Bringing down the size of legs

[Anca]

Don't kill me, all you "squat 2XBW" folks- but now that I'm not training for figure anymore I'd like to bring down the size of my thighs. I have both lots of muscle AND lots of fat on them. :dry: I hate not fitting into pants and I hate the jiggles.

Now, I know that if it weren't for this darn fat layer on them, and if they were just pure muscle, they'd be a lot smaller. So yes- I'm dieting to lose the flab.

My question is: how often should I train legs? I've been training them twice a week (one ham-dominant day, one quad-dominant day; using heavy 5X5 for the first exercise on both days, then higher reps, lower weights, shorter rest). I also do one metabolic workout every week and 4 of the 8 exercises work the legs. Add in there HIIT 2Xweek and SS running 1Xwk, and my legs take quite a beating.

Which is good for burning massive cals- but will it make them grow even more?? Should I drop one of the leg training sessions and eliminate the 5X5? :unsure:

[smuggie]

Anca, since you're dieting I don't think you need to worry about your legs getting bigger right now.

With that said, if I were in your shoes I'd reduce the 5x5 to 3x5, and possibly reduce the volume on your lighter leg work, depending on how much of it you're doing now.

Not all of us are squat-BWx2 people. :wink:

[Firm Hottie]

I'd love to know the answer to this question too, Anca.

I'm kind of doing a little experiment since I can't really lift with my broken foot. I'm doing two days of traditional high-rep unweighted lower body floorwork paired with one day of low weight/high rep lower body stuff that I can do - leg extensions, hammie curls, leg lifts for inner & outer thighs, donkey kicks, hamstring triple threats, etc.

I've heard of bodyweight stuff working well for folks like us, so I'm really hoping that this will help me out since I can't do anything else right now. :shrug:

[Anca]

Anca, since you're dieting I don't think you need to worry about your legs getting bigger right now.

With that said, if I were in your shoes I'd reduce the 5x5 to 3x5, and possibly reduce the volume on your lighter leg work, depending on how much of it you're doing now.

Not all of us are squat BWx2 people. :wink:

Thanks Mo. :kiss:

[Anca]

I'd love to know the answer to this question too, Anca.

I'm kind of doing a little experiment since I can't really lift with my broken foot. I'm doing two days of traditional high-rep unweighted lower body floorwork paired with one day of low weight/high rep lower body stuff that I can do - leg extensions, hammie curls, leg lifts for inner & outer thighs, donkey kicks, hamstring triple threats, etc.

I've heard of bodyweight stuff working well for folks like us, so I'm really hoping that this will help me out since I can't do anything else right now. :shrug:

Are you trying to lean out right now?

I have accessory work like that in my workouts too. I'm just wondering, if I don't want my legs- especially my QUADS- to grow, should I really be doing isolation exercises such as leg extensions and leg curls AT ALL?? Even at 12-15 reps, light weight? :unsure:

[Firm Hottie]

Are you trying to lean out right now?

I have accessory work like that in my workouts too. I'm just wondering, if I don't want my legs- especially my QUADS- to grow, should I really be doing isolation exercises such as leg extensions and leg curls AT ALL?? Even at 12-15 reps, light weight? :unsure:

Honey, I'm always trying to lean out, since I've never gotten there yet! :lol3:

Ya know, that's a good question. My high rep sets are 20 x 3, so I'm sure that my weights are lower than yours. Have you ever tried doing just bodyweight for LB? I remember seeing a really great LB BW workout for those who grow in the LB easily. IIRC, this one girl was able to lean out her thighs something frierce - something she wasn't able to do with weights. If you want, I'll see if I can find it for you. :)

[Anca]

Honey, I'm always trying to lean out, since I've never gotten there yet! :lol3:

Ya know, that's a good question. My high rep sets are 20 x 3, so I'm sure that my weights are lower than yours. Have you ever tried doing just bodyweight for LB? I remember seeing a really great LB BW workout for those who grow in the LB easily. IIRC, this one girl was able to lean out her thighs something frierce - something she wasn't able to do with weights. If you want, I'll see if I can find it for you. :)

That would be neat!! Thanks. :buddies:

I've never done just BW for legs... my legs were at their leanest ever when I trained with Jenny Lynn during my first comp season; I did 2 LB plyometric workouts every week and 2 sessions of shuffles/sprints but I also did 2 LB weight workouts. Lots of LB training volume which is kinda why I set up my program this way again now. (But I have to qualify that by saying that I also did 60-120 min of cardio every day for 20 weeks so duh- of course my BF got lower :rolleyes:).

