Toning Thighs Rather Than Bulking - Thunder Thigh Issue

I'm totally sympathetic. As meshashesha20 points out, diet of course plays a role. But genetics also plays a role. And if you're genetically prone to powerful quads AND you're doing exercises that repeatedly engage those large muscle groups in the thighs, they're likely to get or stay big. Many people will argue that it's ALL diet and that the only way your legs will get bigger is because you're eating more, but I totally disagree. In high school, I ran cross-country. Distance runners are known for being wiry and thin. I was 15 pounds lighter than I am now, but I had TREE TRUNKS for thighs. I was skinny, and I had huge thighs because of the combo of my genetics and the type of exercise I was doing. Running involves the same motion over and over again, so my quads and hamstrings grew to enable me to become more powerful as I ran longer and faster. This doesn't happen to everybody, and at 5'5" 120 pounds, it could hardly be blamed on me overeating.

In any case, what I've done to tame the thunder thighs is I stopped doing exercises that targeted those large muscle groups in the legs. I don't do any quad presses/extensions or any weight lifting that engages those muscles. I do cardio and muscular toning that engages the smaller accessory muscles and stretches and lengthens the muscles. I find dance/aerobic cardio to be helpful because you're constantly switching up your movements (lateral moves, forward moves, etc.) so one muscle group doesn't get over-emphasized. Turbofire is another good workout because it focuses on that 'cardio confusion' - switching up the moves so your body doesn't get used to the same motion over and over again. I also do the Tracy Anderson method. She has a dance cardio component and what she calls a 'muscular structure' component which involves a lot of leg lifts targeting the accessory muscles of the butt, hips and thighs. You can use ankle weights, but you don't even need them - it's very challenging and very effective at slimming you down. I also have the Cardio Barre Ultimate Advanced dvd which is great for the butt and thighs. I also do a lot of fast walking which, contrary to running, doesn't bulk my quads or hamstrings. Yoga is also great for increasing your flexibility and strengthening/lengthening those hip and thigh muscles.

Good luck!

When I saw your post I immediately thought CardioBarre Ultimate Advanced and then scrolled down and saw that another poster already suggested it! I just did it for the first time the other day (found it on youtube, 55 mins) and it kicked my butt! And I was happy that the leg portion was mostly lifts to lengthen the muscles instead of bulk them up because I also have glorious thunder thighs. According to my HRM, I scorched almost 500 cals as well. I'm doing it again tonight!