Large thigh muscles

[Dancer4Life]

Hello, I am new to this forum, but here is the question I have to any women out there with large thigh muscles. I have been a ballet dancer for years, as well as a gymnast, I am tiny, only 5 feet 4 inches and 115 pounds, but my calves and thighs are very muscular and large. When in college, I did not mind having such defined legs, but now, when I go to work wearing skirts, my leg muscles just pop up, especially with heels on. I need to slim them down and I have tried everything from Pilates, which seems to make them bigger and running which makes them more defined. Any thoughts from women who have large leg muscles, your advice is appreciated!!!

Jill

 

[kathryn]

I think calf size is very much determined by genetics, so there's not a lot you can do (there are quite a few male body builders who have wimpy calves, even after trying their hardest to make them grow. Some even resort to calf implants.) I don't have large thighs, but I do have large calves, and there is no way to get them smaller after getting rid of any excess fat covering them.

Thighs, on the other hand, should respond more to exercise. You might try a Freestyle workout approach, which was developed to help figure skaters, among others, get strong legs without excess bulk. You work your lower body on most training days (perhaps 5 days a week) but with lighter weights than what you would use for a regular leg workout (about 70% of that?). Carole does quite a bit of Freestyle and is our 'resident expert' so maybe she can chime in!

Also, step aerobics can tend to build bigger legs for some people, so you might want to reduce the amount of step you do if you do a lot, and replace it with something like kickboxing.

 

[JenL13]

Fellow large/muscular thigh & calf girl here! I agree with Kathryn that calf size is genetics & nothing you can really do about it...I always tell people well at least my big calves balance out my muscular thighs.

Personally I have found that high step is the worst for me & adding bulk to the thigh, so I'd stay away from it & I rarely do all step workouts... I love Drill Max, B&G, KPC/Legs&Glutes (I do the floor work of this one more than the step portion), Kick Max, and non-Cathe w/o such as Powerstrike 1 & 2, Slim Series by Beach Body, Thigh trimmer & bun shaper also from beach body. Kickboxing is great for burning calories and not adding bulk.
Slim Series from Beachbody is a lot less cardio than Cathe but Debbie incorporates light weights, high reps and light cardio, which is good for my body type.

I am interested to see if Carole responds to this post since Kathryn mentioned free style, never done that so I'll be checking to see if she answers!

Hope that helps a little.

 

[mnglamourgirl]

I agree with Kathryn & JenL13. Upon Jen's recommendation, I purchased the Slim Series by Beachbody and have done two of the 6 workouts, the Tone It Up and Shape It Up. I have to admit I was a bit unsure about these low weight/high rep workouts. I didn't break a serious sweat like I do with Cathe's but the workouts are completely different. Slim Series uses your body weight or light weights (3, 5 or 8 lbs. and optional 2.5 lb. ankle weights) for resistance. I was very surprised when doing these workouts at how my muscles were responding. I haven't done that many reps for any body part in a long, long time. And I'm actually sore. Since I've just begun this slimming part of my rotation, it's too early to report any progress. However, with that being said, I think that because it's different than what I'm used to, I'm hoping to have slimmer, leaner body. I am staying away from the step as much as I love those workouts because I did notice an increase in the thigh. I'll be incorporating more kickboxing-type workouts as well as workouts that use body weight and light weights.

HTH,
Terri