Squats make your thighs slim

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  • faeriewings1
    faeriewings1 Posts: 98 Member
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    Squats make your thighs awesome, that is all!
  • FattieBabs
    FattieBabs Posts: 542 Member
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    Interesting about the heart rate, I would agree with this. I do 40 minutes of weights then 20 mins of cardio. When i start the cardio the HR is around 145-150 starting and shoots up a bit from there.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    Hello! I do weighted squats and my thighs are now 21 inches around at the widest part.

    935754_10152800883910607_1571745798_n.jpg

    They didn't bulk up because I was on a calorie deficit when I was doing them. You may temporarily gain water if you work hard and do things right because that's what happens when your muscles repair, but that will continuously go away with then some if you keep up the calorie deficit and that's how it works and you will continuously look better. You can't continuously grow mass on a calorie deficit. Muscle needs fuel to build. And although you can't grow a noticeable amount of muscle, you can get stronger.

    1. It is scientifically impossible to become bigger and bulkier to begin with on a calorie deficit

    2. by volume, muscle weighs more then fat. This means that muscle takes up less room then fat. So if you think you bulked up in muscle on a calorie deficit, that means you slimmed down by a gigantic amount.

    3. You don't turn into a hulk over night. It takes lots of calorie surplus and strength training and time and dedication. And in a blink of an eye those effects can be reversed. Just be lazy, tada your problems are solved.

    4. If you see someone who you think is big and bulky and they are on a calorie deficit...ask them for a before picture. You'll see they were bigger and bulkier.

    5. You can't spot reduce fat. Working a particular muscle isn't going to remove the fat from it, it is going to help maintain the muscle in it. So if you are doing a full body strength routine when you lose weight, the weight will likely come from fat and not LBM. If you have jiggly thighs, squats +a calorie deficit is great.
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
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    Just been reading another thread on this subject. To be fair, only one poster said that squats make your thighs slim, but I have read it A LOT.

    I just want someone to tell me exactly how this works. Don't tell me it doesn't, don't talk about general weight loss.

    How do squats make my thighs slim?

    By burning the fat thats surrounding your leg muscles?
  • frugalafterfifty
    frugalafterfifty Posts: 240 Member
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    Good information. I've lost an inch with a combination of walking, squats and lunges. BUT, I have a bit to lose. I started off with 28" thighs. I'm not that concerned with how many inches I lose - but I definitely am concerned with toning. I was planning on adding weights.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.

    Yah, but I have been reading my MFP. I can grow muscle in a calorie excess. This will make my thighs fatter. Or, I can increase my muscle endurance, so they will become harder or more dense. They will not get smaller.

    Squats could be exercise that contributes to a calorie deficit. So could zumba. Why squats, in particlar?
    There is no such thing as flabby or dense muscle. It's just muscle.

    The muscle can grow under a calorie surplus, and you can store fat in such a state.

    In a calorie deficit, in an ideal world you maintain the muscle size whilst losing fat but often you'll lose some muscle size as well.

    Bodyfat is what makes your legs more or less defined.

    Squats are simply the most effective exercise for leg development and strength vs. time invested.

    People of different fitness levels have different muscle density. It is one of the measures of fitness. Diabetics, for example, have less muscle density than healthy people. There are plenty of broscience myths out there, but muscle density is real.

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/54/3/509.short
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    tumblr_mfyyl4a3fa1rheqhwo1_500_zps0bdfc030.gif

    I believe the idea is to maintain the muscle you have in your thighs while losing the fat, rather than losing both fat and muscle. That way you end up with a lower body fat percentage. It's not that you're going to magically transform fat into muscle.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    My opinion on the topic is that squats build the muscle and since muscle is more compact than fat, if I build the muscle and eat at a deficit, my thighs will look slimmer. Of course this applies to the whole body and you can't just pick your thighs to work on, but eventually it happens.

    If I had weighed just my legs, and weighed them again now, chances are they would weigh the same. But because I have built the muscle and lost the fat, they are 2.5" slimmer than they were.
    On a surplus they build muscle (if you continue to progressively add weight to them). On a calorie deficit they partially retain muscle (thus when most lifters lose weight, they lose it mostly in fat)
  • acidosaur
    acidosaur Posts: 295 Member
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    I ADORE squats. Combined with overall calorie deficit (which is what took the fat off my thighs), they've given me great muscle definition. But you can't spot reduce fat on your thighs by doing them, it has to be a calorie deficit to produce that.
  • witchy_wife
    witchy_wife Posts: 792 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.
    This right here.

    And fat doesn't turn into muscle. Unless you own a Unicorn.

    ^^ I agree with all of that.

    But needed to add - you need glitter to toss in the air while riding on your Unicorn to the end of a rainbow as well to make fat turn into muscle.

