Stuck between skinny or muscular..

Someone shared an excellent article by Bret Contreras about the slender look. He has written a lot of other articles about helping women to achieve the specific aesthetic goals that they have.

Here is one: http://bretcontreras.com/growing-glutes-without-growing-the-legs/ (I haven't read this article in a while because it wasn't an issue that I was having).

He has written others about how to get the booty to pop and avoid the hamstring tie in (if you don't want that look).

He has written others about what muscles the different moves predominantly build. Deadlifts are hamstring heavy. Squats are quad heavy. Hip thrusts are glute heavy. But, all three will work all the muscles in your legs and booty. You can choose which you do, how many reps and sets, how often you do them per week, what weights, etc.

5'5 110 and muscular? Please.

To me, there's nothing sexier then sweeping, powerful leg muscles; paired with round glutes only built with extensive time in the squat rack,and the calves have to match.

5'5 110 and muscular? Please.

The snark is strong with this one this morning.

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Speaking from a weedy persons perspective... I'm 5'3" and about 109lb. I recently really stepped up my exercise regime from just doing long distance running to doing a whole mix up of weights, spinning, HIIT, etc. My legs got bigger and so did my butt. At first I was horrified, clothes began to feel tighter and I initially though it might be post workout swelling but it stayed and I fell in love with it!

I was reading something the other day about 'legs getting bigger from spinning' and the main point was that it depended what your legs were to begin with. My muscles had shaped themselves to pound the miles out running and not to climb a hill on a bike so they readjusted.

I actually have a butt again which is great. Yeah, my work pencil skirt might be a bit tighter but I wiggle about in it with pride.

I have a half marathon to do in September and then I plan on upping my game with the lifting.

I want to look athletic, not thin. :flowerforyou:

Edit: Just wanted to mention that prior to this change in exercise/mindset I was 107lb and happily gained a couple of pounds.

Typically if you are just trying to get "toned" squat/DL about 70% of your body weight. Also, your legs have A LOT of muscles(4 quad muscles 3 hamstrings groin muscles etc) so your legs will get a lot bigger faster. Legs(upper) is one of the easiest areas to add bulk(muscle) to when lifting. I would switch over to leg curl and hamstring extensions(especially with how dangerous squat and DL can be even with prefect form)

No. Please just no.

-70% of body weight is an arbitrary number. That's tough for some and not tough for others.
-Yes the legs have lots of muscles, but they don't get big that fast. As someone who has been bodybuilding for several years it's just not that easy to add muscle, even to the legs.
-The leg curls and hamstring extensions put higher stress on the knees than squats or deadlifts. Squats and deadlifts are compound movements that use 70% of the body and help strengthen the core. I only use the curl or extension machines when I'm trying to increase the stress on the muscles and keeping them under tension to force size growth.

Have to disagree with you on your third point. The amount of torque put on the back from those lifts is extremely high. Many trainers I have dealt with will not let their clients do these. And I have met more people who have been hurt from squat deadlift(even with good form) than have been from curls and extensions. My knees and back have been damaged quite a bit from these lifts and I was always under supervision, made sure I had proper form with tight core when doing these lifts. They may work fine for those playing sports but for the average joe there is better options.

Ok... a few things....

1 - The trainers you have seen advocating not to do these compounds are wrong.....simple as....

2 - All PT's\Trainers are NOT equal! I'm sick of PT's allowing clients to get away with SHOCKING form... they are normally the same one's who advocate Machines over Squats\Deadlifts... It takes time to find the right one sometimes.

3 - Form......... I was told 15 times my form was fine... A second look told me it was wrong, the RIGHT PT fixed it, and my squat progressed from there

Average Joe's:

Number 1 - PT in my gym - Multiple (12+) Knee issues growing up, Serious issues... Squats more now than ever, on his best run of no injuries, and ALL the docs\physio's that treated him have never seen such good progress regarding his former issues

Number 2 - Myself... 4 years of knee problems, I now squat close to 500Lb's (Yes, ok, I am a power lifter now..) Knee\Back problems have not existed for the last 3 years...

