I have been working out in a gym for about 1 month now and have noticed that my legs00especially upper thigh and area around above my knees(!!) are getting bigger! I am a female, age 40, 204 pounds and I would have thought my legs would get smaller as I work out. Admittedly I have only been Atkin-izing (is that the word?) for a couple of days, but religiously in the gym for a month almost every day. I really enjoy it which is why I do it most days. Its not an effort to get there. (Never thought I would say that)..

My legs are getting really hard, I can actually see muscle above my knees and the skin feels tight. My tricepts are squeezing the back of my legs. I can feel a definate increase in strength, but I really wanted to get the thunderthights SLIMMER, not muscular!

What am I doing or not doing? I really believed that if I, a female, worked out with weights I wouldn't get bulked up. Is this beginners anxiety or am I slated to be the Hulk this time next year.

Any ideas or suggestions??

PS-- I leg press about 210lbs, leg curl about 60, squat (no weights) and eliptical train 3x/week for 30 mins max.

Thanks for any help...

YR

I said "tricepts" when I meant hamstrings--the muscles behind your shinbone??. Call me Homer.

YR

the muscle is growing underneath and once you drop the fat off... they won't seem so big. just think - you'll have a nice tight bod underneath!

Listen to legwarmers. You and I have the same shape, from the sound of it.

Big quads and hams are actually really, really beautiful - what you'll notice happening with your legs is they will start to become "deep" rather than "wide", and as the fat drops off your body (which will speed up with these lovely leg muscles burning off extra fat), you'll have great shape and definition underneath.

Please don't panic. You're doing great!

Now, do yourself a favour, and start taking pictures every month, same light, same pose. Do it from the front, and from the side.

You'll see what we're talking about as you see your progress.

Hard quads sticking out in front = GOOD!

Besides, if the only two choices you actually ever get to have are "big and cut" or "big and squishy", I mean, really, which one do you want?

For what it's worth, those have been MY two choices for MY legs.


Guess which one I'm shooting for?

Less weight, more reps. If you are leg pressing 210 lbs you are building mucho muscle. You need to use less weight and go for reps to tone what is there. At least this is what I have been told in the past. I have been doing 3 sets of 35 reps on the abductor and adductor machines with 50 lbs. My legs are getting slimmer and more defined. Do the same thing with the leg presses and curls. This should help.

Man, I'm actually jealous, I wish I could get my legs to look at good as my upper body! I'm a true pear, with the measurements of 35, 26.5, 40

That's really great that you're noticing improvement from the adductor abductor machine. I never got a thing out of that contraption except sore hips lol!

I sort-of agree with you on the less weight, more reps, but it's not quite the same idea as I usually see women doing - I pick a weight that I can JUST BARELY do at higher reps. For me right now, that's 180 pounds for 5 sets of 15 after doing three sets of squats, 8 reps each with 25 a side (95 pounds total). I can leg-press 360 if I do three sets of 8, and Vanity and I have very similar builds and size, so 210 would NOT build very much muscle on either of us, I can assure you.

Yukonrose, drop your weight back a LITTLE, and do longer sets. You should still feel it for days.

My current combination (that seems to be working) is:

3 sets of 8 deep squats, 95 pounds (glutes and quads) (warmup, activates quads)

followed by

5 sets of 15 leg press, 2 plates a side (180 pounds) (really warms up quads)

followed by:

10 sissy squats with no weight (stretches out quads while they are flexing - good for elongation)
superset with
10 seated leg extensions with 30 pounds (pumps them up and fills them with blood)

(repeat superset 2 or 3 times)

On a separate day, I do stationary lunges, hack squats, deadlifts and leg curls for glutes and hamstrings.

You should find your inner thighs being hit by the deep squats if you take a wide stance, and as I've mentioned, I never really got anything out of the adductor/abductor machine, but if it works for you, try it. I've always been nervous about building width in my thighs from that sort of work, so I tend to avoid it.

I read this and thought...I wish it were that easy to have hulk like legs! It's hard work! And I agree with everyone else for the most part, I'm a fan of low reps, heavy weight, and high intensity. I'd add in straight leg deadlifts and wide stance squats or at least do them on occasion to mix things up. As you lose fat, your legs will slim down and the muscle will be more prominent. Most women just don't bulk up like men do, we don't have as much testosterone.

Just one more thought--what if you developed your upper body to be in proportion to those gorgeous legs I bet you have? Maybe what you don't like is the disproportion between them? I've been lifting very heavy lately (for me) and now have legs I thoroughly enjoy. No, they're not slim, but boy, are they shapely! But my upper body is still relatively flabby and weak. I know I'll look and feel better when my body parts are more in sync with each other.

RoseTattoo -

That's what I've been doing. I hit the upper body hard and heavy with shorter, heavier sets, and lower with somewhat less heavy and somewhat longer sets.

It seems to be doing the trick. And you DO look a WHOLE lot more proportioned with a muscular upper body. It's also WAY more satisfying to try to put ON mass then it is to try to get RID of it. I'd rather be muscular and proportionned than flabby and unhappy. Call me strange...



- Built

Nah, I don't think that's strange at all, Built! I've been the legendary 99 pound weakling all my life ('xcept it hasn't exactly been 99 pounds, lol), and I LOVE finally feeling strong.

Oh, yeah! Feeling strong ROCKS! Best kept secret out there.

Cheers

- Built

I leg press 400+. I want the bulky muscles, or at least the bulkiest a woman can get without steroids!

Just re-reading this.

I leg-press 180 (2 plates a side) in loooong sets to cut. I bulk with 360 (4 plates a side). 210 on leg-press isn't all that much. It's substantial, but not bulking proportions for a fit, medium-sized woman.

You and me both, baby!