thighs, thighs, thighs...

[SweatChloe]

I think that almost every girl has a thing about her thighs. my question is that i have been working them so hard forever....i started off on those thig machines on like 50 lbs...now i am up to 80 lbs. i am afraid that too much weight will make my thighs look bulky and not long and lean. can anyone help?

thanks!

 

[Gladiola]

i am afraid that too much weight will make my thighs look bulky and not long and lean.

The femur, the longest and strongest bone in the skeleton, is the bone in your thigh. I'm not a doc... but so long as you are done growing and you don't have osteoperosis, I don't think it's going get any longer or any shorter. Hence "length" isn't going to change & isn't something you have any control over.

How lean are you? Remember, muscle is more dense tissue than fat & takes up less space. Hence - put another 1 POUND of muscle on your thigh, take OFF 1 POUND of fat & not only will your thigh be harder & stronger & look & feel better- it'll be SMALLER!

2nd everything Spatts said too.

Oh... and if you do get larger muscles in your thighs than you want, it won't happen overnight & it will be (easily) reversible - don't fear the muscle!

 

[alexiarenee]

I agree with Spatts....
Fat on top of good size muscles will make your leg muscles appear to be a lot bigger than they are.
Mine will look really big until I lean out, then I am surprised at how much smaller my muscles are than they seemed before.

 

[BatZgirl]

If it fat you want to burn...

If you want to burn fat (on your thighs) that is firstly you need to DIET, eat healthy dont starve yourself. Secondly although many belive that lifting heavier weights is good, its not always true. Dont get me wrong the more the merrier if you want to build Muscle that is or increase the size of your muscle, but if you want to tone and loose the fat, keep doing the same exercises just increase your REPS and decrease the ammount of weights you lift

Good Luck

 

[Raina]

I agree with everyone else. I do the ad/abductor machines as part of my routine on leg day. I too started around 60ish (and that was in December). Now I'm at 160 and I cannot even tell you how much my legs have slimmed down. I know a lot of that is from diet but also remember that when you build up the muscle, it will end up burning calories for you all the time. My honey was touching my legs over the weekend and he couldn't believe how much tighter they feel.

Also remember that is hard to "bulk up". You're not going to get huge muscular legs enless that's what you're working your ass off to achieve. I also second the idea of eating more. I eat SO much more than I used to....but I make different cleaner choices in what I opt to eat. I've maintained my lean mass and weight while dropping my bf. It's a thrill.

 

[Gladiola]

Re: If it fat you want to burn...

Secondly although many belive that lifting heavier weights is good, its not always true. Dont get me wrong the more the merrier if you want to build Muscle that is or increase the size of your muscle, but if you want to tone and loose the fat, keep doing the same exercises just increase your REPS and decrease the ammount of weights you lift

Batz Batz Batz.....

There is no such thing as toning!

Tone = Low Body Fat & MUSCLE (cuz the muscle is visible with low body fat).

Low body fat = get that from a clean diet & moderate cardio (& lifting & having the lean muscle to help you have a fast metabolism)

Muscle= get that from lifting

NO SUCH THING AS TONING!!!! Trust me.. I teach BodyPump & other 'sculpt' classes that are touted as 'toning'. I set everyone straight who takes my classes

If you want the physiologicial explanation about how heavy lifting /strength training is MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE at building muscle/getting stronger than the hi-rep/low weight, I'll be happy to post it.

and you CAN'T TONE FAT
Remember.. only way to make your fat 'firm' is to sleep in the refridgerator or die?
Check out this thread for a laugh!
http://boards.elitefitness.com/foru...89359&highlight=you+AND+cant+AND+tone+AND+fat

 

[Sassy69]

I have to throw in a comment here about the importance of lifting heavy -- I've been lifting like a mofo all of Jan and not doing much cardio -- my diet has been essentially the same all year -- but I wasn't dropping any weight or body fat. I was keeping to 3-4 sets of solid form, 12-15 reps, but I was able to get my weights back up and beyond my previous bests. (Finally getting some tendonitis problems alleviated.) But no bodyfat drop. God knows I need to drop 30 lbs for a comp I want to do - and based on my previous pre-comp experience, the only thing that made the difference for me was when I added in AM cardio and more of it.

So, now I'm confused as to what point "lifting heavy" differentiates between getting a "brick shit house" powerlifter body and streamlining to get a nice lean BB body?? Esp if you have some serious bf to lose???

 

[Gladiola]

So, now I'm confused as to what point "lifting heavy" differentiates between getting a "brick shit house" powerlifter body and streamlining to get a nice lean BB body?? Esp if you have some serious bf to lose???

I'm not sure what you mean...

But I use the term 'lifting heavy' to mean going to fatigue in about 15 or less reps - as opposed to muscular endurance training like 'Body Pump' or sculpting classes with pink dumbells, 100 leg lifts & 200 crunches.

In my experience with women taking fitness classes - many have never gone to fatigue & don't even have any idea where it is.

 

[Raina]

In my experience with women taking fitness classes - many have never gone to fatigue & don't even have any idea where it is.

Yesterday my trainer told me about a new client of his. It was her first session with him-- a leg day. Just over a half hour into it she told him she was done for the day. She asked if it was normal to be so fatigued or to lift for that long. He was asking her what she had been doing for weights and since she told him that she'd done a chest/bi day the previous day, he asked what she'd done.

Not even kidding, her and a friend of hers did 3 reps each of flat bench with the bar. Yes 3. One set of that. Then they each did 20 bi curls with 5 pound dbs. No wonder she wasn't seeing results. She couldn't believe that it could take longer than maybe 5-10 minutes to lift. I can't imagine doing that and considering it a workout. I wonder how she'll enjoy her first chest day on the incline bench.

My hope is that once she sees what heavy lifting (and I agree with Glad that it's lifting til fatigue in 15 reps or less), she'll learn to love that burn.

 

[KEL]

I too started around 60ish (and that was in December). Now I'm at 160 and I cannot even tell you how much my legs have slimmed down.

what are you trying to do ...get ready to snap off someones head?

ad/abductor machines never slimmed down my legs just caused back problems - lunges and squats now that's a different story!