Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I have been weight training and have gotten the results I've wanted in my upper body, easily. The problem I have is that I work out my legs the hardest and see the least results. I no longer lift calves (busted a zipper on my boots), I run 12 - 15 miles a week and do 5 days of 30 - 40 minutes of cardio a week, and lift 4 times a week. When I do legs I usually do 3 sets of 15 reps maxing out on the last set. I usually do squats, leg extension, hip sled, lunges, deadlifts, leg curls, and hip abductor/aductor. My ex boyfriend recommended doing a cycle of primo or var. I have only used thermogenics and creatine in the past. Does anyone have any suggestions or workout pointers? I'm very frustrated at this point. I'm not huge, 5'4" 132 lbs and comfortable with my size I just want ripped thighs and a tight butt. My legs are nice, but the but is not flabby, just extremely soft for as hard as I work it out.
buttocks
- Thread starter julesW
- Start date
Sassy69
New member
Yea, first don't go w/ teh ex boyfriend & primo approach.... That's a whole other discussion....
Upper body is very easy to see results for women because the typical female (estrogen driven) pattern of fat depositing will put greater concentrations of fat cells in the hips / thighs / ass / waist and not in the upper body. I can shread up real nice on top and still have jiggly thighs. That just means you have to continue applying the diet & training - its just going to take longer to see the results because there is a greater concentration of fat cells there. And steroids are not the quicky answer.
OK, you've listed a whole shitload of cardio and some training as well. Primarily need to look at your current diet because diet will produce 80% of your results. The other thing here is that you are doign a shitload of cardio. Consider what marathon runners look like - "skinny fat" - sure they are lean, but they are stringy and tend to have a bodyfat measure that would surprise you - not necessarily because they are fat but rather that they will have a lack of muscle as running especially can be catabolic (eats muscle too).
So my first question is, does your diet support the activities you are demanding from your body? For ex, if you aren't eating enough protein, chances are that your running is helping some w/ the bodyfat but if its eating your muscle as well, even a smaller amount of bodyfat will still look fatter than if you had more muscle. My guess is that the two things you are demanding from your body are conflicting - muscle building & muscle burning (running) and also would ask if you can list what your diet currently is in detail (i.e. meal 1 (8 am) : 1/2 c oatmeal, etc...) -- with the ultimate questoin being total cals, quality of food and macronutrient ratios: % and grams of proteins / fats /carbs. (You can put your day's meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com to get all this info).
Upper body is very easy to see results for women because the typical female (estrogen driven) pattern of fat depositing will put greater concentrations of fat cells in the hips / thighs / ass / waist and not in the upper body. I can shread up real nice on top and still have jiggly thighs. That just means you have to continue applying the diet & training - its just going to take longer to see the results because there is a greater concentration of fat cells there. And steroids are not the quicky answer.
OK, you've listed a whole shitload of cardio and some training as well. Primarily need to look at your current diet because diet will produce 80% of your results. The other thing here is that you are doign a shitload of cardio. Consider what marathon runners look like - "skinny fat" - sure they are lean, but they are stringy and tend to have a bodyfat measure that would surprise you - not necessarily because they are fat but rather that they will have a lack of muscle as running especially can be catabolic (eats muscle too).
So my first question is, does your diet support the activities you are demanding from your body? For ex, if you aren't eating enough protein, chances are that your running is helping some w/ the bodyfat but if its eating your muscle as well, even a smaller amount of bodyfat will still look fatter than if you had more muscle. My guess is that the two things you are demanding from your body are conflicting - muscle building & muscle burning (running) and also would ask if you can list what your diet currently is in detail (i.e. meal 1 (8 am) : 1/2 c oatmeal, etc...) -- with the ultimate questoin being total cals, quality of food and macronutrient ratios: % and grams of proteins / fats /carbs. (You can put your day's meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com to get all this info).
List all the specifics of your diet!
T
The Shadow
Guest
IF I read another post where a female is being urged to go with ANY ANABOLICS, much less Primo, at her boyfriends suggestion - I think my head will explode.
