Inner thighs can tend to be a pesky business and while we aren’t saying you need a “thigh gap,” losing an inch or two to fit into those jeans you love can boost more than just your self esteem. Strong, toned inner thighs come with benefits far beyond rockin’ a swimsuit, in fact, engaging these muscles helps to:

• Improve body awareness
• Correct dysfunctional, unattractive posture
• Provide a strong foundation for your spine when standing
• Decrease chronic aches and pains (specifically in your lower back, hips, and knees)
• Strengthen your core

With so many benefits, who wouldn’t want to work those muscles? And the best part? You don’t have to spend hours on your inner thighs to get the results you want. Just a few minutes doing the right moves, in an effective way, a few times per week can make a dramatic difference!

To get started, try these three awesome exercises:

Toss and Catch

This one might take a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fun and super effective.

• Lie on your back with your legs extended to a 90 degree angle (if your hamstrings are tight and you need to bend your knees a bit, that’s just fine)
• Inhale to prep
• Exhale, gentle toss a stability ball up and catch it between your feet
• Squeeze
• Inhale, drop
• Exhale, toss and squeeze
• Keep your belly button pulled to your spine to protect your lower back
• Repeat the tossing and catching for a minute or two

Related: 7 Best Exercises To Reduce Cellulite

Heel Beats

This Pilates exercise comes with bonus benefits! Along with being an awesome inner thigh strengthener, it’s also going to tone your buns, thighs, and lower back.

• Lie on your stomach, with your belly button pulling toward your spine
• Extend your arms out in front of you, with your palms on the ground and your shoulders pulling away from your ears
• Squeeze your heels together, hold
• For a bigger challenge, lift your legs off the ground, with your heels squeezing, hold
• For even bigger challenge, keep your legs lifted, flex your toes, lengthen your legs out through your heels, and begin to beat your heels, inhaling for 5 counts and exhaling for 5 counts
• The bigger your movement side-to-side, the higher you lift your legs, and the faster you go, the more intense the exercise becomes
• Start with 20 beats, work your way up to 50

Inner Thigh Lifts

This exercise comes from the Pilates Side Leg Series. It’s going to work your inner thighs in an extremely isolated manner.

• Lie on your side
• Line your elbow, shoulder, and hip up with the back of your mat
• If your neck gets sore, rest your head down, using your arm as a pillow
• Move your feet forward to the front of your mat (so your body is in a banana-like shape…in Pilates this is called a ‘Pike’ position)
• Place the foot of your top leg on the mat, in front of your bottom leg
• Grab your ankle if you’re able (if not, no worries)
• Flex the toes of your bottom food and turn them toward the floor
• Lengthen your bottom leg out through your heel
• Inhale to prep
• Exhale, slowly lift your bottom leg, leading with your heel
• Inhale, lower with control
• Exhale, slowly lift (continue to lengthen out through your heel as you go)
• Continue for 10 reps
• For a challenge, hold your leg up on your last rep and pulse for a count of 20
• Make sure all movement is straight up and straight down (minimizing any side-to-side movement), in order to effectively target your inner thighs throughout this exercise
• Switch sides

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