Want To Gain Muscles In Thighs
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arabianhorselover wrote: »I said I wasn't eating at a deficit. However, after thinking about it I realize that with all the "junk food" I eat I am definitely eating at a large deficit of things my body can actually use. Some days half of my calories are "useless". Can't expect to gain muscle on that, I guess.
Your body uses all the food you eat (except what you poop out). Whether it is 'junk' has nothing to do with it. You do need sufficient protein however to build muscle.
What does your current program look like and how long have you been lifting for?0 -
\arabianhorselover wrote: »I said I wasn't eating at a deficit. However, after thinking about it I realize that with all the "junk food" I eat I am definitely eating at a large deficit of things my body can actually use. Some days half of my calories are "useless". Can't expect to gain muscle on that, I guess.
Your body uses all the food you eat (except what you poop out). Whether it is 'junk' has nothing to do with it. You do need sufficient protein however to build muscle.
What does your current program look like and how long have you been lifting for?
I am in your group.
Since I have already explained what I do for exercise above, I don't have time to go through it again right now.
You have to understand that I have a very long history of compulsive over eating. I have eaten so much sugar and fat in my life that it is amazing I am still living, let alone able to exercise. I finally managed, through the grace of God, to lose the weight I had on for 15 years, but I still crave the sweets. Recently, due to the holidays, I have been eating even more of them, and have regained a few pounds.
I think I am expecting my poor body to do an awful lot considering how I've treated it.
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arabianhorselover wrote: »
\arabianhorselover wrote: »I said I wasn't eating at a deficit. However, after thinking about it I realize that with all the "junk food" I eat I am definitely eating at a large deficit of things my body can actually use. Some days half of my calories are "useless". Can't expect to gain muscle on that, I guess.
Your body uses all the food you eat (except what you poop out). Whether it is 'junk' has nothing to do with it. You do need sufficient protein however to build muscle.
What does your current program look like and how long have you been lifting for?
I am in your group.
Since I have already explained what I do for exercise above, I don't have time to go through it again right now.
You have to understand that I have a very long history of compulsive over eating. I have eaten so much sugar and fat in my life that it is amazing I am still living, let alone able to exercise. I finally managed, through the grace of God, to lose the weight I had on for 15 years, but I still crave the sweets. Recently, due to the holidays, I have been eating even more of them, and have regained a few pounds.
I think I am expecting my poor body to do an awful lot considering how I've treated it.
ok then.0 -
arabianhorselover wrote: »nakedraygun wrote: »If you are currently eating at deficit, all the lunges thrusts and dl's in the world ain't gonna build much. Start eating a more and increase the loads.
Yes.
Eat at a surplus, or you're wasting your time. 100-250 calories over maintenance should do it.
And lift - might want to look into a leg-targeted body building program since that's your interest. I'm assuming such a thing exists.
Are you suggesting eating at a surplus every day or only on workout days?
You want the average increase on cals per day to be 100-250. How you distribute it is up to you. Most common methods are, increase every day, increase only on lifting days, or increase only on the day following a lifting day.
Rule of thumb for women is to target up to 2 lb per month increase for a clean bulk (clean refers to the amount of calorie excess, not the type of food you eat). Of that, about 1/2 is expected to be fat, and 1/2 muscle assuming nutrition and workouts are on point.
I did not check your age - if you are 40 and up, you'll might want to slow the gain down because you may gain muscle slower. I'm 40, and put on right about the expected amount when I did my short bulk last year, but YMMV.0 -
Check out bodybuilding.com. They have videos
and descriptions of the exercises. I'm reading Thinner, Leaner, Stronger by Mike Matthews. It's the second edition and 6.99 for the kindle. There is also a paperback edition. It's all about weight lifting for women (no light weights). Definitely give it a try!0 -
Thank you. It is just so hard to know what is the right thing to do since there are SO MANY different exercises and workouts out there. And so many opinions about all of them.0
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Eat lots of chicken thighs! they go directly to your thighs! thighs! or Thai food!
! thighs!
!0 -
Running- my legs are solid. Cycling has given me solid muscle in glute medius area. Should work quads and glutes if you hit some hills.
Make sure you have plenty of protein to build muscle. Keep up the good work!0 -
Definitely cycling! It helps your glutes and thighs. I was amazed at how much my thighs grew. Unfortunately, I haven't lost the weight yet so they are massive now. They are VERY strong, though. It helps that they have to haul me around all day LOL0
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how about ballet and pilates? never seen a dancer with wimpy thighs...0
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I'll disagree with cycling because the duration of exercise with little lactic acid build up hits slow twitch muscles (endurance) more than fast twitch muscles (power and size). Unless they are riding up hill as fast as they can and have to stop because of lactic acid build up, it's more muscle endurance than muscle building.