I would imagine that, in order to be challenging enough, a BW LB workout would need to be higher rep since there are no weights; and there would probably be some plyometric-type moves in there too; if the rest times are kept low, it would very much feel like a metabolic circuit.

I'd actually have no problem with that for a while. :D

[Firm Hottie]

Anca, I found it! :D

It's an article called "Thighs & Lows" that is in the Nov/Dec 2009 edition of Muscle & Fitness Hers. I looked, but it doesn't appear to be on their site.

The article is about figure competitor Kalani Barber, who says "big legs run in her family" and "It's been a constant battle to keep them small.". Julie Lohre (IFBB fitness competitor & coach) developed this bodyweight routine to slim down her legs. The article states that Kalani lost an inch off of her thighs in the first month, and are now 4" smaller than they used to be. Kalani also states that "the results come fast. Faster than any other routine I've ever done." Sounds really good to me. :thumb:

Training Split:

Day 1 = Legs #1
Day 2 = Chest & back
Day 3 = Legs #2
Day 4 = Arms
Day 5 = off
Day 6 = Sprint intervals
Day 7 = off

The Exercises (all bodyweight):

Day 1:
A. Squats = 3 set of 10-15 reps
B. Step-Ups with back Leg Curl = 3 sets of 15-20 (each leg)
C. Glute Pulses = 3 sets of 100

Day 2:
A. Reverse Lunge with Pulse = 3 sets of 20 (ach leg)
B. Bent-Over Donkey Kicks = 3 sets of 20-25 (each leg)
C. Switches (on step or stairs) = 3 sets of 1 minute

Day 3:
Sprint Intervals = 8 sets run 100 yards and walk back

Hope that helps, hon. :)

[glassmmam]

what are switches (on stairs)??

[Anca]

what are switches (on stairs)??

I would imagine they're fast-paced alternating step-ups (kinda like an old-fashioned Jane Fonda move on a low step).

Thanks for looking this up Laura!! I gotta say, it doesn't look like much work. Probably 20 min per workout. Way less than I'm doing right now- but that's probably the point. And no weights just BW.

The glute pulses are probably those "frogees" you can do face-down on a stability ball or the end of a bench? 3X100 owie!! :juju:

[Firm Hottie]

what are switches (on stairs)??

You're basically just tapping the foot up on the step (or stair) and bringing it back down while bringing the other foot up at the same time. 1 minute of that'll really get your heart rate up if you do them fast enough. The higher the step (or stair), the harder it is. :hamster:


I would imagine they're fast-paced alternating step-ups (kinda like an old-fashioned Jane Fonda move on a low step).

Thanks for looking this up Laura!! I gotta say, it doesn't look like much work. Probably 20 min per workout. Way less than I'm doing right now- but that's probably the point. And no weights just BW.

The glute pulses are probably those "frogees" you can do face-down on a stability ball or the end of a bench? 3X100 owie!! :juju:

You're welcome, Anca. :)

Lie flat on the floor, back down. Bring legs to 90 degrees and lift butt off the ground while upper back is still on the floor. Pulse the butt up as high as you can 100 times. Rest, repeat twice. :blink:

[smuggie]

I'm a little bit sceptical about the claims Julie Lohre is making for the effectiveness of this routine. Diet no doubt played the bigger role in slimming down Kalani's legs.

Also, I did some googling and came up with this article about Kalani, taken from Julie's website:

http://www.julielohre.com/Main/Client-Spotlight/kalanibarber.html

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll see some before and after pics of Kalani. Not only does she have fat to lose in the first set of pics, you can indeed see she has extremely muscular legs to boot. At least, that's as far as I can see considering the pics are quite small. A leg routine such as the one outlined in the article would see Kalani in no danger of losing too much muscle from her legs, as she has plenty to spare. I don't think most of us here can say the same.

Just my two cents.

[Anca]

I'm a little bit sceptical about the claims Julie Lohre is making for the effectiveness of this routine. Diet no doubt played the bigger role in slimming down Kalani's legs.

