Concentrating on legs with a workout balance

MagdaSea

My lower body has always been resistant both to fat loss and muscle build. So while my torso looks toned and tight, my butt, thighs and legs look like I go to the gym once a month. Right now, my average workout day consists of 15 minutes of cardio (jogging, rollerblading, biking, elliptical) and then about 30 minutes of strength training alternating between upper and lower body. I tend to go to the gym about 5-6 times a week.

My question is how should I increase work on my lower body in the most beneficial and timely way without taking too much away from working out my body over all.

I know this seems like a simple concept, but when I've tried in the past, I always end up feeling like I'm abandoning a muscle group.

Galatea_Stone

Drop your gym time to 3-4 days a week and either do a 45 minute 4-day split or a 60 minute 3-day total body. What program are you doing? Are you progressing on your major lifts with respect to strength?

You should try to be on a program that includes squats and dead lifts as well as hamstring and glute work. If you do a 4-day split, you don't need to do cardio on legs day or you can do light cardio after (I ride my bike to/from the gym a few days a week). Use the days off from the gym to do cardio or HIIT. And keep eating at a very slight deficit to continue burning the fat.

Anniebotnen

I don't really think your lower body is resistant to building muscle. My guess would be that, like many women, you carry most of your fat in your lower body, so it's more difficult to see those muscles. Since you do not describe your weight training program, I'm not sure what exercises you are currently performing, but I assume since yore alternating between upper and lower body that you are doing a fair amount of isolation exercises. I suggest switching to 3 whole body workouts per week, and including mainly compound exercises like squats and lunges for your lower body, a pulling exercise like rows or pull downs and a pushing exercise like push-up or bench press. You could also add bridges and/or hip thrusts to specifically target your butt, and plank type exercise for your core. All of these exercises work a number of muscles at the same time, burn a lot of calories, and you can target your lower body without neglecting any other parts. You could then do 20-30 minutes (or more) cardio on your other gym days to help burn more fat.

Good luck!

ETA: the glutes and leg muscles are big, strong muscles so they need a fair amount of intense work, plus, of course, progressive overload to show results!

MagdaSea

Aww man. But I hate squats

Sounds like I just need to push harder instead of go to the gym more frequently. I'm not any any type of program really.