leg shape and type of exercise

[Risen]

Thank you for your advice. I just asked about cardio, not diet, or strength training, because those things are already taken care of. What kind of cardio will not bulk up my lower body, but will still help overall to reduce fat? My possibilities are plyometrics, running, walking, skipping rope, or biking.

Well i was mostly responding to Edge's needs, but same goes for anyone. The things you listed are pretty much it. Not much you can do with your legs besides move them . Just avoid the exercises that pump your legs up a lot (such as stair climbing). What we're talking about are exercises that utilize slow twitch muscle fibers, the type of muscle that utilizes oxygen and fat for energy and can continue contracting for very long periods. Everyone is different, but you really shouldn't have to worry about bulking up if you just cut calories and do your cardio as usual. Like i said, you wont gain much mass at all when you're on a deficit, but the inclusion of your strength training will aid in overall fat burning and toning your legs.

IOW, just focus on losing the fat, and the rest will fall into place.

 

[Fidelia]

Hokey dokey then - we'll give it a go...

 

[Ulaes]

wow, schweet. nice responses.

This isn't spot reduction. It's cardio + using your body weight as resistance. You can burn a lot of calories and build muscle at the same time.

Plyometrics workout: Burn more calories in less time!: Workouts: Self.com

thankyou, ill try it out.

Case in point: speedskater legs vs ballerina legs. Both are strong, but are very different.

yes, the point of my post. i notice it in the type of cylists, tour de france vs those indoor circuit races in the olympics. #1 has very skinny legs, #2 has huge mutant muscles jutting out over their knee caps.

What part of your legs specifically do you want to become skinny? Your calves or thighs?

both. i think my thighs are getting thinner at the faster rate because they had a lower muscle% in the first place.

It's your body type. Some people carry weight in legs/butt, others in stomach/midsection, etc.

Runners with super-skinny legs are probably petite people genetically, or they gain weight in their upper as opposed to lower body.

You can't fight your genes. Just be healthy and learn to love your unique shape.

im up and down, which is usually called rectangular. im rather tall with really long limbs and big joints (i.e big knees, knuckles, hands, feet and long fingers) and people call my body shape skinny and willowy. it really a kind of masculine body. but yes, the legs is where i gain weight. i put on a bit extra when i was younger, (yet i was always still in the healthy range) it just looked like shit.
im still in the healthy range now just on the skinny side of it, although i think i may look a bit skinner (yet if someone was looking at the legs alone, they'd probably assume my upper body was bigger) than that because my weight hasn't moved but ive gone down a dress size or two, meaning ive replaced the fat with muscle. im guessing my legs will always be dress sizes bigger than my upper body, but perhaps the gap can close in. im hoping my pants size will get smaller. my legs arent pure msucle yet, and since im still burning fat, why shouldn't they get smaller?

Yes, this is the case for the most part.

My legs are naturally super-muscular. The first time I ever even attempted to squat when I was 16 years old I got up to 300 pounds. My bodybuilding quest began as an effort to make my (disproportionatley) under-developed upper body more symmetrical so as to fit as nicely as possible with my lower body.

After 20 years, 3 shoulder operations, and much toil my effort is complete, I am finally in proportion as good as can be expected given my genetics. I am finally in maintenance mode.

If you have legs that are naturally muscular, and you want them to be skinny, then you might as well be a wishing that you would transform into a tiger, elephant, or other animal. It's just not going to happen.

The advice in this thread is good.

(1) Clean up your diet to cave-man standards (Perimeter of the supermarket, whole foods only (meats, fruits/veggies, dairy, whole grain breads), no processed sugar, frozen garbage, chips, hot dogs, etc.)

(2) Train your whole body, not just your legs, or other pet body part.

(3) Make a realistic assessment of your physique and set your goals accordingly. This helped me alot actually. I would not have ever been at peace if I didn't wake up one day and accept the fact that God gave me huge legs, good muscles up top, but very long gorilla arms, a relatively narrow chest, and a long torso. Once I accepted my frame the whole effort became much less oppressive, and became fun again.



Good luck! Be healthy, don't be obsessed with unrealistic expectations!

thanks, my diets pretty alright but now that im more educated ill make it ever better. although i worry about my recovery somtimes and wonder what im should be eating to help it along. also, occasioanly i when i run im low on energy and i suspect its due to a recent lack in protein or some such thing.
i dont workout my upper body much, just a little to keep it in a good shape. i do a handful of chin ups daily and occasionally ill do crunches, (althoug i suppose i should do more for core strenght?). funnily, there's a plus side to this isolated weight gain in the legs, my stomach is naturally flat. its drives people nuts.
ill stay away from that nasty frozen garbage

Wait, so you're saying you're trying to lose more fat on your legs?

