Making Legs/Glutes Smaller

[LaVida]

I'm currently training my hams & glutes 2x/wk and limiting quads training to dumbell walking lunges and leg presses 1x of the 2. I also do extra glute exercises on a 3rd day.
I do this because I need to reduce the size of my butt and quads.
For cardio I do a lot of stairmaster or stairmill training or walking uphill and recently incorporated interval sprinting uphill on the treadmill which also helps a lot.

This way has worked for me in both areas, but wonder if anyone had other suggestions for training/frequency/methods for weights and cardio to reduce these areas?

If not for you men, then perhaps for women you have trained with pear shape problem areas??

Oh! and diet for leg training days would be appreciated. I read a lot of guys in here go up in carbs on their leg day, which I tend to do also, but I'm wondering if keeping them low on that day will help rid the fat there more??

[juliacheh]

It's all about diet and dropping bodyfat.
Unfortunately, you can't spot reduce and target these problem areas with exercises.
Leg training is important, but you have to eat in deficit.
Judging by your stats, you have a higher bf percentage.

And in many many cases straight fat loss still doesn't do much, perhaps you will need one or more bulk/cut cycles to recompose.

I always train legs with heavy and moderate weights, no high reps for "toning"

P.S. Wrong sub-forum.

[LaVida]

It's all about diet and dropping bodyfat.
Unfortunately, you can't spot reduce and target these problem areas with exercises.
Leg training is important, but you have to eat in deficit.
Judging by your stats, you have a higher bf percentage.

And in many many cases straight fat loss still doesn't do much, perhaps you will need one or more bulk/cut cycles to recompose.

I always train legs with heavy and moderate weights, no high reps for "toning"

P.S. Wrong sub-forum.


Yes, I realize this, but the reason I ask in this forum, is because I want to know how or even IF training these areas for competition differs because the girls training for the competitions always manage to lose their butts and leg size. Sure it comes down to diet, but I was wondering if perhaps I was training the wrong way. I train my butt more frequently with heavy and moderate weights as you say, because I figure the more frequent, the less time it will have to rest and grow, so they will get smaller??? Is that right? or no?

[juliacheh]

Yes, I realize this, but the reason I ask in this forum, is because I want to know how or even IF training these areas for competition differs because the girls training for the competitions always manage to lose their butts and leg size. Sure it comes down to diet, but I was wondering if perhaps I was training the wrong way. I train my butt more frequently with heavy and moderate weights as you say, because I figure the more frequent, the less time it will have to rest and grow, so they will get smaller??? Is that right? or no?

Training does not change because you are dieting (the volume might be reduced though).
It all comes down to lowering body fat. Figure competitors have lean glutes and legs on stage, because they dieted down to 12-14% body fat.
No matter how much you train your legs/glutes, if you don't lose fat, they won't look any different.

[JasonWojo]

I'm currently training my hams & glutes 2x/wk and limiting quads training to dumbell walking lunges and leg presses 1x of the 2. I also do extra glute exercises on a 3rd day.
I do this because I need to reduce the size of my butt and quads.
For cardio I do a lot of stairmaster or stairmill training or walking uphill and recently incorporated interval sprinting uphill on the treadmill which also helps a lot.

This way has worked for me in both areas, but wonder if anyone had other suggestions for training/frequency/methods for weights and cardio to reduce these areas?

If not for you men, then perhaps for women you have trained with pear shape problem areas??

Oh! and diet for leg training days would be appreciated. I read a lot of guys in here go up in carbs on their leg day, which I tend to do also, but I'm wondering if keeping them low on that day will help rid the fat there more??

Are you trying to lose fat or muscle? You don't specify - you just say size.

[juliacheh]

Are you trying to lose fat or muscle? You don't specify - you just say size.

Why would she want to lose muscle?

[coltmasterj]

Are you trying to lose fat or muscle? You don't specify - you just say size.

My guess is she is trying to lose fat in those areas by using some sort of spot reduction theory, although the theory is flawed.
However, what I've found is often those areas will INCREASE in size for the first few weeks when a newbie starts training them or is eating too many calories. The leg volume increase from muscle gain can be faster than the volume loss from losing fat in the area, Then, once those newbie gains taper, and the fat loss continues (provided she is in caloric deficit), the legs will become smaller.
Diet can play a role in this as far as what her leg circumference does. If she is eating maintenance calories or above, she will have trouble losing fat around the areas she wants to, but as I said, she can actually increase the size by either newbie gains or by accidently bulking from caloric surplus.
OP, I recommend checking your caloric intake and make sure that is below maintenance level. Otherwise, you will not get the effect you want from your training.

[JasonWojo]

Why would she want to lose muscle?

Plenty of reasons - lack of symmetry due to a more-developed lower body being a big one.

[juliacheh]

Plenty of reasons - lack of symmetry due to a more-developed lower body being a big one.

It's rarely the issue with women :D

http://pics.livejournal.com/louie1977/pic/0003512k

http://pics.livejournal.com/louie1977/pic/00036eb8

[Barn01]

Plenty of reasons - lack of symmetry due to a more-developed lower body being a big one.

I was wondering the same thing when I read this. No idea if she means drop fat or muscle. There was a girl on here about a year ago that wanted to reduce hamstring thickness for a very high level beauty pageant. So I agree that OP should have been more specific.


It's rarely the issue with women :D


Rare or not doesn't mean that the norm is the case at hand.

If it's fat that the OP wants to lose then as she already knows ... just get leaner!

If it's muscular size then yes there actually is something you can do. Stop weight training them. To keep tone and bring down size I would start long distance running. If you do this then adjust your calories appropriately to compensate for the extra burn.

[juliacheh]

Talking about how to lose size/muscle ESPECIALLY BY A FEMALE WITH A LOW TEST should be prohibited on a board about bodybuilding.
:)
It's not the muscle issue, it's the issue of body fat.