ok not to be a kill joy but those hip machines....

[mymoonshinepink]

are doing nothing for me at all since i stared lifting weights my body has respone wonderful except my thighs maybe i should try cables or what? ive always i got strong legs natural and i feel the muscle so why isn't it doing something??? trying to advoid surgery here......................sigh maybe i should hire a personal trainer. anythoughts

[DawnD]

I purchased an ankel cuff and use the cables. I luv luv luv it. I can feel a difference and see a difference.

[Rowyn]

are doing nothing for me at all since i stared lifting weights my body has respone wonderful except my thighs maybe i should try cables or what? ive always i got strong legs natural and i feel the muscle so why isn't it doing something??? trying to advoid surgery here......................sigh maybe i should hire a personal trainer. anythoughts

What the heck are "those hip machines" lol? What else are you doing for your legs?

[Amanda76]

I'm assuming you're looking to lean up? If that's the case, it's mostly a matter of nutrition (balancing calories in vs. calories out while fueling your body enough to hold on to lean mass). Know that as the rest of your body leans up, you ARE losing fat through that area, but since women have evolved to store the majority of their body fat through their hips and thighs it will feel like it is the "last place" to loose fat for most women.

Also, if you don't incorporate them already, get off the machines and do heavy compound (multi-joint) movements like squats, deadlifts, lunges, etc. Compared to seated, single joint movements, they'll do a better job of helping you hold on to the muscle you have while you're eating at a calorie deficit AND increase the amount of calories you burn both during and post exercise if you're lifting heavy enough.

[hieronymous]

You are the woman who just lost a HUGE amount of weight right? Please remember your skin needs time to heal - not a month - a while.

Besides your compound movements (which you should be doing) are you doing any moderate weight isolation movements for your legs like leg extensions, leg press (still compound but more leg focused) and machine leg curls, even the adductor machine? I think the 4-way hip machine requires a higher level of mind-muscle connection to get optimum results that it doesn't sound like you have yet. Good mind-muscle connection is something that you will need to develop if you want to manipulate your shape well.

If you are going for nice shape - definitely do the isolation work as well as compound work. The isolation will allow you to focus all of your thoughts on the targeted muscle group which will help them to grow (or become toned, if you prefer). You still have to push yourself hard though. A pump in the area worked - on sets with a moderate amount of weight - not a pump because of endurance reps, is a good indicator that you have worked that area well. It doesn't necessarily mean that that area will grow or shape out since that also depends on what you feed yourself and recovery time. If your VM is huge and pumped though - you know that muscle was being used to perform the work.

I made the mistake of concentrating on only doing compound movements for about a year and wondering why my legs weren't getting the shape that I wanted although I was getting stronger. Since September I have been doing isolation movements for my legs (in addition to the compound work) and lo and behold I am started to get a quad sweep!

Do more research.

[mymoonshinepink]

isolation work got researching now at my gym the trainer gives you a different program every mont (it women gym) but im thinking i might need to swicth to a bigger gym that has those cabl machine or by one for myself at home thanks ladies!

[mymoonshinepink]

im also thinking that it probably going to be harder building a sleek body then losing my pounds ever were im assuming just reading here and there so much stuff out there though different theroies stuff like that.