If that's the case, your philosophy and approach is very wrong.

1. Spot reduction is impossible. Give it up. get it out of your head. IT DOESN'T HAPPEN! You must lose fat from all over your body, theres no way to target it.

i know, im not attempting spot reduction. i guess i didnt articulate myself properly in the op because this keeps comming up. im attempting to use the all-over fat burnign of runnign to my advantage. my theory was that running takes fat from all over your body, so if i keep running eventually it'll take enough from my legs, albeit they'll be skinny at a later date than my torso which is getting skeletal and probably will be soon. running will also make my body proportional ... eventually, or at least, it'll have a muscle/fat consistency. im also doing it to trim up my upper body (so my WHOLE body) a bit. long distance runners have great bodies in my opinion.
i chose long distance because it doesnt build thick muscular legs, which i dont want, like sprinting would. plus as a tall and long limbed person my limbs just never really seem to know whats going on when i sprint.

this works for you? ill give it a go after i figure out my numbers.

Anyway, I hope all of this helps. I HIGHLY suggest going to this website to read up on most of these concepts.

Fitness Tips To Get Lean and Toned, Not Bulky! | Fitness Black Book

Good luck .

thank you.

the only benefit i see of muscle gain, and the only reason why occasionally i wil try some exercise, is something ive read: muscle increases one's metabloism.
ive recetnly set a goal to increase the intensity of my running, to see faster results (i just hope they're the right ones and im not going to have to go up a dress size just to fit my new incredible hulk legs). before now i was sticking mostly to my comfort zone. sometimes i run 5km (3.1 miles) for time, sometimes i run 15km (9.3 miles) for distance.

is 22 - 24 minutes alright for 3.2 miles? i wasn't killing myself to make these times. it wasn't pleasant but my muscles were pretty okay afterwards. i guess that means i can be pushing myself harder.

 

[Ulaes]

Just avoid the exercises that pump your legs up a lot (such as stair climbing). What we're talking about are exercises that utilize slow twitch muscle fibers, the type of muscle that utilizes oxygen and fat for energy and can continue contracting for very long periods.

are you saying that stair climbing is a slow twitch muscle fiber or not? whats long d running?

 

[Risen]

are you saying that stair climbing is a slow twitch muscle fiber or not? whats long d running?

stair climbing utilizes a lot of fast twitch muscle fibers (the larger, faster moving muscle fibers that develop explosive force and use mainly stored glycogen for fuel, meaning they run out of energy quickly) and long distance running is almost all slow twitch action (the smaller slower moving muscle fibers that mainly use oxygen and fat for fuel and can continue activity for long periods of time). To develop muscle mass, you work on the fast twitch muscle fibers through weight lifting and any activity that puts an acute strain on the muscles, forcing them to recruit the fast twitch muscle fibers. To avoid gaining mass, (or to even lose mass) one should focus on exercises that only use slow twitch fibers, such as long distance running or any activity that uses a low amount of force over a long period of time. Hope that helps.

 

[Ulaes]

stair climbing utilizes a lot of fast twitch muscle fibers (the larger, faster moving muscle fibers that develop explosive force and use mainly stored glycogen for fuel, meaning they run out of energy quickly) and long distance running is almost all slow twitch action (the smaller slower moving muscle fibers that mainly use oxygen and fat for fuel and can continue activity for long periods of time). To develop muscle mass, you work on the fast twitch muscle fibers through weight lifting and any activity that puts an acute strain on the muscles, forcing them to recruit the fast twitch muscle fibers. To avoid gaining mass, (or to even lose mass) one should focus on exercises that only use slow twitch fibers, such as long distance running or any activity that uses a low amount of force over a long period of time. Hope that helps.

it does, thankyou. it enforces something i already suspected about types of exercise.

 

[phoenity]

While endurance athletes will have a lean body type, they are not necessarily known for being cut.

Aerobic exercise primarily burns fat for fuel. Long aerobic exercise results in the body releasing lots of cortisol. High cortisol levels promote fat storage. If you are training your body for fat burning activities, it makes sense to me that it's going to want to hold onto fat for fuel, especially in areas of your body that are doing most of the work.

