Bulky legs

[Chrissysusu]

Hi, Cathe and all you fit ladies!

I have a question regarding obtaining lean looking legs. I tend to be a person who puts on muscle VERY easily . . . in fact, a little too easily in the leg area. I have lost 23 lbs since January and have been really working on toning up my body. I have a lot of muscle now, but instead of my legs looking lean and muscular, they are looking bulky and muscular. What do I need to do with my workouts to change this, or is this what I am stuck with?

Currently this is my workout routine:

S - Crosstrain video (cardio + upper and lower body)
M - All cardio (60 min.)
T - Strength video (usually MIS or Tough Tape)
W - Rest
Th - Strength video (usually lighter weights with more reps)
F - All cardio (60 min.)
S - Crosstrain video (cardio + upper and lower body)

Thanks for all you help!

Chrissy

 

[Jane P]

I'm no expert, but my guess is that you should cut back on your weight workouts to twice a week. You say you have lots of muscle so all you have to do now is maintain it rather than try to build more muscle.

Spend the rest of the time doing cardio that leans out the legs. I find spinning, running and using a slide to really be good.

Also a tape like Cathe's BodyMax which combines weighted legwork with really vigorous cardio (and lots of it) may help.

 

[LHK]

I have the same problem! In fact I posted to this forum a while back- it was called "Help my quads are so big now!"
My suggestion, if I am even entitled to give one, is that you replace your Tuesday and Saturday with a pure cardio workout. I pretty much eliminated direct lowerbody weight work (ie MIS & PH) with a run. I can't honestly say I see results yet (it's been about 4 weeks) but I'm sure I will soon!
Lisa

 

[Holy_Cow]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jul-03-02 AT 02:56PM (Est)[/font][p]You may also want to try the Firms Lower Body Split. It's a fast, lower body, endurance type workout.