Please help her get smaller legs.

[JJFigure]

Has she taken skinfolds to truly determine if she's dealing with muscle and not fat? That's the easiest way to figure that one out - if her skinfold is over 13 mm, her issue is fat, not muscle.

Quite a few of us genetically have larger lower bodies than upper, and we've all had to come to accept that the "largeness" was due to fat storage - gotta love those female fat patterns. And her fat doesn't have to be the soft, spongy type. My Mom is a good 100 lbs. overfat, and I can't do a skinfold on her legs because she has such hard fat.

With that said, in another post I mentioned how I prefer lower reps (3-5) and higher weights for lower body work. For the past six months, I cut out all isolation work (curls, extensions) and focused on heavy squats, front squats, deadlifts, good mornings, RDLs and glute/ham raises, and my upper thighs this past comp were 1/2 smaller but with much better shape and density. And that 1/2 smaller was because I came into this last comp about 1% leaner in bodyfat, BTW.

As Spatts said, to counter our leg size we've focused on filling out our upper bodies to become better balanced. Sometimes, you just have to work with what you've got, and feel blessed you have strong, healthy, muscular legs.

 

[smoknjilly]

". Sometimes, you just have to work with what you've got, and feel blessed you have strong, healthy, muscular legs. "



true dat! Sometimes you do have to work with what you have. I have curly hair, and for most of my life I hated it, would do anything to straighten it which of course it would rebel against. You know what, I finally gave up the fight and let it go curly like it wants to, and it looks great and I am much happier.

it sounds like, genetically, this girl is never going to have long thin coltish legs. Its better to work with what she's got than so hard against it.

 

[wilson6]

"Granted. I meant for lengthening the muscle... does Pilates actually do that?"

NO.


W6

 

[circusgirl]

BG15 - I don't know if she's a genetic freak, but her dad is a small man, with really huge calves. Her legs are indeed very muscular with little to no fat on them, perhaps from running track in high school (I'll try to get some pics to post up). I agree with you on the diet/training being better than overtraining - the question is, how should she train?

Spatts - Not to quibble over semantics, but I had thought this board was about sculpting your body to your liking. China White is a small woman, and her legs are disproportionately muscular. Not wanting to look like a bodybuilder, she's trying to look more proportional.

In that case I wouold recommend she bulk up her upper body

 

[asiansinc]

Here is a pic of her legs from some time ago.

She registered so she can post, but she's still awaiting the registration e-mail with the activation link.

Image: http://webmaster.asiansinc.com/legs.jpg

 

[gettinlarger]

Here is a pic of her legs from some time ago.

She registered so she can post, but she's still awaiting the registration e-mail with the activation link.

Image: http://webmaster.asiansinc.com/legs.jpg

THOSE are too big???

 

[makedah]

Wow. What great gams!

I guess it's all a matter of perspective...

 

[asiansinc]

She thinks so. Too big for her, at least.

She says, indignantly:

"I'm not a bodybuilder! I don't do anything for my legs! My calves are too big to wear the knee-high boots that I love! I can't fit into jeans if I work out my legs! I'd have to wear sweatpants! I don't do anything for my legs other than running!"

She's still waiting to get her activation link.

 

[asiansinc]

And she also seemed a little insulted that some automatically assumed the worst - that her legs were just fat, and not muscular.

 

[makedah]

AsiansINC -

I inherited muscular calves from my father (his mother had ripped, thick calves at 70!) - I can't wear thigh-high boots, either. I hate that, but I love my legs.

If she is genetically predisposed to having curvy legs, there's nothing she can do to change that. She can lose weight, but from that pic, it doesn't look like she has much weight to lose.

Frankly, this sounds like a body-image thing. You gotta work on the brain for that, not the legs.