I have been bombarded with requests from readers who want to tone and shape their bum and thighs. Often you start a lower body toning programme only to find this troublesome area actually grows instead of shrinks. This has a tendency to put people off training because they don’t get the results expected.

The size increase in your lower body (bum and thigh) area can depend on the type of programme you are doing and what you are eating. If your body fat storage areas tend to be around your bum and thighs you need to be careful of the extra bits and pieces you snack on. You can bet that most of the time when you consume extra calories and fat it will go straight to your thighs and bum.

Then there is exercise. There are workouts to increase size in your bum and thighs and workouts to re-shape and reduce the size. It's fine to say: "I am going to tone my bum and thighs," but if you are using a programme that’s not right for your body type, you can easily and unintentionally increase the size of both.

Here are some tips on how to increase or decrease size in the areas.

Cardio

Cardiovascular exercise plays an important part in how you can change or alter the size of your thighs and bum. To decrease the size, use a continual higher intensity style cardio programme.

This would be about 35 to 45 minutes at a challenging pace. You will need to perform about five to six sessions a week.

To increase size try using intervals for which you perform stints of "sprints" or increase the intensity to really help your bum and thigh muscles burn. About 35 minutes (up to 45 minutes) going from low intensity, then moderate, then flat out, then back to low intensity, moderate and back up to another short stint of flat out and so on. You can run up hills, then walk down, do sprint drills at the track sprinting 100m, then walking back. You get my drift. Do this about three times a week — four times if you’re trying to nip some more body fat in the bud.

Resistance exercise

It is important that you perform a full body workout, rather than just concentrating on your bum and thighs. This will help increase your metabolism and help bring your body into proportion.

If you’re pear-shaped and your bum/thigh areas are much larger than your upper body, you’ll need to help break down the muscle and fat. To do this, perform lunges — as many as you safely can per set. Your reps per set can range from 12 to 15 per leg through to 50+ depending on how advanced your leg training is.

Remember to only do what you can. Walking lunges are best, but if you don’t have room, then stationery lunges are fine. Don’t use any weights (no dumbbells, etc), just perform the lunges until your muscles really start to burn. Do this once (beginners), twice (intermediate), three times (advanced) a week for about 12 weeks.

Once you’ve completed this, you can start using other leg/bum exercises. Make sure you keep the weights low light and the reps high at about 20 to 25. Exercises like step-ups off benches are also great. Don’t use weights — just lots of reps.

To increase size in your thighs and bum, perform squats with heavier weights and keep your reps to about six to 12 a set. Leg press, squats, lunges, wide-stanced squats, and dead lifts are all great. Depending on your fitness level, including medicine ball exercises in your leg training once every few weeks will help develop your bum and thigh muscles to new levels you didn’t think were possible. Your current fitness level will determine what you can, can’t or shouldn’t do. There are "beginner’s" medicine ball exercises you can do as well.

Once you've got your bum and thighs to a size that you’re happy with, you can reduce the weights to moderate with reps of about 10 to 12 to maintain the muscle you’ve built. You can then add some exercises such as leg extensions and leg curls to add more definition to your legs.

If you have knee or joint problems you’ll need to seek advice from a trainer to create a programme that suits your specific needs. And always check with your doctor to ensure you have permission before starting a programme like this.

Ronald Abvajee heads My Personal Trainer Wellness, and consults to companies on executive health, fitness and productivity. Email him by clicking here or visit www.mypersonaltrainer.co.za