Q. I have been on a weight loss program and working out for about 2 years now and have made a lot of great changes. I am the mother of 4 children and my body has been through a lot in the past five years. I decided that, after my last baby, I was going to work hard at getting my body back in shape. But, the one thing I’m having trouble with is that I have very muscular thighs. I’ve been doing aerobics, squats, and lunges but nothing is happening. I really want to slim down the muscle in that area and have a toned, well defined look. Can you please tell me what kind of workout routines I can do to help me reach my goals?
A. I’m happy to say I faced the same problem when I first started my training program. Everyone told me to do squats and lunges also. They kept telling me to get the lean look that I was after, I would have to work them extra hard. I don’t disagree with them totally. I just think it would have taken a lot of time to reach my goal in that way. So I decided to back off of the weights and started running daily to lean out my legs. I WAS NOT running hard or sprinting, but kept up a good moderate pace for at least 45 minutes.
Remember, distance runners tend to have long, lean thighs, and sprinters usually have the big muscular quads.
Add this to your workout routines and try to remember to eat a clean diet and keep lifting weights to shape the rest of your body. Since you carry a lot of muscle on your lower portion, you will benefit from building muscle on the top portion of your body. Building up your shoulder, back, and chest muscles will automatically give you a leaner look down below.