Start with your training........all out on 15 reps per set is not the way to build any lbm. You also mentioned your calves being large......if thats an issue now - you most likely will not like the result of gaining LBM as it will be distributed on your entire body - calves included
Start with your training........all out on 15 reps per set is not the way to build any lbm. You also mentioned your calves being large......if thats an issue now - you most likely will not like the result of gaining LBM as it will be distributed on your entire body - calves included
The Shadow said:
Oh God yes.
julesW said:
In addition to needing diet specifics, what is your BF%?
macrophage69alpha
New member
if you have glutes/hips/thighs fat loss issues, reccomend yohimburn ES.
if your musculature in those areas is lacking then you should look at your form, because those exercises should be developing glutes and thighs quite well
if your musculature in those areas is lacking then you should look at your form, because those exercises should be developing glutes and thighs quite well
This is a sample of my diet on fitday.com
Total: 1839
Fat: 51 463 26%
Sat: 22 194 11%
Poly: 6 57 3%
Mono: 19 171 10%
Carbs: 164 597 34%
Fiber: 15 0 0%
Protein: 179 716 40%
My body fat is estimated to be at 22%. I'm in the army and that is according to their program that is not entirely accurate. I measure myself once a week and do not rely solely on the scale for progress. My waist is 28 inches, hips are 34 7/8 inches, and my thigh is 21 7/8 inches. As for my calves its not an issue (as long as I don't lift my calves), I would not mind my calves if I had the thighs and buttocks to match. As for form that is one thing I focus on no matter what exercises I'm doing. My ex and I still go to the gym together occassionally and I ask for his imput on my form. I don't care what weight I lift as long as I can do them properly. He said that I should just lift more weight and do less reps. I'm just not sure, maybe it is my diet.
30 minutes of cardio and abs
8:30 am - .5 cup oatmeal 5 egg whites
10:00 am - yogurt and granola
12:00 pm - tuna and salad
2:00 pm - muscle milk
4:00 pm - 1 hour weight training
7:00 pm - whole wheat pasta with meat sauce
10:00 pm - protein
Thanks for the input thus far.
Total: 1839
Fat: 51 463 26%
Sat: 22 194 11%
Poly: 6 57 3%
Mono: 19 171 10%
Carbs: 164 597 34%
Fiber: 15 0 0%
Protein: 179 716 40%
My body fat is estimated to be at 22%. I'm in the army and that is according to their program that is not entirely accurate. I measure myself once a week and do not rely solely on the scale for progress. My waist is 28 inches, hips are 34 7/8 inches, and my thigh is 21 7/8 inches. As for my calves its not an issue (as long as I don't lift my calves), I would not mind my calves if I had the thighs and buttocks to match. As for form that is one thing I focus on no matter what exercises I'm doing. My ex and I still go to the gym together occassionally and I ask for his imput on my form. I don't care what weight I lift as long as I can do them properly. He said that I should just lift more weight and do less reps. I'm just not sure, maybe it is my diet.
30 minutes of cardio and abs
8:30 am - .5 cup oatmeal 5 egg whites
10:00 am - yogurt and granola
12:00 pm - tuna and salad
2:00 pm - muscle milk
4:00 pm - 1 hour weight training
7:00 pm - whole wheat pasta with meat sauce
10:00 pm - protein
Thanks for the input thus far.
Off to a good strat just need some tweaking.julesW said:
8:30 .5 cup oatmeal 5 egg whites
10:00 1/4 c yogurt and 1/2 cottage cheese (or another protein source)
12:00 can tuna and 2-3 cups mixed greens (lemon juice and vinger dressing)
2:00 1/2 c whole wheat pasta with meat sauce (extra lean beef in the sauce approx 3-4 oz)
4:00 pm - 1 hour weight training
5:00 muscle milk or any other protein shake
7:00 tuna and 2-3 cups mixed greens (lemon juice and vinger dressing)
10:00 protein shake and tbsp of anpb or some almonds need a fat source is the bottom line.
What is your height and weight you have yet to list it.
T
The Shadow
Guest
julesW said:
1800 cals at 132 is a bit much imo....especially if you are looking to cut/solidify
Sassy69
New member
superqt4u2nv said:
I'm not huge, 5'4" 132 lbs and comfortable with my size I just want ripped thighs and a tight butt. My legs are nice, but the but is not flabby, just extremely soft for as hard as I work it out.
It sounds like you are at a level where you need to optimize a couple of things to get where you want - my guess is you aren't fat but rather just need more muscle mass to make that bodyfat ratio (22%) go down. If the above is your typical daily meal plan, then, in addition to all your training, running & cardio, this is what has produced the body you have. Meaning that what you are doing now is not really geared towards focused muscle building. The macro ratios are pretty good being around 40/30/30. So your diet is not a bad thing, but lets consider your goals...
