I'm torn with what the heck I should do for my thick legs. I know they would look awesome if they were leaned out a lot more but I'm torn as to what I should do. I don't know if I should do more cardio, light weights with more reps or if its best for me to push a little harder and lift a little heavier.

I feel like I'm all over the place at the gym! I know I'm tight undeneath that fat and but I feel like I'm not maximizing the effect.

I do like my but, its nice and round and I wouldn't mind tightening that as well but it is certainly not my focus. Its the legs. I hate them. I hate the fat above my knees and between my legs.

Suggestions??

PS I'm new and this looks like a great forum!

Hi, EliLunita.

The only way you can get rid of that extra fat is to reduce overall body fat percentage. There are 5 tips that really help get you focused...

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over here.


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss. If you feel like you're all over the place in the gym, get a good routine that works for your goals. Then you can simply follow that routine and have some order

Thanks!!! I should probably be more strict with my diet.....my workouts may not be as bad as I thought. Just being picky! lol

2 much aerobics can actually cause you to gain fat...as the exercises are so repetitive, once the body gets used to it which is pretty quickly it doesn't use as much energy to perform it...maybe take 2 - 4 weeks of cardio and try 4 - 5 weight workouts a week and see what happens...i'm not sure if you can have a big butt and small cut legs as most leg exercises involve the butt and vice versa so you probably wood have to have both big or both small

Swans - I am interested to know where you got this information/idea/dream/delusion from. So if I ride my bike every day, I'll get fat?

and who told you that 4-5 weight workouts was a good idea?

pretty sure it's Paul Chek...search "chubby aerobic instructor syndrome" or something like that

I would stop lifting the heavy weight on your legs. I have the same issue. I'm all set with getting my legs thicker now. I need to actually tone them down. They are pretty tight, not a lot of fat on them at all. I do no weight standing squats, like plias. This helps tone them out, including your butt. I have great results with this. Also cardio helps out as well. Good luck!

I wish the entire world would stop using the word "tone" like in the phrase "I'm going to tone up." Everyone uses this word improperly. And this is really bad when others who are PTs or run their own site continue to use this term as such.
http://freespace.virgin.net/bch.hypo...evstrength.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbo...nimation.shtml
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ghr/glossary/muscletone

Lifting heavy has nothing to do with being bulky. Jenn has pics to prove this.

Run some HIIT, it will help you to burn some of the unwanted fat, creating a leaner look. I would run my reps in the 6ish rep range for leg exercises and keep volume low to encourage strength but no hypertrophy. And since diet is dictated whether we lose or gain fat and muscle, start paying attention to how the clothes fit rather than just the scale. The scale will lie to you.

Too much cardio does not cause you to gain fat. Chubby aerobic instructor syndrome is from not eating enough in general or not enough protein and doing too much activity. It's a situation as someone not eating enough to sustain their activity. So the body holds on to fat.

The post above mine is great. Although I disagree with the toning part. I think most people understand what they are trying to say. They may not know the mechanics of things, but they know they need to work on that area.

That's good to hear. I thought I was ODing on cardio. I understand we should switch intensity and lenght. Does Weider's muscle confusion princial apply here? After sitting to much this past year I found myself in need of aroebics. ( My DH died of cancer this past year.) I'm now trying to firm up again. It looks like all of my muscles were turning to fat. On the positive side muscles have memory and I see all those once hard earned muscles coming back.

i'd say it's a combination of both lack of food and too much cardio...paul chek is one of the most respected practicioners in the world and even has his own recognised certificate so i will side with him always...it does have some merit though as i posted that to another lady on another forum and she stopped cardio for 4 weeks and saw pretty good reults...whether from the no cardio or better food though i don't no...just re read wat was in my archived and it's more a case of not using as many cal's to do the same thing (running 2kms everytime) so u still eat the same but ur calorie usage has decreased and therefore fat gain...i think that made sense

Wow! Thanks for all the info. I take kickboxing and get more of a cardio work-out with that so while I'm in the gym I try to just hit the weights with less cardio involved.

I stopped weighing myself a LONG time ago. I use to have to weigh myself for Martial Arts competitions and unfortunately got addicted to it. Now I just go by my clothes and what people tell me.

Thanks again!

Yeah, I usually have a little rant about this when im on the "toning forum". I really feel there should be a sticky which says just that.
Anyone wanna volenteer?