stronger Legs Faster

The start of bikini season means lots of leg will be flashing! Don't cover up at the beach or pool this summer. We've got five tips you can incorporate into your everyday workout routine that will help you get leaner, stronger, sexier legs faster!

Work Your Lower Half in Every Move: Your lower body is the easiest and quickest place to build calorie-torching lean muscle. You have over 200 muscles below the belt, including the largest muscle in your body - your gluteus maximus. So get off your glutes and get your lower body going in everything you do. Stand on one leg for shoulder presses or squat during biceps curls. The more you work your lower half, the faster you'll see results. Need more ideas? Try this total body routine.

Get off the Machines at the Gym: Those weight machines at the gym may look impressive, but they aren't helping you build an impressive physique. You'll burn more calories and work more muscles at once by doing a side lunge instead of using an isolation equipment piece like the adductor machine. "During a side lunge there is a lot of balance and stability required, thus meaning more work by the adductors (or inner thigh muscles). In addition to strengthening the ligaments of the knee, all the other muscles in the legs are being worked as well- quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves. The more muscles being worked, the more energy being burned, which means leaner, stronger legs faster," says Dominic Lucibello, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and owner of Breakthrough Fitness in Orlando, Florida.

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Wear a Pedometer: In addition to your workouts, try wearing a pedometer and setting a daily goal of 10,000 steps. Adding in more daily activity can help you burn more calories and gets results faster without having to log in extra time at the gym.

Sprint for Lean Legs: "Sprints are cardio intervals, bringing the heart rate up fast and then letting it come down in between. This boosts metabolism and burns more calories than jogging at a steady rate and is a great way to get leaner legs," says Tom Holland, star of the Supreme 90 Day DVD System. Start incorporating sprints into your next cardio workout by moving as fast as you can for 15 seconds (with plenty of recovery in between) up to three times during your session.

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Hold It: "At the end of every set, try to hold a contracted position (like the bottom of a squat) for as long as you can. This is called an isometric contraction and will help you get stronger through the toughest parts of range of motion," says Jeff Dolgan, a clinical exercise physiologist at Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach, Florida.

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