I'm realy interested to hear more about building muscle while doing a lot of running... I'm not sure how you fuel that because carbs are needed to do the running but protein is needed to preserve muscle - so findign the balance where muscle isn't catabolized by the running but fat isn't depositied by the increase in protien & carbs to support the two goals of building muscle & fueling distance running.... I'm not sure I know how to balance that here. So maybe let's consider starting w/ the diet & training needs to build muscle and then see how that works w/ the current running load, responding to how you feel (i.e. energy) fiddle w/ the amount of carbs to support the running better - but do it by experiment vs guess an amount. If we don't get too side tracked w/ the fat loss goal (as I think the bodyfat ratio - 22% can change w/ muscle building)
I think qt made good tweaks to the diet - generally lose the fruit & all the other sources of simple sugars. Maybe consider skippign the muscle milk for a lower cal / fat / carb protein mix. Move the meals around so your last meals aren't carb loaded.
The training - move away from the high rep thing and stay in the range of 6-8 reps at heavier weights to build. If you enjoy the 12-15 miles /week running, I'm not sure its necessary to do the cardio every day as well - you might consider just doing a couple 20 min HIIT sessions instead of longer sessions. If you are a distance runner anyway, the shorter sprint based training might kick up your metabolism a little in the sense that your body is already conditioned for long distance, steady state running. It usually takes a change of some sort to spur a response in your body, and also it may help step away from the catabolic nature of cardio.
Do not post on serious threads telll after having my morningSassy69 said:
sowwy.
katdav
New member
Great thread... I've got the exact same prob, distance running yet I'm trying to get some muscle on my butt. I do legs 2x week (weights). That seems to have made a difference for me, I'm starting to see muscle definition not just leg blobs. I do squats, lunges, extensions, curls, calves, one day and leg press, dead lifts, extensions, curls, calves, another. Great advice about tweaking carbs by energy level. I was eating way to many carbs cuz hey....I was training for marathons. Now I just load up a little more the Fri before my distance runs, not Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon!! 1800 calories sounds like a lot to me too. I'm 5'5", 130 lbs....not much calves though!!
Sassy69
New member
katdav said:
From all the posts about runners wanting to build muscle - it seems more & more important to identify the specific goal, not several conflicting goals, and then stay focused on the one. If there are multiple goals, then spread them out over time - this is really no different than wanting to build muscle for competition during the off season and then cutting while preserving muscle for competition season -- 2 phases - 2 different goals, - 2 different regimens that don't give your body conflicting signals resulting in not really achieving any of the goals.
Calves -- if you're at a point where you can step away from the distance running for a while, consider a change in your cardio to do sprints -- look at the calves on sprinters, bikers & speed skaters! Something I've noticed lately - I added a phase of my training routine where I do 10 minutes of "drills" back & forth across the aerobics room floor at my gym -- high knee sprints, butt kicks, etc. I've got gimungus calves but I tend to hold fat & water in them - since doing these little sprinty things they are much more defined. In the past I've done all the calf raises & calf machines but never seemed to make a diff -- but changing your regimen w/ sprints / interval cardio might get some different results.
Tomorrow is my first leg day. I will try to do less reps and more weight. Everyone says 1800 calories is alot (I didn't think it was that much). What should they be at? As far as my running, I run 3-4 miles at a time, but I have to because of the Army. I will try doing sprints instead, I just hate them!!!
I read this thread and I think people in the forum feel like I hate my legs. Its not true. In a bikini I feel good, but not as good as I hard as I work them out.
Thanks again for all the help.
I read this thread and I think people in the forum feel like I hate my legs. Its not true. In a bikini I feel good, but not as good as I hard as I work them out.
Thanks again for all the help.
Sassy69
New member
julesW said:
General guidelines for cals = 1 - 1.2 x your weight. If you want to focus on preserving muslce, go a little more towards the 1.2.x (protein) - but it also matters how you use those calories.
As far as the feedback you're getting here - we're hard core here! Most women are not happy w/ their lower half and its an estrogen thing. Its the common complaint and it isnt' always intuitive to think that you can't do a spot reduction or that you run a lot but you still dont' have ripped up quads, etc. But we can all attest to the fact that if you want results, we think in terms of optimal work -- diet, training. Not large, fluffy, nebulous responses but rather some very targeted info -- you're talking to lots of competitors who have gone after the very specific results and have a good idea of what it takes to make a serious transformation
T
The Shadow
Guest
julesW said:
From page 1:
The Shadow said:
10-12x bodyweight is correct - as Sassy said