It's unfair to tag these compounds as causes of injury, or to say that Machines are better. Maybe they are for you, but if OP is squatting those numbers now with no problems, then they have no issues

Finally, Average "Josie's"..... #3-#10 - Yes, 8. Yes, I'm refer to the females as Average Josie's (Just coz this relates to our Gym's female clients..)

We have 8 standout female clients that Squat\Deadlift..... Not one has ever complained about Knee\Back pain, and they have had some of the best results out of all our female clients.....

Only 1 has ever complained, but she was stupid enough to join in with me on Legs day (I'm not a PT, and I'm evil - If your not crying by the end of my session, I failed), It was Hams\Quads that were sore though, not Knee's\Back

Oh, and before age get's a mention - Female client range from 19 - 45... The one who's 45 is probably in the best shape out of the lot!

:creeps:

Typically if you are just trying to get "toned" squat/DL about 70% of your body weight. Also, your legs have A LOT of muscles(4 quad muscles 3 hamstrings groin muscles etc) so your legs will get a lot bigger faster. Legs(upper) is one of the easiest areas to add bulk(muscle) to when lifting. I would switch over to leg curl and hamstring extensions(especially with how dangerous squat and DL can be even with prefect form)

No. Please just no.

-70% of body weight is an arbitrary number. That's tough for some and not tough for others.
-Yes the legs have lots of muscles, but they don't get big that fast. As someone who has been bodybuilding for several years it's just not that easy to add muscle, even to the legs.
-The leg curls and hamstring extensions put higher stress on the knees than squats or deadlifts. Squats and deadlifts are compound movements that use 70% of the body and help strengthen the core. I only use the curl or extension machines when I'm trying to increase the stress on the muscles and keeping them under tension to force size growth.

Have to disagree with you on your third point. The amount of torque put on the back from those lifts is extremely high. Many trainers I have dealt with will not let their clients do these. And I have met more people who have been hurt from squat deadlift(even with good form) than have been from curls and extensions. My knees and back have been damaged quite a bit from these lifts and I was always under supervision, made sure I had proper form with tight core when doing these lifts. They may work fine for those playing sports but for the average joe there is better options.

If your knees and back were damaged from squats or deadlifts then your form was bad, doesn't matter if a trainer was "supervising" or not. I'm guessing that your spine was curved instead of neutral and you weren't shoving your knees out as you were squatting. There are TONS of terrible trainers out there who simply do not know any different.

During leg extensions your ACL is loaded through the entire range of motion. This means that a passive restraint (a ligament) is doing the work that the active restraints (your muscles) should be doing. That's exactly what you don't want to happen.

Typically if you are just trying to get "toned" squat/DL about 70% of your body weight. Also, your legs have A LOT of muscles(4 quad muscles 3 hamstrings groin muscles etc) so your legs will get a lot bigger faster. Legs(upper) is one of the easiest areas to add bulk(muscle) to when lifting. I would switch over to leg curl and hamstring extensions(especially with how dangerous squat and DL can be even with prefect form)

No. Please just no.

-70% of body weight is an arbitrary number. That's tough for some and not tough for others.
-Yes the legs have lots of muscles, but they don't get big that fast. As someone who has been bodybuilding for several years it's just not that easy to add muscle, even to the legs.
-The leg curls and hamstring extensions put higher stress on the knees than squats or deadlifts. Squats and deadlifts are compound movements that use 70% of the body and help strengthen the core. I only use the curl or extension machines when I'm trying to increase the stress on the muscles and keeping them under tension to force size growth.

Have to disagree with you on your third point. The amount of torque put on the back from those lifts is extremely high. Many trainers I have dealt with will not let their clients do these. And I have met more people who have been hurt from squat deadlift(even with good form) than have been from curls and extensions. My knees and back have been damaged quite a bit from these lifts and I was always under supervision, made sure I had proper form with tight core when doing these lifts. They may work fine for those playing sports but for the average joe there is better options.

Ok... a few things....

1 - The trainers you have seen advocating not to do these compounds are wrong.....simple as....

2 - All PT's\Trainers are NOT equal! I'm sick of PT's allowing clients to get away with SHOCKING form... they are normally the same one's who advocate Machines over Squats\Deadlifts... It takes time to find the right one sometimes.

