Leg Exercises from Hollywood's Hottest Trainer
When we asked you, our loyal Thread viewers, whose legs you wanted the most, the same three names topped your lists: Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Shakira. Guess what? Tracy Anderson trains them all and we caught up with her in her New York studio to find out how we can get strong, sexy legs of our own.
Now, in all fairness, Tracy says that all of her clients work HARD. Gwyneth trains six days a week- in fact, she was working out at the studio when we stopped by.
If you've ever seen any of Anderson's routines, you know that she often uses bands, bars and machines similar to a Pilates Reformer. But when I asked her to show me some of the exercises she does with Gwyneth, Kate and Shakira, she said all we needed was a yoga mat.
•Gwyneth: With Gwyneth, Tracy focuses on maintaining her "perfect" butt, toning her post-baby lower abs and defining her legs. In other words, she loves exercises that hit multiple areas at once like the first exercise she showed me. We began in a high plank position. The first move was to bring one knee into my stomach, then point my leg out to the side to hit my butt, hamstrings, lower abs and arms simultaneously.
• Kate: Kate has a fit dancer's body and, as Tracy says, their workouts are all about toning strategically without creating bulk. We hit the mat again for Tracy's version of side leg lifts that target the outer hip, butt and inner thighs. Who couldn't use a little of that?
• Shakira: The energetic pop star already has a great butt and sexy legs, so Tracy says their work is all about "keeping that perfect." Our final exercise began on all fours and involved bringing my right knee to the back of my left, then kicking the same leg out to the right side without rotating my hip at all. Not easy.
I was sore after just five minutes, which actually made me feel good because I knew the exercises were getting something done. It's hard to imagine, but Tracy suggests doing all three moves in a sequence with up to 40 reps on each side. Yup, 40. I think I'll have to build up to that.
For more information, check out tracyandersonmethod.com.
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