Q: I'm already doing squats and lunges. How do I target my inner and outer thighs?
A: I've got good news...you are already doing the most effective exercises for targeting the inner and outer thighs. In my experience, when a client wants to work the inner and outer thighs what they are really seeking is a reduction in body fat in that area and a conditioning of the muscles there that can be seen. We can certainly add hip adduction and abduction exercises which are frequently presented as key inner and outer thigh exercises if you wish. More is better. However, let me walk you through the rationale for your program design as it stands now.
The thighs are largely made up of the muscles that comprise your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Those muscles make up 99% of the thigh muscles that you can see and touch. Those muscles are most effectively conditioned through knee and hip flexion and extension. Any time you can work both knee flexion/extension and hip flexion/extension at the same time you utilize the greatest amount of muscle achieving a superior results. That's why squats, lunges, and leg presses reign supreme for conditioning the thigh muscles. Because those exercise work so much muscle at once, they are also perfect choices for elevating your metabolism. In fact, no single resistance training exercise uses more muscle at once than the squat (ie: with the exception of some Olympic lifts).
The next rung of leg exercise with serious thigh impact would be single joint exercises that still work a significant amount of muscle. Those include leg extensions, leg curls, and glute extensions. Running a distant third for thigh impact would be hip adduction and abduction exercises (ie: "inner and outer thigh" exercises). The muscles that these exercises target have already been worked most effectively through lunges and squats with the exception of a few muscles that lie deep within the hip. To boot, these exercise expend very little energy and thus raise your metabolism only minimally.
Inner thigh exercises will help, so I'm happy to add them to your program. Just be sure to save them for the end so that you can be sure to perform your squats and lunges as intensely as possible because those are the exercises that will by far and away have the greatest impact on your inner thighs.
Inner thigh exercises will help, so I'm happy to add them to your program. Just be sure to save them for the end so that you can be sure to perform your squats and lunges as intensely as possible because those are the exercises that will by far and away have the greatest impact on your inner thighs.