High intensity, anaerobic activity primarily uses glycogen for fuel. This type of exercise also produces changes in your metabolism, where your body is consuming calories for hours after exercise has ceased.


If you are looking to cut your physique a bit, I would suggest incorporating sprints into your running routine.

 

[SillySapienne]

Wow.

Um, I've done/do all different types of working out but the only change in my legs is how toned they'll get.

The general shape and structure of my legs never changes, nor should anyone else's.

 

[CzeCze]

Hey OP, I get what you are saying because I'm in the same boat! I am genetically a meso-endomorph, so if we were in medieval times and my village were coming under attack, I'd do pretty well tipping over boulders and such at invading marauders. Or carrying the heavy stuff in the rice paddies. But for modern times, I feel your pain girl, having "legs like a blokes" does not serve any practical purpose!

And I understand that you didn't mean 'spot reduction' but rather 'body shaping'. Women are much more interested in body shape as opposed to just weight. Honestly, I would be more than happy to gain 10 pounds as long as I could have a bangin' proportionate body. What the scale tells you is often meaningless, it's about inches and how you fit into clothes.

I would recommend finding old school articles/videos "Body by Jake" (the guy who did the fitness programs on Extreme Makeover). Some excercises, like stair stepper, will actually bulk up your legs.

I would also recommend pilates. It is really helpful for reshaping your body. Supposedly it gives you a 'longer, leaner look'.

What Risen said makes sense, long distance runners often have a sleight, non muscular and even non-toned look to them. I realize that a lot of celebrity women run a lot in their regimens (Anna Faris in "The House Bunny" ran a minimum of 3 hours a day and pilates to get her super petite Playboy look and Fergie runs a lot).

If you have naturally bulky legs, the only way to get them super sleek will be to do a lot of toning + fat reduction - in the vein of weightlifters who crash diet before a competition to get their muscles to show. + "Lengthening" aka Pilates, pulleys

The only true "spot reduction" is liposuction which I don't think anyone on this thread would advocate for you but, hey, just pointing it out!

 

[kyuuei]

I have legs that rival Chung-Li if hers weren't muscular. They'll never go away. and I don't think I care anymore at this point. But go whomever is capable of changing their leg shape!

 

[EcK]

I do lots of cardio, and I never ever do weight training on my legs, because i'd really hate to have to wear those large and ugly pants. i'm an endo btw, like, for real. Most people just seem to use this body type as an excuse for being fat.

But i'm not crying about not being able to wear these super skinny jeans

That would just be incredibly lame, I mean, how do people even get their calves in there!

 

[01011010]

i run alot, mostly long distance. 10k is a walk in the part for me whenever i can be bothered to do it. i started because i wanted to slim down my legs so they were in proportion with the rest of my body. unfortunatley the extra muscle ive gained on my calves and thighs is bulky so even though ive lost a visible amount of leg fat, i still dont have skinny legs. i can see bitchin' runners legs coming through the softness, theyre just not very defined yet.
to get slimmer legs, should i be doing a different exercise/sport or should i just keep going? perhaps im not stretching enough?
im thinking i need to fix ym diet because there's alot of strong taught muscle underneith that im not getting credit for.
i heard sprinting gives one very muscular legs (more so than stringy long distance runners) so i avoid except on the occasion im training to increase my running time.
advice?

It's probably your body type. Most long distance runners I know, are the skinniest/stringiest bastards ever. That includes the toothpick legs they use to win road races.

I used to run long distance as well. I never had skinny looking legs, but you could see all the lines between the muscles that came together to make my legs. It's just not in everyone's genes to have long/lean legs.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

But i'm not crying about not being able to wear these super skinny jeans

That would just be incredibly lame, I mean, how do people even get their calves in there!

I once had what seemed to be a reasonable pair of pants. However, some time after I began working-out, I coud no longer pull them over my calves.

I suppose for people that go from fat to muscular, their clothes actually get too baggy, which is okay, because baggy clothes can still wearable and rather comfy. I, on the other hand, went from being skinny to being toned, so I lost many an article of clothing.

 

[CzeCze]

I suppose for people that go from fat to muscular, their clothes actually get too baggy, which is okay, because baggy clothes can still wearable and rather comfy. I, on the other hand, went from being skinny to being toned, so I lost many an article of clothing.

But you probably looked better in your new clothes? Or (from what I remember from the reaction you got from some muscular pics) out of them

:edit: Okay that sounded wrong! wait, MP posted topless pics of himself showing off his physique and received a positive response! I'm just giving props where props are due!