3 - Form......... I was told 15 times my form was fine... A second look told me it was wrong, the RIGHT PT fixed it, and my squat progressed from there

Average Joe's:

Number 1 - PT in my gym - Multiple (12+) Knee issues growing up, Serious issues... Squats more now than ever, on his best run of no injuries, and ALL the docs\physio's that treated him have never seen such good progress regarding his former issues

Number 2 - Myself... 4 years of knee problems, I now squat close to 500Lb's (Yes, ok, I am a power lifter now..) Knee\Back problems have not existed for the last 3 years...

It's unfair to tag these compounds as causes of injury, or to say that Machines are better. Maybe they are for you, but if OP is squatting those numbers now with no problems, then they have no issues

Finally, Average "Josie's"..... #3-#10 - Yes, 8. Yes, I'm refer to the females as Average Josie's (Just coz this relates to our Gym's female clients..)

We have 8 standout female clients that Squat\Deadlift..... Not one has ever complained about Knee\Back pain, and they have had some of the best results out of all our female clients.....

Only 1 has ever complained, but she was stupid enough to join in with me on Legs day (I'm not a PT, and I'm evil - If your not crying by the end of my session, I failed), It was Hams\Quads that were sore though, not Knee's\Back

Oh, and before age get's a mention - Female client range from 19 - 45... The one who's 45 is probably in the best shape out of the lot!

Agree to all of the above. I'm 40 going on 41 and only lifting for the last 3 years. My knee problems started at 18 and back problems at 16. I don't complain about any of them anymore unless I am not lifting. I only need to be away about 2-3 weeks and I start feeling knee and back problems start. I don't trust myself enough to lift heavy without my trainer due to proper form issues (I will agree that heavy lifting makes it much easier to hurt yourself), but the last 3 trainers I've had were all great and showed me proper form. My best ever was last year (prior to an ankle injury from ABF 10K and Tough Mudder) was a 195 DL and 165 Squat. After multiple klutz related injuries, I had to go to physical therapy and had to stop the lifting for 9 months. Guess what? I started to have my pains come back less than 3 months in. I was only cleared to start up again May of this year. I only complain of sore muscles now and I'm still in almost the best shape of my life (prior to injuries was best shape).

Now I am working on the actual weight loss part.

Adding my agreement.

Started lifting heavy Jan. this year. I'm 5'3", a month shy of 40 yrs. old, weigh 120. I squat 125 lbs, deadlift 135 lbs (and this is just now feeling heavy, but I'm being patient and following my program's progression).

I used to have chronic back aches from my desk job. Vanished after a couple of months of lifting. I recently had Jumper's knee from starting to run with poorly fitting shoes. Squats actually made my knees feel better even before I figured out the problem and fixed it.

I used to use weight machines and had problems because they often couldn't be adjusted to suit me. The leg machines were always the worst - I could never get my knees lined up properly.

There's no doubt that the potential to do yourself serious damage with free weights (and machines) is there. The heavier the weight, the worse the potential damage. Beyond dropping the weight on yourself (which can be prevented by using some common sense and spotters or safety equipment), I doubt there's really any more significant danger from free weights than the machines.

Does health matter? Or just "skinny"? Which do you suppose is a healthier: a skinny person or a muscular person?

Oh nevermind; what was I thinking reading by choosing to read this post?

5'5 110 and muscular? Please.

I would have to agree with this "snark". Because to be muscular at 5'5 one would definitely be heavier according to the scale. BUT that "heavier" would look awesome. 5'5 and 110 is VERY underweight (imo, in most cases) and the "muscles" seen are probably minimal and only seen because the OP is so under-weight. I guess if being as skinny as possible is all that matters there's nothing that one can say to change that and no information provided to the contrary will be considered by the OP.

Girlfriend, if you're 5'5" 110 lbs, nothing on your body is too big. Muscle growth while eating at a deficit (which is what you're doing) is simply not happening. It's in your head.

The amount of ridiculous statements on this thread is insane. Don't lift more than 100 lbs? HA!

Why not just post pics of your legs? Get some outside opinion?

Re injuries: you can get injured walking across the street, kicking a football, knitting, whatever! Machines and free weights have their own pros and cons. Anyone who limits themselves to only 1 is shortchanging their long term results IMO.

^^^^ She has great buns & thighs, but no arms or calves! What's with that!?