Okay, I have been out of the bb loop lately due to work, but I have ? for all here about my gf…
She is not fat by any means, she has naturally wider hips and somewhat of an ass, but she won’t stop complaining to me that her thighs are too big(they aren’t actually, maybe 19 inches). Anyway, her legs definitely have a good deal of muscle mass on them, and IMO if she goes psycho-low-carb-dieting, sure it may help w/loosing some fat(unfortunately I know it’s gonna come from her breasts first), but it really isn’t going to do much for the lower body fat.
She trains 3-4 times a week, lifts and runs…not sissy lifts either, i’ve shown her how to do compound movements(she doesn’t do deads though)…NOW get this, i don’t know if it is valid or not, but she believes that her running is what is making her thighs larger, which I don’t really believe(although i do remember reading articles in the past of how women that did stair steppers at low intensity actually gained muscle mass in their lower bodies…)…
ANY suggestions? I know yohimbe is supposed to target more of the lower region for women, so I may give that a shot for her? What about hot rox? Also, i remember someone posting about how some fitness competitor would intentionally overtrain her legs in order to reduce size.
I know this is a long drawn out post w/many ?'s, so if you guys either wanna chime in or just point me towards some articles i’ve missed, thanks. I know it is next to impossible to lose muscle like she so desires, but I wanna help her out here. thanks .
Dan,
I’m hardly an expert, but in my experience intentional overtraining is both entirely possible and very effective. You know how long distance runners have those hard little legs from constant daily use? Basically, if you use a muscle every day, it breaks down and has no time to rebuild before you use it again, so you’re left with a smaller, tighter package of muscle. You can apply that principle to your girlfriend’s lower body too.
I found that my lower body was responding far more slowly than my top half, so my trainer decided I should shock the hell out of it. On top of my usual schedule, every day, including off days, I did deadlifts and lunges with light weight and absurdly high rep ranges (100 deads, 300 lunges). I did this for an entire month and was constantly fatigued, but when I stopped and allowed my legs to recuperate fully, I was amazed with the degree of difference in my body. Although I still have fat to lose, I could see a remarkable difference, even through my insulation. It’s an exhausting thing to do, but I’m sure your gf will be pleased with the results.
It may be a little advanced for her, but check out the meltdown article, I think it would be well suited for the type of results she is looking for seeing as it mentions this type of example but only for guys. As for the running bit let someone else take car of it I have no clue. IMHO
Sounds like she looks just like me bodywise…hehe it’s a ton of fun when it comes to thighs.
I used to be a long distance runner…thighs were a decent size. However, the only thing that has really increased my thighs size-wise is lifting, specifically squats. But, it’s a harder, more defined size, so it works. At some point you have to accept where you are shape wise; some of us are built like Marilyn Monroe, some like Gwyneth Paltrow. If you’re built strong, you’re never going to be model-thighs.
Running isn’t going to make her legs bigger, unless she sprints a lot. If it’s steady state running, that’s just plain cardio and will burn fat.
Also, women have an AWFUL time with lower body fat…not to be discouraging but I always have more upper body definition than anything else. There’s some evidence that women do perform better fat-loss wise on low-carb diets…go to thinkmuscle.com and read the female-specific articles by Bryan Haycock and Elzi Volk.
I work with a fair few women but basically (as has been up on T-mag the odd time) they can train pretty much as the fellas, hell they can reach high levels of neuro-facilitation as quickly as many male novices (my gf benches loooads! I’m so proud!). So generally squats build mass, stick to the 'ol 8-10 rep range or use 5 reps but double the sets, that always builds mass or EDT. As to localised fat loss… hmmm. Basically where fat is stored is often related to hormonal state, high T n you’ll have most fat on your upper back, high insulin and its most likely on your tummy and high oestrogen and it’ll be on your ass and thighs. You see where I’m going with this? Like what has been said you gotta accept your shape or cut up, although most women look fantasic down at 10-15% bodyfat, i.e. they don’t have to drop to the male 5-10% to look stunning, but yes, it often does come off the boobs