    Thank god I just bought more glitter!
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
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    Just been reading another thread on this subject. To be fair, only one poster said that squats make your thighs slim, but I have read it A LOT.

    I just want someone to tell me exactly how this works. Don't tell me it doesn't, don't talk about general weight loss.

    How do squats make my thighs slim?

    By burning the fat thats surrounding your leg muscles?

    Yes, but this implies general weight loss. Dance central on the xbox will also make my thighs slim, by this argument.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.

    Yah, but I have been reading my MFP. I can grow muscle in a calorie excess. This will make my thighs fatter. Or, I can increase my muscle endurance, so they will become harder or more dense. They will not get smaller.

    Squats could be exercise that contributes to a calorie deficit. So could zumba. Why squats, in particlar?
    There is no such thing as flabby or dense muscle. It's just muscle.

    The muscle can grow under a calorie surplus, and you can store fat in such a state.

    In a calorie deficit, in an ideal world you maintain the muscle size whilst losing fat but often you'll lose some muscle size as well.

    Bodyfat is what makes your legs more or less defined.

    Squats are simply the most effective exercise for leg development and strength vs. time invested.

    Ummm, subcutaneous fat (below the skin), intramuscular fat (in the muscle), and visceral fat (around the organs). There are several categories of fat. Ever see a marbled steak? There's lean meat and there's well-marbled meat. If your legs are flabby and soft, you very likely have well-marbled meat.

    Squats and deadlifts and other leg strengthening exercises get rid of that marbling in your meat. Result for women: smaller, harder muscle when eating at a deficit.
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.
    This right here.

    And fat doesn't turn into muscle. Unless you own a Unicorn.

    This is one of the reasons unicorns are extinct. Do you know how many insta-fixes I've seen using unicorn blood, tears, piss and babies? So sad!

    Seriously though, in a different thread I asked about heavy lifting (which includes squats) and my calves getting bigger. I was worried because the guide said "don't worry, all your limbs will gain circumference!" and I'm like "NOOOOOOO!!!!" But then someone kindly pointed out that this wouldn't happen if I ate at a deficit. I'm sure it works for thighs in the same way.
  • JessHealthKick
    JessHealthKick Posts: 800 Member
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    Interesting about the heart rate, I would agree with this. I do 40 minutes of weights then 20 mins of cardio. When i start the cardio the HR is around 145-150 starting and shoots up a bit from there.

    yeah, I have been recommended to do warm up cardio, stretch, weights and then cardio if I want to do cardio... Usually ends up being 20mins of 175heart rate uphill jogging/sprints/lunges, followed by stretching, then weights for however long that is... I am having much shorter rests now and really pushing myself so heart rate bounces 110-160bpm. Then if I do more cardio like elliptical, that is 155bpm (elliptical doesn't do it much for me, but I find jogging too boring lol).

    I think it's important to have strength training and cardio to complement each other :) my legs have definitely gotten smaller and harder. My bum is harder too hehe
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.
    This right here.

    And fat doesn't turn into muscle. Unless you own a Unicorn.

    ^^ I agree with all of that.

    But needed to add - you need glitter to toss in the air while riding on your Unicorn to the end of a rainbow as well to make fat turn into muscle.

    Thank god I just bought more glitter!

    so if I buy a unicorn horn from dr oz I can convert fat into muscle?
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
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    The last thing I'm gonna say about squats is this: before them, decent booty. After them (and I'm talking heavy squats), I have a pretty amazing *kitten*, even if I do say so myself. I could still stand to lose some fat from that area, but the squats have definitely made it firm and rounder. My legs are nice and strong, and I think that helps my running. Squats aren't some magical answer to nice legs, but they have amazing benefits when part of an overall fitness plan and good diet.

    Your fat-to-muscle Unicorn should also be purple. Those pink ones are lazy, and the job ends up half a$$ed. ;) And don't forget the glitter.

    ^^My favorite answer today!^^ :drinker:
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    Thanks for bringing this up. IMO I already have way too much muscle in my thighs and really don't want anymore. Think I'll skip increasing the squats!

    :huh: what is this concept? not wanting more muscle.....wut?
  • Erin_goBrahScience
    Erin_goBrahScience Posts: 1,215 Member
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    Squats primarily develop muscle around the thighs, typically hamstrings, glutes and quads, depending on form.

    That is all they do, no more, no less.
    Perhaps having definition in the legs makes people think they look thinner, perhaps people have lost fat whilst doing squats.

    Listen to Dan the man...he knows his stuff:bigsmile:
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    Slim Thighs = Genetics + Low BF%

    Squats can help with the second part by helping you retain muscle mass while loosing fat, but if you're not eating at a deficit you'll never get there.
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
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    . Don't tell me it doesn't, don't talk about general weight loss.

    How do squats make my thighs slim?

    Ok then I'll just be quiet over here.