Walking vs running

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itsallgood11
itsallgood11 Posts: 18 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I love running but I also am worried it will make my leg muscles bulk up more. Should I walk instead of run?

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  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,686 Member
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    When I was hiking my legs were bulkier than after I started running. Look at marathoners - long lean legs.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    You may get leaner as a result of losing body fat if you're restricting calories and have more definition in your legs but no one "bulks up" by accident. Putting on any appreciable amount of muscle takes lifting heavy stuff and a caloric surplus.

    Running is also superior to walking in respect to cardiovascular fitness and, if losing weight is one of your goals, burns roughly double the number of calories per mile than walking unless you're race walking at speeds higher than 5mph. Personally I do both, I walk every day but will go for longer walks on my non-running days.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    Probably not. To some extent, "bulky" is a matter of preference and optics, so what I consider bulky may or may not be the same thing as what you consider bulky. So in that sense, you'll have to watch things and evaluate as you go whether or not you're happy with what you see and how you feel. But ultimately, gaining actual size requires, among other things, a calorie surplus. So if you aren't eating a surplus, you won't gain noticeable size from running.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I've yet to meet a runner outside of sprinters with appreciable leg muscle mass.
  • huntersvonnegut
    huntersvonnegut Posts: 1,176 Member
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    I’ve done both and in my experience there was no change
  • itsallgood11
    itsallgood11 Posts: 18 Member
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    Trying to slim thighs but gain muscle in glutes. Usually I eat around 1000-1200 calories a day
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    You can't bulk while in a deficit...
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    First, if you're only eating 1,000-1,200 calories a day, I wouldn't run at all. That isn't enough food to support an active lifestyle. Not only will this keep you from being a successful runner, it will also prevent you building any muscle in your glutes.

    Second, look at serious runners. If running built bulky leg muscles, you'd see it on marathoners. Running *uses* leg muscle, but it isn't going to add muscle weight. That sort of change requires resistance training, more resistance than running is providing.

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