It’s a beautiful day outside! You realize you can pull out your skinny jeans and blouse that are so conveniently hanging in your closet, ready for your picking. However, when you go to pick through your clothes, you notice that all your wire hangers with your jeans on it are smiling at you, like so—>  😀  or if you need a better example, I drew one for you below.

That’s right, smiling. Your wire hangers have lost their “hanger shape” and are now bending in the middle, forming a shame that is similar to a wide, happy SMILE. Ironically, this smile should not make you happy. If your hangers had feelings, they would be trying to convey that they are SO sad because they have to support the massive amount of weight of caused from your CLOTHES. The bigger you are, the more material is needed to make your clothes, and therefore, the more smiles your wire hangers will produce!!

Of course, the quick fix to this is to just stop using wire hangers or to limit the amount of clothes per one hanger. HOWEVER, I know you are not looking for the easy, quick way out. The harder, better way would be to focus on the areas that cause you to need more fabric. So, what kind of clothes are making your hangers smile? In this case, we will assume it is you jeans and pants that are causing the issue, so our focus today will be LEG EXERCISES.

~Frog squats~ 

*even though they are called FROG squats, you do NOT squat ALL the way down like a frog.

Irony again, I know.*

1) First, stand with your feet shoulder length apart.

Tip: If you stand with your legs too close, you will not be able to squat adequately. If your legs are too far apart, you may injure your groin muscles or other muscles that are not intended to be worked with this exercise.

2) Place your hands together in a praying position, with both palms touching each other.

Tip: This helps you focus on centering your energy and concentrating on still maintaining a solid core, which will help you as the exercise becomes more complicated.

3) Keeping your back straight, bend your legs at the knees in the squat, but do not let your knees pass your ankle.

Tip: Doing so could make you lose your balance and cause injury, not to mention cause strain on the ankles and calves.

4) While you are raising up from squatting position, you will hop forward instead of standing straight up.When you are hopping, you will be in the air for no longer than two seconds (unless you’re a great jumper!). Be sure to keep your hands centered with your chest, palms still touching.

Tip: The amount of time you hop is entirely on you, however, for maximum results, the recommended amount of hops will be about three big hops.

5) Once you have hopped forward three times (or the amount that you choose), you will do the same exercise BACKWARDS, so that you end up in the same general area that you started.

Tip: Do not do this exercise in a cluttered area. Remove objects that can be tripped on or cause you to run into them. You should not need to look backwards to hop, but if you feel the need, be sure to stay focused on your form and the bend of the squat.

6) Repeat this exercise in reps in an amount that you feel is really working your thighs, calves and glutes.

WARNING: THIS EXERCISE WILL BURN IF YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT, BUT DO NOT GIVE UP! PUSH IT OUT AS LONG AS YOU CAN.

Tip: BREATHE, BREATHE, BREATHE!!! I can not stressing breathing enough. The easiest way would be to inhale before going into squat position, then exhaling as you are entering squat positions.

These frog squats target the hips,  thighs, butt, and calves so that you will develop firm muscles, in addition to getting cardio from the constant back-and-forth motion. Your arms may also burn from holding them in the praying position during your exercise, but this is not your main focus and therefore, should not alarm you if you do not feel the burn.

Your hangers will not only thank you for it, but they will no longer smile at you in such a mocking manner as you begin to shed those pesty extra pounds (and fabric!)

Good luck!

….Oh, and happy hanging! 🙂

(No wonder the mom from the movie Mommie Dearest was so angry! YIKES!)