 

[JonJT]

i run alot, mostly long distance. 10k is a walk in the part for me whenever i can be bothered to do it. i started because i wanted to slim down my legs so they were in proportion with the rest of my body. unfortunatley the extra muscle ive gained on my calves and thighs is bulky so even though ive lost a visible amount of leg fat, i still dont have skinny legs. i can see bitchin' runners legs coming through the softness, theyre just not very defined yet.
to get slimmer legs, should i be doing a different exercise/sport or should i just keep going? perhaps im not stretching enough?
im thinking i need to fix ym diet because there's alot of strong taught muscle underneith that im not getting credit for.
i heard sprinting gives one very muscular legs (more so than stringy long distance runners) so i avoid except on the occasion im training to increase my running time.
advice?

My advice is to buy larger pants.

The only way I know of to shrink muscles is to allow them to atrophy. That would require a very sedentary lifestyle, one which will just add fat back to your body. I say buy new pants and be happy with your body.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

But you probably looked better in your new clothes? Or (from what I remember from the reaction you got from some muscular pics) out of them

:edit: Okay that sounded wrong! wait, MP posted topless pics of himself showing off his physique and received a positive response! I'm just giving props where props are due!

I don't usually say this, but I think this post is worthy of...

LOL.

You have the lesbian defense, you know? You can just say that you don't mean it in a threatening or demeaning way, because you aren't into guys like that.

And yes, the overwhelming consensus is that I look better now.

 

[Ulaes]

im fairly certain im a mesomorph body type. my bone structure is anything but fine, so that rules out ectomorph. plus, i think that body type is reserved for those tiny stick people we see miraculously walking around, those people that look like tall ten year olds. i doubt im enodmorph, my body is too rectangular, and even as a female, my shoulders are wider than my hips. last time someone commented on my frame, they said i was willowy. but im still not sure on how to indendify a slimmer endomorph. do they just have wide hips, short limbs and slow metabolisms? if im not meso im endo.
does everyone who's overweight think they're endomorph?
ive read on a websites specific training needs for each body type and im thinking about combing the one for mesomorphs with the endormorph one, just because some the fat stores on my legs are so stubborn... they're behaving like endomorphs!

after reading phoenity's post, i've put sprinting into my routine and i've noticed a big different in the feel of my legs, they're definatley got higher muscle density. very nice. im not sure about focusing on sprinting over long distance though, i don't want to get bigger. im putting increasing focus on sprinting anyhow, just to see what happens. it might end up being 35% sprint 65% long distance, or something like that.

what will using those weight machines for the innner thigh do to my thighs?

it's not quick but im definatley getting there, it'll be great when this monkey ive had on my back my whole life will be gone.

 

[phoenity]

after reading phoenity's post, i've put sprinting into my routine and i've noticed a big different in the feel of my legs, they're definatley got higher muscle density. very nice. im not sure about focusing on sprinting over long distance though, i don't want to get bigger. im putting increasing focus on sprinting anyhow, just to see what happens. it might end up being 35% sprint 65% long distance, or something like that.

what will using those weight machines for the innner thigh do to my thighs?

it's not quick but im definatley getting there, it'll be great when this monkey ive had on my back my whole life will be gone.

What is your goal?

 

[Halla74]

Calves...

Quads...

I cannot buy pants off the rack. I must buy a $50-60 pair of pants and then pay $50-60 for a full tailored re-cut of the waist, crotch, seat, and legs.

It's not easy being a bodybuilder...

 

[Ulaes]

Calves...


Quads...


I cannot buy pants off the rack. I must buy a $50-60 pair of pants and then pay $50-60 for a full tailored re-cut of the waist, crotch, seat, and legs.

It's not easy being a bodybuilder...

DIE YOUR SKIN GREEN!

What is your goal?

to loose body fat. what better way than running which burns fat from all over the body, worksout the legs, and is cardio exercise. i just queried the effects of particular workouts on the legs because i dont want bulkier legs. ive seen the bodies and legs of those stringy long distance runners and ive decided thats where i want to be (closer to). i know my body frame is probably bigger than most of those strigny people but i still have a bit of excess body weight that can be lost so there's so reason for me to give up exercising. my legs are my cheif concern as they store most of my body fat and are out of proportion. my body looks okay now, but it would look 100 times better if my legs were slimmer.
i believe in a healthy diet just not dieting. a calorie defieciency isnt a lifestyle that can be maintained, an active one is.