Big Legs?

[buffgrl23]

Ladies,
I am constantly questioning whether my legs are getting too big. I normally train everything (upper and lower body) hard and heavy. I wonder if I should be tayloring my leg workouts differently? Here are the typical exercises I do on leg day. Let me know what you like to do for your legs and your thoughts on "big legs."

Squats (alternating week to week from smith squats and hack squats)
Straight Leg Dead Lifts
Leg Press or Walking Lunges with dumbbells (alternating week to week)
Extensions
Curls
Calve Raises

 

[sdupdike]

I always had a problem with "big legs" and wondered the same thing. I think my real problem was that I was building muscle but not losing the fat on top of it. My legs were real bulky at one time. Getting on a good diet and adding in some cardio helped drop the fat and now they are a very nice size. Also I did some pilates too, seemed to help trim them down a little. Now I want to add some size again!

 

[Sassy69]

Along the lines of what spupdike said - what is your bodyfat?

 

[buffgrl23]

I have not had it checked recently. Last I had it checked it was 14%. I know it is higher now...probably around 17-18%. I know that the more I diet the better my legs look due to the higher bodyfat I carry in my legs. I was just curious if you ladies tend to do the same exercises and lift heavy on legs or if I should be switching to more lunges, lighter squats, etc rather than heavy leg presses, squats, deadlifts.

 

[sdupdike]

I would just try different things to see what works best for you. (Don't you hate that answer?) Some people's legs explode doing heavy weights & low reps, others see better growth doing higher reps with lighter weight. To lean down my legs for competition, my trainer had me doing pilates only for my legs to start with (about 6 weeks or so). Then we added some light weight, high reps (3 sets of 15 - 20) on exercises like squats, deadlifts, leg press, smith lunges, leg extensions, and leg curls.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

In the sticky "links to top threads" there is a thread about "big legs" - explains how to tell if your issue is BF or muscle. Most times it is a BF issue.

 

[RottenWillow]

- explains how to tell if your issue is BF or muscle. Most times it is a BF issue.

really great thread to answer a real common question. I asked the same one two years ago.

 

[Roonytunes]

While we're on this subject, can someone recommend a good pilates video for just legs or that focuses on lower body? I have the Winsor series but a lot of that seems to target the general core than specifically the legs. I thought I'd start throwing in the pilates once a week from now on for good measure as my bf continues to drop.

 

[buffgrl23]

Thanks. I checked out the thread. Yes, I'm sure body fat is an issue. Last night I switched up my workout a bit and am thinking I am going to alternate my normal heavy workout with the workout I did last night. Below is what I did. I thought it was going to be easier but I was beat!

20 min warm up on elliptical
4 sets Hack Squats 12-15 reps
superset 3 sets each lying leg curls w/ straight leg deadlifts holding 45lb plate 10-12 reps
superset 3 sets each extensions w/ lunges (lunges are sets of front and diagnol) 10-12 reps
3 sets Calve raises 15 reps

 

[RottenWillow]

Thanks. I checked out the thread. Yes, I'm sure body fat is an issue. Last night I switched up my workout a bit and am thinking I am going to alternate my normal heavy workout with the workout I did last night. Below is what I did. I thought it was going to be easier but I was beat!

20 min warm up on elliptical
4 sets Hack Squats 12-15 reps
superset 3 sets each lying leg curls w/ straight leg deadlifts holding 45lb plate 10-12 reps
superset 3 sets each extensions w/ lunges (lunges are sets of front and diagnol) 10-12 reps
3 sets Calve raises 15 reps

sweet jesus, that's a blistering workout!

buff, since you are certain your increased leg size is a bf issue wouldnt bumping the cardio a bit or dropping the calories slightly solve your problem without the decathalon workout you've added?