RE: lowerbody solution
Jacqueline:
I have discovered that what works best for me to increase msucle mass, definition and strength in my legs is a weekly combination of Cathe's Pyramid lower body (pyramid section only, I hate the rest) and circuit max, both of which I customize for my personal needs.
This means I work the legs for both strength and endurance each week and they are getting leaner and meaner...
I go all the way up and all the way down the pyramid, as heavy as possible on the way up, often I stay at the high weight to see out the particular exercise all the way though. This takes each muscle to exhaustion like nothing else I have ever tried. Way more than Slow and Heavy legs even. When I get to the squats/plie squats superset, I do something different because I can handle a lot of weight on straight squats, but not so much on plie's. So I do the entire superset first time through purely for straight squats, going up to 50 pounds and usually staying there throughout. Then I repeat the superset for plie squats with lighter weight because I find the form much more difficult on these. This means that I do twice the number of reps for squats and plies and by the end of the 28 min pyramid section, my legs are jello.
I use Cathe's Circuit max later in the week as a max cardio day combined with leg endurance work. After the 5 min cardio cycles, when Cathe does 2 mins of upper body weights work, I pick up the barbell and just do 2 mins of squats, plie squats, static lunges, or use dumbells for lunges onto the step and lunges off the step. By the end of Circuit max again, my legs can do no more.
I am increasing muscle mass in the legs and they are getting firmer all the time. I don't work them every day as suggested in Francine's link, I find I work them enough, and every muscle needs rest. If I didn't rest them after these 2 workouts, they would refuse to move a few days later!
These are my suggestions for leaner, meaner legs. Maybe they would work for you? I reccomend the Slow and heavy series for upper body, it's fabulous. But I have reservations abou it for lower body, I am just not finding that it exhausts the muscle.
Aquajock may have more suggestions for you to work those legs.
Clare
