No equipment needed for this quick and easy slim thighs challenge and you don’t even need to get down on the floor. All you need is a wall for support.
Before you do this workout, please read the general exercise safety guidelines here.
Warm-up
Although this isn’t a high intensity workout and only uses body weight as resistance, the exercises take the muscles and joints further than their normal ranges of movements, so you need to make sure you’re warm enough. Ideally, avoid doing the challenge straight from sitting for a long period or as soon as you get out of bed. Before you start the day’s reps, do a couple of warm up lifts in each direction. For these, just lift your leg halfway through the range. Once you’ve done this, progress onto the full lifts.
For more about warm-up see this post.
Slim thighs challenge – the exercises
The number of reps/hold time you should do of each exercise every day are given on the workout chart below.
# 1 Side leg raises
- Have one hand on the wall for support
- Make sure you are standing straight (not bending forward), with your butt pulled under your body
- Lift and lower your leg to the side, making sure it is in line with the body – as if you were standing in a very narrow space between 2 walls
#2 Leg lift behind
- Have both hands on the wall for support
- Make sure that you stand straight and don’t arch your low back
- Lift one leg up behind, as high as you can without arching your back, then lower and repeat
#3 Wall sit
As well as reading the general safety notes linked to above, please be aware that the wall sit is not suitable for anyone with high blood pressure. This is because the muscle contraction is held for several seconds, which can cause blood pressure to rise.
How to get into the wall sit position
- Stand with your back to the wall, about 18-24 inches away from it, legs hip distance apart
- Using your hands to help support you, bend your knees as you lean your back against the wall
- When your back is fully in contact with the wall, start to slide down, until your thighs are parallel with the floor
- Check that your knees are lined up above your ankles – adjust your foot position if not.
The position shouldn’t be uncomfortable. If there is any discomfort in your back or knees, then check your position carefully.
Coming out of the wall sit
Slide back up the wall and use your hands to push away from the wall
Slim thighs challenge chart
These are the reps of the above exercises for each day of the challenge. You can get a printable version by entering your e-mail address below.
Note: for the leg lift exercises, the number is for each exercise/each leg – so for example on day 1 you do 5 x side leg left, 5 x side leg right, 5 x leg behind left, 5 x leg behind right.
Sign up for My Fitness Planner updates and get a a link to the thigh exercises challenge PDF e-mailed to you:
After you sign up, you’ll get 2 e-mails, one will have a link to your printable download and the other will be a welcome e-mail.
If the e-mails haven’t turned up within a few minutes, please check your junk folder, as some service providers have very strict filters.
Related to slim thighs challenge
Challenge FAQs
The first day of the challenge should feel like it needs a bit of effort, but not too much. If you really struggle with day 1, then you probably won’t get through the challenge. The idea with the challenges on this site is that the first few days get you used to the exercises and the daily habit. Usually about halfway through the challenge the effort levels start to increase more quickly.
Avoid challenges that increase effort levels very quickly – they’re simply not realistic. It’s unlikely that, for example, you would be able to increase how many squats you are able to do by 10 a day for 30 days, or increase your plank hold time by 10 seconds a day for 30 days.
In general, allowing muscles 48 hours between workouts is good because it gives our bodies time to recover and adapt. Challenges are generally short workouts and for a limited period of time (usually 30 days), so not having many rest days won’t be a problem. With challenges that alternate exercises each day, it’s not an issue, because you’re using different muscles.
Fitness improvements don’t always happen in a predictable way. Sometimes we’re just not as strong or energetic for no apparent reason, or we hit a plateau. If you get to a point where you’re struggling to complete the day’s challenge, you can try one of the following:
- Take a couple of days off and start again where you left off
- Do the challenge on alternate days rather than every day
- Instead of increasing the effort every day, stay at the same level for 2 or 3 days and then go onto the next day of the challenge
Obviously these solutions mean the challenge will last longer, but you’ll still benefit from doing it.
