Any ideas for cardio that don't increase leg muscle?

If done right, all cardio will increase leg muscle. Hill sprints or incline running, intense Zumba, spinning on a high resistance bike (or biking natural hills)...all increase leg muscle strength; therefore, by laws of muscles, they have to be getting larger to be more powerful.

Not really. Bigger does not always equal stronger, and stronger does not always equal bigger.

Look at Nia Shanks. She's 122 pounds and can bench press 145 and squat 1.5x her bodyweight. Her arms are quite small. She's pretty tiny everywhere.

There's always exceptions to the rules, but in general, your muscles are getting larger in order to push more weight. When you tear muscles while training and they repair, they gain mass.

I would argue for the above picture, she has almost absolutely no body fat, which isn't typical of women. My boyfriend weighs a measly 148 lbs but he can out lift and squat everyone in his gym pretty much. (He's in the picture). He's tiny because he has absolutely no body fat. Add on the average male fat percentage to him, and he'd be huge for what he is pushing.

Thanks for all of your responses. I might just be a bit more worried about it since when my sister was heavily into working out, I remember her having a lot of trouble finding jeans that would fit over her quads without gaping at the waist. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and avoiding those squats!

I've had that problem my entire life and it has nothing to do with muscle at all. I just have huge thighs. I buy pants to fit the size of my thighs and then belt the waist. And everything has to have a bit of stretch to it, for comfort in the thigh zone, because I just can't tolerate things being tight right there. Drawstring waists are my favorite thing in the world.

It's very easy and cheap to take in a waistline at a tailor. it'll save you a lot of hassle. I have to do that also with most my jeans. I have thin thighs, but I have a big butt, so finding pants to fit my bum requires a larger size and a takein at the waist.

I would argue for the above picture, she has almost absolutely no body fat, which isn't typical of women. My boyfriend weighs a measly 148 lbs but he can out lift and squat everyone in his gym pretty much. (He's in the picture). He's tiny because he has absolutely no body fat. Add on the average male fat percentage to him, and he'd be huge for what he is pushing.

You proved my point from earlier. It's not muscle making you bulky, it's fat. Also, that picture she is around 18% body fat. That's still in the athletic to normal category.

It sounds like I have the same body structure as you as I have muscular legs and it's a family thing. Here is scoop. Elliptical- you are good- resistance is good as well as it strengthens the muscle but doesn't build. For the treadmill, I would not do the incline and work on adding speed. That will help torch calories and is actually better for your body because the incline on treadmills is not a natural incline and can actually hinder your body. Also, In order to truly build muscle you have to lower your carb intake and REALLY up your Protein. If you are not doing that you will not Grow the muscle It'll look like your legs are getting more muscular, but your legs will actually just look it because you are burning off the fat. Good luck and keep up the hard work

Thanks for all of your responses. I might just be a bit more worried about it since when my sister was heavily into working out, I remember her having a lot of trouble finding jeans that would fit over her quads without gaping at the waist. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and avoiding those squats!

That means she has a small waist. Count your blessings if you've got those curves.

It is extremely difficult for a woman to build muscle. I wouldn't worry. Keeping your tone is awesome