Pear Body Type: unable to tone "bottom half"

T

trekkeriii

Member
Hi Cathe -
I am a pear body type with a nicely toned upper body but a flabby and not toned bottom half :(
I have tried P90X, Brazillian Butt lift workout, Power90, as well as lowering my caloric intake to 1400 calories per day. I have a few of your DVD's : Kick Punch and Crunch & Legs and Glutes as well as Basic Step plus Cardio & weights
My stats are 5'8.5" 133lbs and I am 34 years old. I cannot eat gluten, or fructose other than small amounts of stevia, so this limits my diet and how I can diet.
I am soooo frustrated, can you offer any suggestions?
 
Hi grateful dog
I don't mean to barge in on your thread but you said you did B&G 2 to 3 times a week was that the only leg work you did and for how long???
 
Thanks for your reply! I would imagine all the running you did helped too! 6 months is a long time. That's my problem I could never stick for one thing long enough so see any real results. I guess that's the bad thing about having all cathe's DVD's do many to choose from:)
 
Another B&G fan. I lost alot of inches in my lower body with the combination of B&G and LIS.

Good luck and happy exercising!!! :D
 
Don't forget Lower Body Blast too! :D:eek:;) My all time favorite lower body Cathe workout!
Definitely adding weights to leg training makes the difference for me. I really think it's a myth that pear shapes should stay away from weights when working lower body. As long as you are eating clean and getting enough cardio the weights will firm up the lower body like nothing else. The secret is to build that muscle and burn the fat at the same time. That's really the only way...if you do just one or the other you aren't going to get the results you want. For me at least, doing only unweighted leg work was a fast train to nowhere. I do think it's good to mix weights with unweighted and standing with floor work to get a good variety of exercise but do not fear the dumbells!

And yes Butts and Guts is awesome too!;)
 
Butts and Guts for sure but also Slide and Glide, Turbo Barre, Afterburn, and Athletic Training - those workouts really incorporate the back side!
Consistency with those in a monthly rotation worked for me :)
 
cokonkel said:
Don't forget Lower Body Blast too! :D:eek:;) My all time favorite lower body Cathe workout!
Definitely adding weights to leg training makes the difference for me. I really think it's a myth that pear shapes should stay away from weights when working lower body. As long as you are eating clean and getting enough cardio the weights will firm up the lower body like nothing else. The secret is to build that muscle and burn the fat at the same time. That's really the only way...if you do just one or the other you aren't going to get the results you want. For me at least, doing only unweighted leg work was a fast train to nowhere. I do think it's good to mix weights with unweighted and standing with floor work to get a good variety of exercise but do not fear the dumbells!

And yes Butts and Guts is awesome too!;)
Click to expand...

I agree 110% with what Colleen has recommended.

DO NOT FEAR WEIGHTS! I'm a classic pear-shape and the heavier I go with my weights, the leaner my butt/thighs become. Bring on the weighted vest and barbell too! It's all good ;).

LBB is a goodie! Love it!

Natasha
 
So here is my workout schedule: Monday - Tabata drills, Tuesday Upper body with weights, Wednesday P90X Plyometrics, Thursday Legs & Glutes Body Blast, Friday Body Blast Kickboxing.
I eat about 1600 to 1800 calories per day, no gluten, no fructose (raw sugar, fruits etc), no nuts. My weakness is homemade corn chips & air popped Amish popcorn (of which I think I am developing an intolerance to).
With this workout system I have dropped about 30 inches overall over 2 years. Now I have gained 3 pounds back, and am getting pudgy on lower half. Nothing has changed - could it be becuase I am not doing enough lower body with weights? I was told by a personal trainer that I needed to do LOTS of cardio - that was the only way to blast fat off my lower body... So I am confused. Could someone lay it out in real laymens terms what I should be doing daily?
 
Well, I am not a personal trainer, but my personal experience bears out what the other ladies here have shared with you. I, too, was a cardio queen for years and years. I've been doing Cathe for about 13 years and have pretty much stuck with a 4-5x per week cardio schedule. I lifted weights occasionally but always found it pretty boring so I only intermittently would incorporate it into my program. About a year ago I decided to really tune up my lower half. I was tired of having big thighs and wanted to be more streamlined, as I was losing weight but could not lean out my rear and legs. I started doing more weight training and more interval/plyo training. As I have built my leg muscles they have gotten leaner, not bigger, but more toned. I managed to get rid of my saddle bags as well, and I've had them since high school (I'm now 38), and had resigned myself to never being able to get rid of them. I was wrong!

I strongly recommend that you add some weight training and keep up the plyo/interval training. At least that is what worked for me. I also realized that when I improve my form and really "work work", I get better results.

I hope this helps! You will have to stick with it...6 months seems like a long time, but if you want to see results and change your body, patience and persistence is key.

Cathe has a "Rock Bottoms" rotation that seems to be very effective. You can find it in the rotations forum. There is also another one from earlier this year that uses a lot of the LIS DVDs and LBB, and that helped me lean out a lot. Check the rotations forum for both of these. I think the February one is the one I am thinking of.
Take care,
Eva
 
mini-natty said:
I agree 110% with what Colleen has recommended.

DO NOT FEAR WEIGHTS! I'm a classic pear-shape and the heavier I go with my weights, the leaner my butt/thighs become. Bring on the weighted vest and barbell too! It's all good ;).

LBB is a goodie! Love it!

Natasha
Click to expand...

Yes, THIS!
Lifting heavy for lower body is suppose to get rid of cellulite too. The more muscle you build, the less fat.
Be careful about going too low on calories, that could have an opposite effect and promote more fat storage. You need quality food and calories to gain muscle mass.
 
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deineira said:
I managed to get rid of my saddle bags as well, and I've had them since high school (I'm now 38), and had resigned myself to never being able to get rid of them. I was wrong!


Cathe has a "Rock Bottoms" rotation that seems to be very effective. You can find it in the rotations forum. There is also another one from earlier this year that uses a lot of the LIS DVDs and LBB, and that helped me lean out a lot. Check the rotations forum for both of these. I think the February one is the one I am thinking of.
Take care,
Eva
Click to expand...

I too have had "saddle bags" since highschool and the preverbal "Quarter Horse Butt" (BIG AND ROUND). I have almost given up on toning them up.

Can you tell me what the LIS and LBB stand for? I ordered the DVD "Butts & Guts", and I found the Four Day Split DVD @ my local library.
How many days a week should I be doing leg strength/weight training? I have always done it only once a week.

Thank you all for your help and input!!!
 
The LIS workouts are Cathe's Low Impact series ones. I have to say I practically consider Afterburn to be a lower body workout even though it's technically a Hiit one. Three words: Dixie Cup DOMS!:eek: All of the LIS ones work the lower body really well but I'd have to say Afterburn and the lower body split on Trisets are must haves for shaping up the bottom half. LBB stands for Lower Body Blast, which like I said before I LOVE! It's so great because Cathe incorporates cardio blasts in between the weight training to keep your heart rate up and the fat burning. It also has an awesome floor and barre section for variety. Highly recommend!

You're going to love Butts and Guts too! It's a staple! ;)

As for me, I try to train the lower body twice a week. When I did STS I felt the need to add a second leg day as one just wasn't enough for me.

ETA: Here's a nice long clip of LBB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB2xFgnlqEs
 
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