I know the answer is probably No, but
catmomfat
Posts: 97 Member
Is there anyway besides going very low in weight to make thick muscular legs like Pinks ( I'm a former gymnast), get leaner longer muscles instead of bulky ones. In other words, can I make my gymnast legs more ballet legs? And before you comment, I do work out about 5 days a week. Just years of *kitten* eating have caught up with me and I'm gained approximately 12 pounds between 31 and 42. I'm no longer a 6/8 but now an 8/10 and I don't like it so I'm trying to take 15 to20 pounds off.
Do I lift too heavy for a woman?
Do I lift too heavy for a woman?
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Replies
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Longer muscles require longer legs.
Leaner muscle require less fat.
Lose the fat you want to lose and then if you decide that you have more muscle than you'd like, work on losing some of it. I would guess that regressive resistance exercise may help with atrophying them a bit since progressive resistance helps with hypertrophy.
But if you are simply not a fan of your body's shape as dictated by genetics, there's nothing outside of surgery that can change it and even surgery has its limits.9 -
If you eat less calories than you burn each day, you will lose both fat and muscle. Some of that will necessarily come from your legs. You said you work out, but didn't say what kind. I would suggest avoiding heavy lifting with your legs if you want them to get smaller. That said, I suspect you will look great if you focus on losing the fat without worrying about the muscle. Fitness just looks good, period.2
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Well I DO have long legs for my height, or my 6'1" husband has short legs. My inseam is 33. His is 30. My legs are way longer than his. My torso though... I'm so short waisted. Low rise jeans hit me like normal jeans ( they cover my navel) and mid rise are actually way over my navel and button right below my bewbs. Seriously. I can show you on a measuring tape the fact that there is less than 2.5 inches between the top of my pelvic bones and my bottom ribs. I'm 5'5 and 3/4 and most people think I'm about 5'8". It's the long legs.0
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Leaner comes from losing bodyfat. Despite the claims sometimes made by Pilates, yoga and ballet practitioners, you can't make your muscles "longer" - they have fixed origins and insertion points and there's nothing that can be done to change that (short of some bizarre surgery).
The only way to make your muscles smaller is through atrophy - if you sat in a wheelchair for a few months and didn't use your legs at all, they would shrink up some, but the accompanying weakness wouldn't be beneficial for much of anything.0 -
It's hard to reduce muscle size. As AnvilHead said, atrophy comes from NOT using the muscle at all and that would include walking. That's probably not going to happen, so enhance their look. I wouldn't train heavy though. Just bodyweight work for the most part.
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Why do you think one is exclusionary to the other? Have you seen Misty Copeland?
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Mmmmm, Misty...0
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She has quads like mine. Wow
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A lot of modern dancers, particularly contemporary dancers, have far more athletic physiques than ballet dancers traditionally have/had. I
Misty Copeland.
I too am strong of thigh and a former gymnast and dancer. Granted they still have a pretty hefty layer of fat hiding them but I love having strong thighs. Embrace what hard work (and a good dose of genetics) gave you.1 -
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Embrace you legs.
But if you must reduce them, keep a calorie deficit, don't work them too often, not more than 1-2x week, keep the volume low.1 -
Look at distance runners. Non of them have thick legs.0
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mgalovic01 wrote: »Look at distance runners. Non of them have thick legs.
I run ultras. My legs are thick0 -
I run ultras. My legs are thick
I guess I meant athletes.0 -
mgalovic01 wrote: »I guess I meant athletes.
Um, that seems a little aggressive. I'm at a healthy weight for my height, but I tend toward holding my weight in my lower body and I have shorter legs. That means I have thicker thighs. I just don't want people thinking that running = magically thin thighs.
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Um, that seems a little aggressive. I'm at a healthy weight for my height, but I tend toward holding my weight in my lower body and I have shorter legs. That means I have thicker thighs. I just don't want people thinking that running = magically thin thighs.
Yep me too. I run a lot, but I will always have big thighs and calves. It used to make me sad, but I've learned to live with them and love them.1 -
mgalovic01 wrote: »
I guess I meant athletes.
I wish I could show you a picture of my son's ex-girlfriend. She was on the track team at Stanford, so I guess she qualifies as an athlete. She is six feet tall, very, very lean, with very, very muscular thighs. Not just solid and well defined, but big and muscular.
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mgalovic01 wrote: »
I guess I meant athletes.
What's an athlete?0 -
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Just saying, distance runners, in general, have skinny legs. Distance running is conducive to skinny legs, so you'll have the skinniest legs your going to get, given your diet and genetics, by doing distance running.0
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VioletRojo wrote: »
I wish I could show you a picture of my son's ex-girlfriend. She was on the track team at Stanford, so I guess she qualifies as an athlete. She is six feet tall, very, very lean, with very, very muscular thighs. Not just solid and well defined, but big and muscular.
Probably wasn't a distance runner though.0 -
a person who is proficient in sports
What's an athlete?
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Yea, thanks. China, here I come.1 -
mgalovic01 wrote: »a person who is proficient in sports
Like someone who runs ultra marathons4 -
mgalovic01 wrote: »
I guess I meant athletes.
Today's forecast calls for periodic random shade.
I wouldn't run if you paid me, myself, but I'm pretty sure anyone who runs ultras qualifies as an athlete.7 -
mgalovic01 wrote: »Just saying, distance runners, in general, have skinny legs. Distance running is conducive to skinny legs, so you'll have the skinniest legs your going to get, given your diet and genetics, by doing distance running.
So I run 80-100km a week training for marathon and ultra season and come by the long skinny legs the OP references naturally- thigh gap country all the way. My LDR training has actually bulked out my quads and calves though... there goes that leg slimming theory lol
OP if you have legs like Misty you are golden baby!2
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