Will squats make my thighs bigger?

Troll all you want, but bulky leggs will in fact look shorter.

I don't think you understand what "troll" means. Or bulky, for that matter.

I'm right there with the lady crush, between her and this girl...

Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet

Troll all you want, but bulky leggs will in fact look shorter.

I don't think you understand what "troll" means. Or bulky, for that matter.

Or "fact" lol

The answer is no...not really.
So many women want to know the secret to slimming out their thighs. It's an area women struggle with because we tend to store fat there, the stubborn kind that seems resistant to change. And yes, it is stubborn. Which is why it is all the more important to SQUAT, LUNGE, DEADLIFT, JUMP, and USE THOSE THIGHS to their advantage! Big muscle groups within the quads, hamstrings, and glutes that burn big calories! Muscle burns more calories at rest than does fat so we WANT to build muscle in our legs, or at least retain as much as we can while dieting.

Squats - in conjunction with a caloric deficit - will help your legs get smaller, more taut, less jiggly - what we alllll want. The people who say that squats made their legs bigger are special snowflakes OR they were eating too much and either gained muscle in the process or gained fat (depending on how much they were eating and what they were doing for exercise).

This picture below shows my legs at 185# on the left. I had already lost 35# but you can see they are very flabby and pocked and just not pleasing to look at. They rubbed against each other when walking, standing, what have you (and that ish hurts when they chafe!). At this point all I had done for exercise was walking and some jogging (while doing C25K). You can imagine how fatty and big they were when I was 220# several months earlier!

The picture on the right shows my legs currently, in progress. I'm 155# (about 25% bodyfat, trying to get to 18-20%). You'll notice they didn't get "bigger". They are more defined, leaner, and definitely wayyy more taut than before. My quads are pretty dominant and I can squat a hella lot of weight. These legs were built from lifting (no cardio) and a small calorie deficit (250-500 cals, toward the lower end on average though - I like to eat, a LOT). So - squats, deads, lunges, etc COMBINED with a caloric deficit = smaller thighs. As I continue to drop fat, they will continue to lean out and be even more defined and taut. I'm anxious for that but I suck at dieting.



So there ya have it - a little progress picture to show the ladies who are afraid to lift weights because their legs might get "bigger" that it's all about your diet when you are lifting. If you eat at maintenance or more, you may build some muscle and until you lose that fat your legs will look bigger. But if you eat within a deficit, your legs will respond and get smaller. It just takes time...because that fat is very stubborn. Happy Beautiful Thigh Thursday!

Short legs will always look short regardless of muscle definition or "bulkiness". This is probably due to the fact that they're short legs. I'm no expert though.

I think your progress is awesome, and you legs look great. But, there are people that just don't want to have legs that look like that. Too each her own.

Thank you...but I think you are missing my point. These are my legs, in progress. No one's legs will be just like mine. I was trying to demonstrate, visually, that squatting heavy won't necessarily make one's legs get bigger. Unfortunately I'm not at goal yet and can't use a very powerful demonstration with more lean legs, but one day I will. I'm not implying anyone should want their legs to look like mine...in whatever way you are implying. Just showing that they got smaller with squats. That's all.

Short legs will always look short regardless of muscle definition or "bulkiness". This is probably due to the fact that they're short legs. I'm no expert though.