lift heavy for legs to shrink?

darine

darine

Cathlete
To shrink butt and legs, should I go heavy?

If more muscles burn more fat... that means I need to lift heavy for legs right?

My goal is to shrink 4 inch on butt and few inch on thighs.

I have a shock that I gained so much. It's so hard to loose that.

My diet is ok not perfect but pretty good. I think I need to decrease carbs for bottom, right?

thx for your help
 
Losing fat is more about the diet than the exercise, IMO. Whether heavy lifting will help is really dependent on you and how your body reacts. My body reacts well to a combination of heavy lifting, cycling and running, but ONLY if the diet is also good. When I hear, not perfect, but good for the diet, I often think the person would benefit with a week of writing everything down, and measuring exactly what is eaten for a week. It can be eye opening.
 
Diet is key..wish it weren't , but it is.
However, the lower body solution approach is light to moderate weights but you train legs 4-6 days a week. It's based on obtaining lean legs and the fact that dancer's who have amazing legs, work their legs daily. Running has also made a huge difference for me!
Good luck!

Becky
 
oh no!

so hard to decrease carbs. that's my weakness

It's also cheese. I love cheese but I can control that

However, bread is harder. Always wholewheat... but i am so hungry if I have no bread for breakfast.

I was thinking of working out legs more often. Do you think if I do at least one one hour session a week and another 3 or 4 shorter ones (20 to 30 min) is enough

I am trying to add walking after work, but weather and life plans are often on the way. But I know walking and hopefully soon running would help. Do you think 20 to 30 min of legs is enough or they all should be like 1 hour workout.

At least once a week I have a one hour leg workout. I can't imagine doing 3 to 4 times 1 hour leg, I will not have time to do any other body parts

thx
 
Hi Darine!
I have to agree that for me, higher rep/low or no weight works best for leaning out my legs! I've been doing Beach Body's Slim in 6 program plus walking/running and have slimmed down A LOT! :D

I wanted to share with you that I did one of Fitness Freak's rotations once called "Leg Blast Rotation" and got really good results (slimming/toning results) in my legs. It works your legs 3x per week. It was one total body workout, one complete leg workout, and one leg floor work per week. That worked really well for me and it wasn't overkill on my legs. It's such a well rounded rotation too because while it concentrates on your lower body, it also works the upper body 2x per week and has cardio mixed in there too! I think it might be what you're looking for. You don't have to follow it exactly using the same DVD's, but it's a good outline!

Here is the generic breakdown she posted for each week, and a link below it to the entire rotation:
Day 1: Total Body
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Leg workout
Day 4: Cardio
Day 5: Upper body and leg floor work
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Rest

http://www.thecathenation.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1741525#post1741525

Hope this helps! :)
 
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oh thank you lifeverlasting78

you are so sweet :)

always helpful

I will try that for 1 month
 
You can still have your bread/grain for breakfast & lunch. I am currently studying up on more healthy eating & Dr Don Colbert although not a fitness expert but has some amazing knowledge on the whole eating thing suggests not eating grains after 3pm in his book Living in Divine Health - this would include potatos also.
I also love cheese!!! :D but I always eat low fat cheese now - better than nothing! ;)
 
Speaking from experience with big legs

darine said:
To shrink butt and legs, should I go heavy?

If more muscles burn more fat... that means I need to lift heavy for legs right?

My goal is to shrink 4 inch on butt and few inch on thighs.

I have a shock that I gained so much. It's so hard to loose that.

My diet is ok not perfect but pretty good. I think I need to decrease carbs for bottom, right?

thx for your help
Click to expand...

For me, after years of weight training of all kinds, heavy, light, plus lower body solution - I mean I tried everything, and what worked best for me is body weight exercises plus spinning. Pilates type exercises are great, as are Mindy Mylrea's Gliding discs. I used to kill myself with weights for legs and it's not necessary. I've cut way back on the time I work out, and I'm finally in the shape I want to be.

As far as diet, you must keep a journal to get a handle on your eating - layin' it open & out there with no lying to yourself about "I don't eat that much," or "my eating is not great but not that bad." Carbs are OK, just not refined carbs, and it's OK to eat carbs at night. I still have some cellulite, but you may not get rid of all of it, as your genetics play a part, too.
 
Just in case anyone needs validation or whatever.... for feeling like lighter weights is better for their lower half.... I heard a podcast from a former body builder (male) who said that women shouldn't use heavier weights for their legs because if they build muscle there, it will have the appearance of making them look heavier there. Instead, work your upper body hard to build there, work your legs with body weight resistance training, and proportionally you will look leaner in the lower half. Just what I heard....... (I know it could be controversial!!).

-Beth
 
I've been trying to lift heavy on lower body days and have found several things. My bubble butt has gotten higher, rounder, and bigger. I look like JLo, which isn't a look I'm going for. My thighs and legs overall look much better. I've been doing two lower body workouts (Butts and Guts and Legs and Glutes- at my own pace) along with two full body workouts, including the lower body portion. So, I'm really working my lower body four times a week.
It's worked for my legs, slimming them, but my butt has "raised." If that is what you're looking for, then what I've been doing might work for you.
 
My advice to you is to find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, keep around 500 calories deficit every day, 2-300 through diet and the rest through exercise, vice versa. You will steadily drop 1 lb of fat per week.

You cannot control where your bodyfat comes from whether it be from your legs, abs or boobs.

Log your calories by weighing. Eyeballing or cup measure is not accurate.

I would lift heavy weights to maintain the muscle I have while restricting calories. This is what I've been doing for the past month and finally lost 3 lbs after being stuck for a year despite running, total body weights, etc. I was exercising hard, but eating more (or at maintenance) than I needed.
 
Hi-

I'm a pear and for me, I found heavy weight training 1x/week for about an hour was my ticket to leaning out my lower body. Granted, my legs will never be skinny looking ( not built that way) the heavy weights have really given muscle tone and curve to my quads, hamstrings, and butt.

I do my strength training mostly at the gym, where I can use the leg press machine and squat racks, doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps.

I find I do better w/ running, the ARC trainer, and kickboxing as my cardio to complement the heavy weights. If I spend too much time on the stair mill or doing step workouts, my legs WILL look more bulky.

And, like everybody else said, diet , diet , diet!!! Totally the key ( and totally not the fun part)

Lynn M.
 
bitmover said:
Just in case anyone needs validation or whatever.... for feeling like lighter weights is better for their lower half.... I heard a podcast from a former body builder (male) who said that women shouldn't use heavier weights for their legs because if they build muscle there, it will have the appearance of making them look heavier there. Instead, work your upper body hard to build there, work your legs with body weight resistance training, and proportionally you will look leaner in the lower half. Just what I heard....... (I know it could be controversial!!).

-Beth
Click to expand...

wondering- what is considered heavy/light for lower body? 40lbs can be light to some people, and squatting 100+ can be heavy.
 
Well I can squat 100 pounds and not be at failure at 6-8 reps, so my problem is I guess at home I cannot truly go heavy. Still, light weights, many reps just does not do it for me. Biking and running really lean my legs out.
 
I've read kick boxing is great for slimming the lower body so I've been doing more sessions.
For me, the only thing that really slims my legs down is diet and I have to be very lean. The thighs are the last part of me to slim down.:(
 
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