buttocks

[Sassy69]

Off to a good strat just need some tweaking.
8:30 .5 cup oatmeal 5 egg whites
10:00 1/4 c yogurt and 1/2 cottage cheese (or another protein source)
12:00 can tuna and 2-3 cups mixed greens (lemon juice and vinger dressing)
2:00 1/2 c whole wheat pasta with meat sauce (extra lean beef in the sauce approx 3-4 oz)
4:00 pm - 1 hour weight training
5:00 muscle milk or any other protein shake
7:00 tuna and 2-3 cups mixed greens (lemon juice and vinger dressing)
10:00 protein shake and tbsp of anpb or some almonds need a fat source is the bottom line.

What is your height and weight you have yet to list it.

I'm not huge, 5'4" 132 lbs and comfortable with my size I just want ripped thighs and a tight butt. My legs are nice, but the but is not flabby, just extremely soft for as hard as I work it out.


It sounds like you are at a level where you need to optimize a couple of things to get where you want - my guess is you aren't fat but rather just need more muscle mass to make that bodyfat ratio (22%) go down. If the above is your typical daily meal plan, then, in addition to all your training, running & cardio, this is what has produced the body you have. Meaning that what you are doing now is not really geared towards focused muscle building. The macro ratios are pretty good being around 40/30/30. So your diet is not a bad thing, but lets consider your goals...

I'm realy interested to hear more about building muscle while doing a lot of running... I'm not sure how you fuel that because carbs are needed to do the running but protein is needed to preserve muscle - so findign the balance where muscle isn't catabolized by the running but fat isn't depositied by the increase in protien & carbs to support the two goals of building muscle & fueling distance running.... I'm not sure I know how to balance that here. So maybe let's consider starting w/ the diet & training needs to build muscle and then see how that works w/ the current running load, responding to how you feel (i.e. energy) fiddle w/ the amount of carbs to support the running better - but do it by experiment vs guess an amount. If we don't get too side tracked w/ the fat loss goal (as I think the bodyfat ratio - 22% can change w/ muscle building)

I think qt made good tweaks to the diet - generally lose the fruit & all the other sources of simple sugars. Maybe consider skippign the muscle milk for a lower cal / fat / carb protein mix. Move the meals around so your last meals aren't carb loaded.

The training - move away from the high rep thing and stay in the range of 6-8 reps at heavier weights to build. If you enjoy the 12-15 miles /week running, I'm not sure its necessary to do the cardio every day as well - you might consider just doing a couple 20 min HIIT sessions instead of longer sessions. If you are a distance runner anyway, the shorter sprint based training might kick up your metabolism a little in the sense that your body is already conditioned for long distance, steady state running. It usually takes a change of some sort to spur a response in your body, and also it may help step away from the catabolic nature of cardio.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

I'm not huge, 5'4" 132 lbs and comfortable with my size I just want ripped thighs and a tight butt. My legs are nice, but the but is not flabby, just extremely soft for as hard as I work it out.

Do not post on serious threads telll after having my morning sowwy.

 

[Sassy69]

 

[katdav]

Great thread... I've got the exact same prob, distance running yet I'm trying to get some muscle on my butt. I do legs 2x week (weights). That seems to have made a difference for me, I'm starting to see muscle definition not just leg blobs. I do squats, lunges, extensions, curls, calves, one day and leg press, dead lifts, extensions, curls, calves, another. Great advice about tweaking carbs by energy level. I was eating way to many carbs cuz hey....I was training for marathons. Now I just load up a little more the Fri before my distance runs, not Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon!! 1800 calories sounds like a lot to me too. I'm 5'5", 130 lbs....not much calves though!!

 

[Sassy69]

Great thread... I've got the exact same prob, distance running yet I'm trying to get some muscle on my butt. I do legs 2x week (weights). That seems to have made a difference for me, I'm starting to see muscle definition not just leg blobs. I do squats, lunges, extensions, curls, calves, one day and leg press, dead lifts, extensions, curls, calves, another. Great advice about tweaking carbs by energy level. I was eating way to many carbs cuz hey....I was training for marathons. Now I just load up a little more the Fri before my distance runs, not Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon!! 1800 calories sounds like a lot to me too. I'm 5'5", 130 lbs....not much calves though!!

From all the posts about runners wanting to build muscle - it seems more & more important to identify the specific goal, not several conflicting goals, and then stay focused on the one. If there are multiple goals, then spread them out over time - this is really no different than wanting to build muscle for competition during the off season and then cutting while preserving muscle for competition season -- 2 phases - 2 different goals, - 2 different regimens that don't give your body conflicting signals resulting in not really achieving any of the goals.


Calves -- if you're at a point where you can step away from the distance running for a while, consider a change in your cardio to do sprints -- look at the calves on sprinters, bikers & speed skaters! Something I've noticed lately - I added a phase of my training routine where I do 10 minutes of "drills" back & forth across the aerobics room floor at my gym -- high knee sprints, butt kicks, etc. I've got gimungus calves but I tend to hold fat & water in them - since doing these little sprinty things they are much more defined. In the past I've done all the calf raises & calf machines but never seemed to make a diff -- but changing your regimen w/ sprints / interval cardio might get some different results.

 

[katdav]

Thanks Sassy.... That makes sense. Everytime I want to concentrate on body building I get talked into another marathon. So many marathons...so little time! I should just do 1 a year.

 

[julesW]

Tomorrow is my first leg day. I will try to do less reps and more weight. Everyone says 1800 calories is alot (I didn't think it was that much). What should they be at? As far as my running, I run 3-4 miles at a time, but I have to because of the Army. I will try doing sprints instead, I just hate them!!!

I read this thread and I think people in the forum feel like I hate my legs. Its not true. In a bikini I feel good, but not as good as I hard as I work them out.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Sassy69]

Tomorrow is my first leg day. I will try to do less reps and more weight. Everyone says 1800 calories is alot (I didn't think it was that much). What should they be at? As far as my running, I run 3-4 miles at a time, but I have to because of the Army. I will try doing sprints instead, I just hate them!!!

I read this thread and I think people in the forum feel like I hate my legs. Its not true. In a bikini I feel good, but not as good as I hard as I work them out.

Thanks again for all the help.

General guidelines for cals = 1 - 1.2 x your weight. If you want to focus on preserving muslce, go a little more towards the 1.2.x (protein) - but it also matters how you use those calories.

As far as the feedback you're getting here - we're hard core here! Most women are not happy w/ their lower half and its an estrogen thing. Its the common complaint and it isnt' always intuitive to think that you can't do a spot reduction or that you run a lot but you still dont' have ripped up quads, etc. But we can all attest to the fact that if you want results, we think in terms of optimal work -- diet, training. Not large, fluffy, nebulous responses but rather some very targeted info -- you're talking to lots of competitors who have gone after the very specific results and have a good idea of what it takes to make a serious transformation

 

[julesW]

Ok, confused. 1-1.2 X body weight = cal. Can you explain more. Because I multiplied 1.2 X 132 and got 158.4. I have in the past and used that formula to get the grams of protein to consume throughout the day, but I also had my carbs = protein intake (like body for life).

 

[Sassy69]

Sorry - meant 10-12 x == 1584 cal.