Note that I didn't say it couldn't make your legs look great, but for muscle hypertrophy (sarcoplasmic) to happen, you do need progressive overload, volume training and some high intensity.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Thank you all for trying to help. I don't think I'll be doing the dancing. All along this journey I have tried to concentrate on getting enough protein and fiber every day. It doesn't always happen, but I do better than I ever used to. Also, I did weight training the entire time I was losing weight. I don't know if that helped me retain muscle or not. I had hoped to not end up with a lot of loose skin. However, I do have some. Just wanting to do what I can about it.0
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Eating well, lifting weights, and losing the fat slowly will all help with loose skin to some extent. But if you gained a lot of weight, especially if it was gained quickly, you may not get the skin to pull all the way back to where you are now (lack of elasticity). In extreme cases, surgery is the only way to resolve the loose skin problem.0
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Download the 5x5 app. I am doing that now + the supplemental and it is great. I am going for functional strength but I am putting mass on as well.0
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What would be achieved if you did loads of spin and/or walking but ate in a deficit? Skinny spindly legs??0
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Dance is very good for leg muscles. Not just thighs, dance gives you killer calf muscles too (my calves are rock hard from dance). But doing beginner ballet uses a ton of thigh support and strengthens core muscles as well. Since you are busy you may be able to find a local class for ballet, if not there are some good excersise videos out there. Doing high kicks firms up the back of your thigh muscle; if you aren't adjusted to the flexibility of it starting with high knees/knee-ups is good. Squat reps are good but may be more focused to butt area and some overall but dance improves thigh strength by using them to balance your upper body.0
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AllanMisner wrote: »Eating well, lifting weights, and losing the fat slowly will all help with loose skin to some extent. But if you gained a lot of weight, especially if it was gained quickly, you may not get the skin to pull all the way back to where you are now (lack of elasticity). In extreme cases, surgery is the only way to resolve the loose skin problem.
I had gained about 50 pounds, and unfortunately kept it on for 16 years. I'm 54 now, so considering all of this, I doubt I'll get rid of it. The areas that bother me the most are the stomach and thighs.
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wilsonctenney wrote: »Download the 5x5 app. I am doing that now + the supplemental and it is great. I am going for functional strength but I am putting mass on as well.
I'm afraid I don't have a smartphone.
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back squats, front squats, leg extensions, dumbbell lunges, etc..
although you really cannot "spot increase" just like you cannot "spot reduce"
you can target the area but no guarantee you will see an increase in that spot.0 -
arabianhorselover wrote: »AllanMisner wrote: »Eating well, lifting weights, and losing the fat slowly will all help with loose skin to some extent. But if you gained a lot of weight, especially if it was gained quickly, you may not get the skin to pull all the way back to where you are now (lack of elasticity). In extreme cases, surgery is the only way to resolve the loose skin problem.
I had gained about 50 pounds, and unfortunately kept it on for 16 years. I'm 54 now, so considering all of this, I doubt I'll get rid of it. The areas that bother me the most are the stomach and thighs.
In our 50's changes happen slowly. It can take time for your skin to recover from the weight loss and depending on genetics it probably won't ever fully recover.
It also takes time to build muscle so patience is required. Keep lifting, switching your cardio to a form of cardio that works the quads more can only help (cycling, rowing, stepper...) but it's the lifting that will have the major benefit - make sure you are lifting enough to stress your muscles.
Will disagree with people saying to switch to a surplus - IMHO I doubt if you would gain much from a surplus apart from regaining mostly fat. A female in her 50's can't benefit from a surplus in the same way a younger male can for example.0 -
arabianhorselover wrote: »AllanMisner wrote: »Eating well, lifting weights, and losing the fat slowly will all help with loose skin to some extent. But if you gained a lot of weight, especially if it was gained quickly, you may not get the skin to pull all the way back to where you are now (lack of elasticity). In extreme cases, surgery is the only way to resolve the loose skin problem.
I had gained about 50 pounds, and unfortunately kept it on for 16 years. I'm 54 now, so considering all of this, I doubt I'll get rid of it. The areas that bother me the most are the stomach and thighs.
In our 50's changes happen slowly. It can take time for your skin to recover from the weight loss and depending on genetics it probably won't ever fully recover.
It also takes time to build muscle so patience is required. Keep lifting, switching your cardio to a form of cardio that works the quads more can only help (cycling, rowing, stepper...) but it's the lifting that will have the major benefit - make sure you are lifting enough to stress your muscles.
Will disagree with people saying to switch to a surplus - IMHO I doubt if you would gain much from a surplus apart from regaining mostly fat. A female in her 50's can't benefit from a surplus in the same way a younger male can for example.
Thank you. I agree with you. I have been afraid to start eating at a surplus. As it is, I have regained a little, and don't know if any of that is muscle. I also don't think getting into bulking and cutting is the thing for me to do. I'm not really wanting to be a bodybuilder anyway.
I got down to my goal weight by the beginning of July 2014, so it's been a while. I do work my muscles hard at the gym, but have been doing mostly walking for cardio because it is the easiest thing for me to fit into my schedule.
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back squats, front squats, leg extensions, dumbbell lunges, etc..
although you really cannot "spot increase" just like you cannot "spot reduce"
you can target the area but no guarantee you will see an increase in that spot.
I've been doing sumo squats to help target my inner thighs..
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christinev297 wrote: »back squats, front squats, leg extensions, dumbbell lunges, etc..
although you really cannot "spot increase" just like you cannot "spot reduce"
you can target the area but no guarantee you will see an increase in that spot.
I've been doing sumo squats to help target my inner thighs..
Yes. I should probably do more of those.
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Wondering at this point if I should be doing less walking, and saving that energy for weight lifting. I don't want to lose the fitness level for walking that I have now, though. If I want to go on a 5 mile hike, I want to be able to do that.0
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