hello, new member and proud to be addicted to muscles

[contessa]

WELCOME!!
I am new myself and it's really great to get replies all ready. I would like to see your pic's if you have any. I am also 5'4" and 144 lbs , bf 28% .

My hardest problem getting started is focusing more on body fat and less on what the scale says. Being we are the same height and weight, it would be great to compare since you probably have a lot lower fat than me.

Good luck with your competition and keep us posted!!

 

[Hotfigure]

LOWER HALF WOES

I'm just wondering when you say you're lower half is way bigger - I guess you mean more muscle, how low is your bodyfat. Most women tend to hold fat around the butt/thigh area, while the upper body is quite lean. So may be when the bf comes down the lower half will not be that out of proportion?
How in hells name did the lower half get so developed? Were you a - sprinter? or something??????
I know my legs are big cause I use to ice speed skate and cycle, they stay lean in comparison to the upper body - I'm a bit strange compared to most women who have the opposite problem.

 

[femmuscles23]

hotfigure

i do not know exactly what my bf is, but it can't be more than 16%. my lower body isn't fat, i hold just a little bit of water, but you can see all of my leg and butt muscles. i even have calves (which would appear much bigger if my quad sweep wasn't so big. i have a very high, round butt, and my hams bow out. my upper body is just like my lower body, in that i have a bit of water, but i have never been able to get that hard look with my upper body no matter how hard i diet. my lower body just responds10x faster than my upper. if you saw me you wouldn't think i weighed that much, but these legs are heavy. the only way they get some what small, is if i over train (100 reps of 4 sets for extensions and curls, 80 reps for single lunges, and 40 reps of sissy squats twice a week) and i am too lazy to do this all year, so only when i get ready for a show will i train this hard to achieve a little more balance. so when i am not training for a show, i try like hell to work on my upper body. it's coming, but not fast enough, i am 23yrs and i am not getting any younger. i also avoid exercises that will make my bottom half bigger like squats, leg presses, or heavy poundage. i have no idea how i got these legs. i just remember them being big all the time. i used to hate them because they weren't really skinny. now i like my legs and hate my upper body. i did play a few sports in high school, but nothing specific for all 4 years. if you have any ideas for me after reading this please reply. thanks.

 

[wynnyelle]

wow you have the exact opposite problems than i do. my lower body is small AND soft (esp. the abs and BUTT) while my upper body is hard as a rock. Not big muscles but the muscles are defined. All i can do is list what exercises i do for my upper body. i do chins, dips, bench, shrugs, flies or crossovers, arm curls, forearm curls, military press, lateral raises. I don't necessarily do all these exercises currently, I change my routine up and take out the exercises that have plateaued out, and move others in. Changing up the routine every 6 weeks or so helps for me.

Right now my shrugs have stagnated, i know they would still be getting better if not for my hands always giving out long before I'm finished. damn. anyone know a good grip workout?

i put the question to one of the instructors at my gym today and she said, what do you want to do shrugs for? that makes those muscles back behind the neck get big, you don't want that. i said i do actually and i asked how i could improve the grip, she told me to squeeze a tennis ball.

would this be effective by the way? i never trained hands, i dunno.

 

[Hotfigure]

I'd be careful how many shrugs you do a part ffrom a thick neck you may end up with the trapz becoming very dominant when you do other exercises like rows etc. Remember you got to have balance, do you do upright rows? What was the reason why you do so many shrugs anyway? As for grip strength (hand strength) gripping a balll is one way, you're all ready doing forearm curls - both ways I presume. Also try Zottmon curls - you curl up like a normal curl then rotate the hands a little and do a reverse curl down (palm towards floor) this works the forearms quite well - very nasty little exercise. Some gyms have those machines where you roll up a bar which has weight attached - you roll it up then unroll it, I guess you could do that with something else - something heavy with a rod attached may be?

 

[wynnyelle]

why do i do shrugs? it's one of the few exercises where I'm actually making dramatic progress, or was. 100 pounds of anything is amazing for me to be able to do. my traps aren't visibly bigger yet, though, it makes me wonder just what is lifting that barbell. I feel it in my traps but where are they? I have broad shoulders and a very thin neck and I know that even slightly bigger traps would go a long way towards improving my physique.

I do not currently do upright rows. I do pullovers and dips, and regular rows. Also chins. The shrugs seem to be the only thing I'm doing that hits my traps directly so I'm keeping it in my routine for now. The way I'm going it exercises my grip too just from holding the bar.