Also, I did some googling and came up with this article about Kalani, taken from Julie's website:

http://www.julielohre.com/Main/Client-Spotlight/kalanibarber.html

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll see some before and after pics of Kalani. Not only does she have fat to lose in the first set of pics, you can indeed see she has extremely muscular legs to boot. At least, that's as far as I can see considering the pics are quite small. A leg routine such as the one outlined in the article would see Kalani in no danger of losing too much muscle from her legs, as she has plenty to spare. I don't think most of us here can say the same.

Just my two cents.

I agree.

Those are some darn big legs! :lifter: She definitely had to do everything she could to avoid making them bigger. Maybe the wording should be that by following this BW LB routine she didn't add any more size to her legs as opposed to decreasing their size. By 'size' I mean the actual amount of muscle she had not the fat layer which obviously got smaller due to the diet.

[smuggie]

I agree.

Those are some darn big legs! :lifter: She definitely had to do everything she could to avoid making them bigger. Maybe the wording should be that by following this BW LB routine she didn't add any more size to her legs as opposed to decreasing their size. By 'size' I mean the actual amount of muscle she had not the fat layer which obviously got smaller due to the diet.

That would be a better way of wording it.

[jamistar77]

wow, she does have some 'darn big legs' ;)

[wanttobefit]

Anca, or anyone...curious to see if changing up your plan as you posed early in nov. has helped decrease the "fat" on your legs. I also, have that horrible issue...lean upper body, but the legs..ugghh, they seem to never go away. So I was wondering if you made progress in decreasing the size of your legs?
:bbump2:

[Anca]

Anca, or anyone...curious to see if changing up your plan as you posed early in nov. has helped decrease the "fat" on your legs. I also, have that horrible issue...lean upper body, but the legs..ugghh, they seem to never go away. So I was wondering if you made progress in decreasing the size of your legs?
:bbump2:

I do think my legs look better than a few months ago. I've basically stayed away from lifting too heavy (no more trying to set squat and DL PRs); the lowest rep ranges I've done are 6-8- and that, only for one exercise once/week. Most of my LB training has been higher rep, shorter rest, supersets, BW plyometrics. Basically a whole lot of sweating and getting that "omg I can't even walk" burn! :juju:

I've also been focusing on training mostly my hams and glutes since I do NOT want my quads to get any bigger; not training for Figure anymore. I guess I could say I'm training for my jeans- to look good in, that is! And not like a stuffed sausage. :laugh:

And as you know the diet is key; if you lose overall BF, the layer of fat on your thighs will eventually get smaller too. ;)

[wanttobefit]

I do think my legs look better than a few months ago. I've basically stayed away from lifting too heavy (no more trying to set squat and DL PRs); the lowest rep ranges I've done are 6-8- and that, only for one exercise once/week. Most of my LB training has been higher rep, shorter rest, supersets, BW plyometrics. Basically a whole lot of sweating and getting that "omg I can't even walk" burn! :juju:

I've also been focusing on training mostly my hams and glutes since I do NOT want my quads to get any bigger; not training for Figure anymore. I guess I could say I'm training for my jeans- to look good in, that is! And not like a stuffed sausage. :laugh:

And as you know the diet is key; if you lose overall BF, the layer of fat on your thighs will eventually get smaller too. ;)

Agreed..I am training to fit in my jeans to...oh wait I mean my swimsuit..:funny:

[Erik]

And as you know the diet is key; if you lose overall BF, the layer of fat on your thighs will eventually get smaller too. ;)

This.

[Inatic]

The lowest rep ranges I've done are 6-8-
on the same note, arent there some legs that actually respond to training/growing in the higher rep range vs the lower rep (due to types of muscle fibers?) or is that only in a (over)fed state?

[Anca]

on the same note, arent there some legs that actually respond to training/growing in the higher rep range vs the lower rep (due to types of muscle fibers?) or is that only in a (over)fed state?

I had heard about that too... I'd guess it would depend on being in a calorie surplus like you said. And also- maybe it happens specifically with isolation exercises (leg extensions, hamstring curls) as opposed to lunges, step-ups, squat jumps, split squats, speed prisoner squats (basically stuff that gets the heart rate up)? :unsure: