Thin Thighs: Cool Sculpting vs. Inner and Outer Thigh Machines

By Lorra Garrick | Last updated 05/23

If you’re scared of complications from liposuction, perhaps you’re wondering which would work better to slim thick thighs: cool sculpting or thigh machines?

I’ll cut to the chase: When it comes to losing that stubborn excess fat in your outer and/or inner thighs, you can absolutely forget the inner and outer thigh machines (hip adduction and hip abduction, respectively) at your gym.

Though you can strengthen these relatively small muscle groups with the inner and outer motions against resistance, this doesn’t mean that these single-joint movements will shrink fat cells.

This is likely very puzzling and difficult to understand, since we all know that exercise shrinks fat cells.

While CoolSculpting is a form of “spot reducing,” in that the specifically treated areas (such as the thighs) will begin getting smaller within a few weeks, we have to remember that strength training (such as use of the inner and outer thigh machines) does not spot reduce!

In order to make your thighs leaner, you must work out with enough intensity to force your body into raiding the fat in your thighs’ fat cells.

When your body does this, other areas will get raided too, such a your stomach.

In other words, strength training with enough intensity will mobilize fat depots all throughout the body – wherever there is excess storage of fat.

The problem is that hip adduction and abduction aren’t intense enough.

The hip abduction machine. Shutterstock/Yakov Oskanov

The adductor and abductor muscles aren’t big enough to force your body into a major energy deficit if these muscles are worked.

They’ll get stronger and more toned, but the stubborn layer of fat will remain – unless you add other strength training moves: multi-joint exercises that target large muscle groups.

The squat
The deadlift
The leg press
Barbell presses
Pulling movements such as the lat pull-down, seated row, T-bar row and standing barbell row
Sled work
The tire flip

When these moves are done intensely, that is, with a weight load that forces you to struggle through the sets, this will force your body to ransack fat deposits for recovery energy!

The barbell squat. Shutterstock/Stas Tolstnev

The inner and outer thigh machines alone will not do this.

When your body is in a substantial energy deficit, it will pull from fat reserves and convert that blubbery energy to recovery fuel.

The caveat is that this process can easily be undermined by overeating. You must not overeat.

Otherwise, your body will use the surplus calories for its recovery – and that “stubborn” fat will remain in your thighs.

The bench press. Depositphotos.com

Sometimes, Intense Compound Strength Training Isn’t Enough

In some cases, despite a strenuous regimen of squatting, deadlifting, weighted walking lunges, leg pressing, bench pressing and even pull-ups and chin-ups, excess fat might still remain in the thighs, despite controlled eating habits.

This is where CoolSculpting comes in. CoolSculpting DOES work. It freezes fat cells to death.

At the end of a treatment, the dead fat cells are still in your thighs. But over the next several weeks, the body’s natural flushing-out (lymphatic) system will rid these dead cells.

Thus, you won’t see results immediately. But over the ensuing weeks, the results will start showing.

You may notice bigger bowel movements or even some brief bouts of diarrhea as the fat cells get removed. This potential side effect is harmless.

There is also no downtime, no need to take medications or injections, and you can watch TV or read during the procedure. You can even hit the gym right after your CoolSculpting treatment.

Keep in mind that CoolSculpting is not an excuse to give up on good hard workouts or indulge in donuts and cupcakes.

CoolSculpting is not a replacement for vigorous strength training and high intensity interval training, nor is it a substitute for employing portion control of food.