Leg ?? Please help!

[alexsmom]

Legs?? Please help!

Ok...I know many of you are probably going to roll your eyes at this but I've always been curious as to why just doing really, really intense cardio isn't good enough for toning your leg musles?? I currently do weights for my legs, but I also do some pretty intense cardio on the bike and eliptical at a high level to where my leg muscles are burning sometimes. Why do I still need to do weights? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this.
KB

 

[new@gettinbig]

It can be good...if you do some high intensity interval training...good for fat loss...do 12-15 minutes of sprinting for a minute...walking for a minute...or you can do it on the bike etc...just go all out for that minute and then take a minute just to catch your breath and do it again....

 

[alexsmom]

THanks! You are always so nice about getting back to us newbies!! Anyhow, that's usually what I do...interval-type training unless I'm going for a long cardio session like 50 minutes or so. I'll start out at a moderate resistance...build up until I'm really pushing myself, then go back down and start all over again. I'm pretty thin but my legs are not quite as tight and toned as I'd like them to be. I think I still have a little bit of that old fear that doing to much will make them big. I hate for my pant legs to feel tight!! It seems like the more weights I do....they just get bigger, but still look flabby! Could this also be genetics? My mom's side of the family have very fat legs....Russian women.