Cathe, Aquajock - anyone who knows (long)

Annabelle2

Cathlete
I need a little guidance here and appreciate it if you could help me out with my routine.

I started with the Firm at a little over 200 lb, I lost 82 and have progressed to Cathe. I own almost all of her workouts and have been doing them for a while. I have been playing around for about 6 months trying to lean out specifically in the leg and lower abdominal area. I followed Zone eating for about two years and have recently switched to Eating For Life. I have been following a microperiodization routine for quite a while so I am not sure what one thing would really work for my lower body. My upper body is fine. Each week I alternate a cardio session and a weight session. Each week for Cardio I do an interval workout, a Hi/Lo or kickbox workout, and a step workout. For weight training I lift a different style every week (push pull one week, pyramid one week, slow and heavy one week, etc. I also do a week of circuits) I do an upper body workout, a lower body workout and a total body workout each week. I stretch on my rest day. I gave running a shot (maybe not long enough) but my legs began to swell - we are in a very hilly area and I thought that might be it. I am starting to get bony in my upper body and I have good muscle definition there but my thighs still look flabby. I used heavy weights for me for a while - 60 lbs for leg work and they just got bigger so I cut back to no more than 40 lbs on my legs. I am an hourglass. I have played around with my diet too watching my calories and percentages, I lower my calories to get leaner and I lose energy for my workouts. I am going to try the walking lunges but I am wondering if you have any suggestions to help me slim my thighs down? I have posted about this before and received many responses and have tried most of them. Do you think it would benefit me to do some floor work every day? Can you give me some ideas?
 
Hey Kathy!

Just had to say again what an amazing story and progress you have made! What a great success story for fitness and nutrition with both the Firm and Cathe you are! I'm so glad to have met you on this, the Firm and Ya Ya boards.

:)
Susan
 
Hi Kathy, I hope you don't mind me offering a suggestion. I am a pear and share the same kind of problem. The slimmest my thighs have ever been was when I was running 4 - 5 days a week, however I wasn't doing any cross-training or weight lifting so that wasn't a great balance! I don't run that much anymore but I found an alternative for myself for thinning my thighs and here's a sample of what works best for me in lieu of running:

Mon - LL
Tues - PS Legs floor only/30 - 40 min run
Wed - CTX Upper Body
Thurs - KPC/L&G Standing (or some premix variation)
Fri - IMAX2/PLB Floor or L&G Floor
Sat - PUB
Sun - Off

Anyway, the point is I would include 2 days of standing legs, 2 days with floor legs and incorporate one running, one kickboxing and one interval day. I never go above a 40 lb barbell. My pants fit a little different after only 2 weeks. Anyway, this is just another suggestion as I'm sure many you've had many. If nothing else, it's something to think about! I think it takes a lot of experimenting to find what works best for your body. :) :)

Jo
 
Jo, thank you for responding - I have some questions:

Do you do this in addition to your regular plan?

If not, how long do you think you can follow this particular rotation and when it is time to switch it up will you use another leg workout in place of LL and then do 2 floors, 1 running and 1 kick boxing?

Thank you so much for the suggestion - I am going to check this out!

Kathy
 
As someone who is always looking for new options for thinning out the thighs, thanks for the rotation suggestion Jo.

Annabelle, thanks for continuing to ask the question about leaning the thighs.
 
I usually do this for 4 weeks and I change it every week so I don't get bored (I'm not real good at following rotations that don't have variety!). What I mean by change it is keep the routine, change the workouts. Anyway, for the standing legs I use: LL, ME lower body premix, MIS Legs, L&G (or one of the premixes), or PLB. Also, since they all vary a little time wise, I can select the proper one for how much time I have. So week one might be the one I listed above and then week 2 I substitute ME lower body for LL and MIS for L&G or whatever. Also if I can't run that week I just do something like Rhythmic Step or one of Cathe's other step tapes without blasts. Likewise on the kickboxing I use KPC or Kickbox or Cardio Kicks. You get the idea. Also, I swap these around based on my energy level so if I'm suppose to do LL and just don't have the energy then I might do MIS Legs because it's not as long but just as effective! Usually after 4 weeks of this then I do an all Cardio week and then start over with something else! Anyway, everytime I follow this kind of rotation I have happy thighs and happy me! :) :) :) Hope that helps!
Jo
 
Hi!

I have a question......does heavier weight mean bigger thigh muscles? I thought heavier weight would slim this down but maybe that is my problem because lately I feel like I have thunder thighs and I don't like it!!!! Is it best to keep the same weight that Cathe uses?

Karen
 
Karen, it doesn't mean that for everyone, everyone's body is different. I think mine is just fat over the muscle and I need to get it off!!! When I get leaned out there I am going to try heavy again, for some it does marvelous things for the legs. I am experimenting with different things in hopes that what is on my legs is not saggy skin from dramatic weight loss. From what I have read Pear shapes have more difficulty here than anyone else. I also keep in mind that muscle holds more water than fat does so I try to eat VERY clean and drink plenty of water.

I have found that it is best to use the weight that challenges you, no matter what weight Cathe is using.

Hope this helps you a bit!
 
Yes...this helps alot. Thank you so much. This is another light bulb moment for me and explains why I feel the way I do. Congratulations on your success. Keep up the great work!

Karen
 

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