Australian Fitness Expert Rachael Attard Shares
Proven Strategies for Achieving Lean, Toned Legs
– Personal Trainer Sheds Light on Six Common Mistakes Preventing Fitness Goals –
Australian personal trainer and nutritionist Rachael Attard is successfully tackling a point of frustration for active women across the globe – how to achieve toned, lean legs. The trusted fitness expert is sharing her six proven reasons why legs don’t slim down despite regular exercise and a healthy diet, including common mistakes and how to avoid them.
“I hear from so many people that they’re training hard, eating well and focused on their fitness goals, but their legs aren’t getting slimmer,” said Attard. “Legs are the hardest area to slim down for most women. It’s easy to go down the wrong path when trying to achieve leaner legs, but a series of mistakes including doing the wrong types of workouts or not eating enough are likely to blame.”
According to Attard, mistake No. 1 is that you could be doing the wrong workouts.
“I see a lot of women solely focusing on doing heavy squats and lunges,” Attard said. “While those exercises are great for overall fitness, they won’t necessarily help slim down your legs if that is your main goal. I recommend switching it up and focusing on a mixture of cardio and resistance workouts along with walking.”
Cardio will help you drop body fat faster and resistance workouts will help you build muscle and burn more calories.
Mistake No. 2 is overtraining your legs, with women assuming that focusing on the legs as a problem area is the smart choice. The fact is, according to Attard, you can’t spot reduce fat from specific areas of your body through resistance training. This is an impossible effort, with results achieved much quicker and easier by adopting total body movements that work every area of your body equally, such as burpees and mountain climbers.
Not getting enough cardio is mistake No. 3 on Racheal’s list, which is a key element of achieving slim, toned legs. “Cardio is definitely not dead”, says Attard when it comes to slimming down your legs effectively.
At least 30 minutes of cardio daily is recommended for the best results, which Attard says can consist of simply walking.
“A lot of people don’t consider walking an exercise, but it’s one of the most effective exercises for lean legs, as it rids the body of overall excess fat including your inner thighs,” she says.
Attard is a big proponent of walking and advises starting each day with a 5K walk and incorporating as many steps into your day is at the top of her list of ways to achieve slimmer legs.
Overeating is mistake No. 4, which Attard attributes to most women not tracking their daily caloric intake and actually eating more than they realize. She recommends calculating your ideal daily amount of calories online, and eating approximately 200/250 calories less than that number without going below 1,200 calories per day. Conversely, not eating enough is mistake No. 5. In the same way you sabotage your fitness goals by overeating, under-eating can actually result in bigger legs. This is attributed to the fact that calorie restriction reduces your metabolism, which makes it harder to burn extra calories.
Finally, mistake No. 6 on Attard’s list is overall health and lack of awareness of a broader health issue that could be restricting your fitness success. This could include hormonal imbalances that cause weight gain and make weight loss harder to achieve, which can be helped by consulting a doctor or naturopath.
Rachael Attard is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist who holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Queensland, a Cert III and IV from the Australian Institute of Fitness, and a Certificate in Sports Nutrition from the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Her 3 Steps to Lean Legs Program was developed from her years of training women and helping them feel good in their skin, and fall in love with exercise and their bodies.
Additional details about Rachel Attard’s 3 Steps to Lean Legs Program can be found online, at https://www.rachaelattard.com. The website includes access to the program, a free body type quiz, insightful blog posts and more.
