I am amazed that not many people train their legs

I asked one woman if she does barbell squats, dumbell squats, or even lunges.

She said "No, I just run." I nodded and went back to my training. Couldn't believe it. Do people really have this misconception that running whether it's outside in 100% heat or on the treadmill works your legs enough? I mean seriously? How many marathon runners do you know out of the millions that there are have fabulous and porportioned legs? Probably less than 5%. Their legs look horrible. They may have great endurance but you can get endurance doing any HIIT training or sports.

Back to the original post, what makes me shake my head when I read this, and other posts by "bodybuilders" on this forum who post things like "not enough" "does nothing" "you must increase weight" "blah blah blah" is that I think they seriously believe everyone wants to constantly build more muscle.

Above we even have "they look horrible" when talking about runners legs. That is pure opinion, of course. And I see nothing in the account given to suggest that the woman who "just runs" is under any misconception. It seems more likely a misconception by the OP that this woman wants to build more muscle in her legs. I'm going to make an assumption of my own and assume that she can see her own legs. On that assumption, it seems more likely that she is simply happy with the way her legs look from "just running" (*gasp*).

There are people who think bodybuilders "look horrible", ya know. It's all personal preference when it comes to what one finds appealing.

This might be just me here... But I never look at what other people in the gym are doing. I pull all of my gym research from online places (like MFP) and work out videos then repeat them there. It does me no good to look at others in the gym because it screws with my head.

And I do lunges at home on the Wii Fit. They're very helpful to me.

I've seen those stickly legged men and women, and they look odd, and on men, i don't find it attractive at all.
At my gym, the leg press, and smiths are constantly being used to do squats (with wrong form obviously LOL), or free squats, deadlifts, calf raises.
I did however meet a fellow calf raiser yesterday, that said there IS something (can't remember the name) that some people get, like stubborn calves or something, and your calves wont gain mass. He said his are really strong, but as far as actual physical size, he cant get them to get any bigger. He saw some people go as far as implants to fix this.----what?!

Indian club or "high" calf insertion. It's predominant in many African Americans. The insertion is "high" and gives the calf a club like appearance. No matter how hard and heavy you work them, the calf will still look "high".

Muscular men with chicken legs look funny!

Leg press is my favorite thing..... Until the day I tried it at a new gym (my college gym when I went back for grad school) and couldn't get the sled to lock back into place after my set. I had to call some 20 year old football player who worked there over to help the old fat lady (me) figure it out.

The End.

I didn't read all of the responses, but I wanted to say that I'm all about working my legs and butt. Squats and lunges are my butt's best friend. I don't want a flat or nonexistent butt, so I know that getting lots of toned, strong muscles there will help. Also, I want strong legs, so I do everything I can to work those muscles too.

I have to wonder if people are generally more focused on working their upper body muscles because those are the muscles men are more likely to show off - and it does seem like weight lifting has been a mostly male-geared thing in the past. Shorts for me are probably the same thing as no shirt for most guys - I want to look my best in as little clothes as possible.

biking is the best leg workout...if stay on a high gear and make sure you pump hard with every pedal.

I never use weight training for my legs...and they're still jacked and toned because of all the biking I do.

I agree. My husband is a cyclist (as are all his office) and he has huge thighs, but little teeny arms.

I don't run, not even on the treadmill because I don't like to so I am not going to get into that argument. I know a lot of women think that if they lift weights they will bulk up and even some women who lift think they won't do legs because they will bulk up. Some peopel(men and women) are genetically gifted and find it easy to build muscle in some areas very quickly. My best friend has wicked triceps without even trying, me I have to beat the crap out of them with heavy weights and tri-specific exercises. I have always told women that if you want a killer butt, get into the gym and squat, squat squat. In just a few weeks I can literally see my butt get higher and tighter and smaller and rounder. I do squats at 140lbs right now, I do leg press, leg extensions, leg curls. I also do a full body workout 3x's a week because if I had to do a leg day I would wimp out. I do cycle my workout with upper body exercise, abs, lower body exercise until I have gone through them all.

I don't run, not even on the treadmill because I don't like to so I am not going to get into that argument. I know a lot of women think that if they lift weights they will bulk up and even some women who lift think they won't do legs because they will bulk up. Some peopel(men and women) are genetically gifted and find it easy to build muscle in some areas very quickly. My best friend has wicked triceps without even trying, me I have to beat the crap out of them with heavy weights and tri-specific exercises. I have always told women that if you want a killer butt, get into the gym and squat, squat squat. In just a few weeks I can literally see my butt get higher and tighter and smaller and rounder. I do squats at 140lbs right now, I do leg press, leg extensions, leg curls. I also do a full body workout 3x's a week because if I had to do a leg day I would wimp out. I do cycle my workout with upper body exercise, abs, lower body exercise until I have gone through them all.

First exercise I recommend to a female who asks for a "toned" butt.

Im a girl and train my legs more than anything else! i do lots of squats and lunges with kettlebells and do bench presses (think thats the right name). im usually the only girl in the weight section at the gym and get some funny looks sometimes from both sexes! Stopped wearing my glasses now, so cant see the funny looks i get,, lol

I hear ya. I'm one of those too (in the weight section, not giving funny looks).