![]() OK, so you’re not much into running? Or maybe you’ve had an injury and can’t run. Then just walk — every step you take is part of your journey to good heart. How I Lost Weight Eating One Meal A Day: I lost 30lbs over 5 months eating 1 meal in the evening. This is my experience by David. ![]() No Pills, No Restrictive Diets Cornwall's Most Healthy Weight Loss Program". How To Get Skinny Legs Blog Series.This is all about how to lift weights without getting bulky, so you can tone up without getting bigger. People always ask me what to do on their days off from weight lifting. Should they just rest and do nothing at all? ![]() How To Lift Weights Without Getting Bulky - How To Get Skinny Legs Series. One of the main complaints I hear from women is that they have been lifting weights or doing a lot of high intensity interval training (HIIT) which has made their legs bigger. Jeans and shorts become too tight, inner thighs start rubbing together and your legs just generally look thicker and bulkier. I’ve been in this exact same situation! I hated it, and I hated having big legs. ![]() 10,000 STEPS A DAY How many steps do you walk each day? You may have heard the general recommendation to walk 10,000 steps per day. This is a good goal for someone. Do you always eat "healthy"? A funny thing happens when you focus on making careful diet decisions. If you just "think" of your meal as a light choice, it can cause. Walking is one of the safest forms of exercise known today. Depending on how often you walk, you can manage to easily lose one pound per week or more. It’s inexpensive and it. Being a personal trainer myself I was a bit conflicted because every other trainer always pushed heavy weight lifting (especially squats!), and that’s what I was expected to do. But it didn’t like what it was doing to my body. It wasn’t just my legs that were getting bigger either. My upper back was really broad and my crop tops and gym singlets didn’t fit anymore. Overall I felt like a bigger, bulkier version of myself. I didn’t look slim and petite like I used to. BUT one big bonus that comes with a lot of HIIT and weight lifting, is that I had really well defined abs. All the photos of women on social media who lift heavy, always have solid abs. I wanted to be able to know how to lift weights so that I could be toned with nice abs, but without getting big legs and becoming too muscular all over. I now know how to exercise to get these results, and I want to share this with you. IF LIFTING WEIGHTS MAKES ME MUSCULAR, WHY DO I STILL NEED TO DO IT? I know you might thinking that you should just avoid weight lifting altogether and only do cardio right? Well I’ve done that before too! I only did cardio and yes I was very slim. But I still always had fat around my hips and belly that I found hard to get rid of. It wasn’t until I started lifting weights that the fat really started to disappear and I finally had abs! Here are some reasons why it is still important to lift weights. Lifting weights will give your body tone and definition. Any type of resistance training will build muscle – even if you’re lifting low weight and high rep, doing endurance based workouts, pilates, or even yoga – they will all build muscle. But the thing is, you need muscle to give your body tone and definition. There is a certain way of lifting weights that will help you get toned without getting bulky, which I will talk about further down. Lifting weights will help reduce body fat levels and prevent the “skinny fat” look. Having muscle also helps with keeping your body fat levels down. A lot of women (and men) who only do cardio and avoid lifting weights will look “skinny fat.” Skinny fat is a term used to describe people who appear slim or skinny, but actually have quite a high percentage of body fat. I used to be skinny fat, and whenever I avoid resistance training, I go back to being skinny fat. Lifting weights has lots of other benefits. There are SO many other benefits of lifting weights such as improved sleep, reduced stress and anxiety, improved mood, lowered risk of heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, plus lots more. It really does benefit you both on the inside and out! HOW TO LIFT WEIGHTS WITHOUT GETTING BULKYAs you can see, lifting weights does provide you with a lot of health benefits, and can change your body. The way you lift weights will determine whether or not these changes result in you becoming bulky or slim and toned. Exercises to get toned without getting bulky. The key to being able to lift weights without getting bulky is: The right exercise selection. Doing certain exercises that work your upper body, core, hips, butt and thighs, and avoiding certain exercises that make you bulky (these are discussed below). Lifting lighter weights. By lighter weights, I mean 1- 2 kgs dumbbells, a resistance band, ankle weights or just your own body weight. Because the weight is lower, you will be doing much higher repetitions. Using lighter weights with higher reps and doing different types of exercises, will not make you bulky. It will build muscle in a way that will tone you up, without making you look bigger. I use these ankle weights for almost all of my workouts. They’re quite affordable on Amazon and are great for travel! Get Ankle Weights Here. Example workouts. This is an example of some of the workouts that you can do to tone up without getting bulky. These are all the type of exercises in my Skinny Legs e. Book. Pilates. Pilates exercises are exactly what I have been talking about – lighter weight (often just using body weight or ankle weights) and focuses more on exercises to tone up your core and butt, rather than heavier exercises such as squats and lunges. I’ve also been to a few reformer pilates classes and these are great for toning up without getting bulky! The reformer machine uses resistance bands and a moving platform – it’s fantastic for your core. Sometimes you will also use very light dumbbells in these type of classes for upper body work. Swimming. Swimming is great for toning up your arms, and doubles as cardio! When I used to do cardio only, I also did some swimming. My arms were really toned and I didn’t do any weights or boxing. Yes, professional swimmers have bigger arms and shoulders, but they train twice a day, 6 days per week, and that is why this happens. Swimming 1- 2 times per week won’t cause you to become bulky. Boxing. Boxing is amazing for toning up your arms really quickly, but not making them bigger. And it’s also great for your core too! I notice a significant difference after just a few weeks of boxing. But just be careful about what type of boxing class you do. I’ve been to a few classes that do more of a boxing circuit so it still includes a lot of squats, wall sits, burpees, etc. Try to attend a boxing class that’s main focus is boxing. Exercises that make you bulky – avoid these. I know a lot of other personal trainers won’t like to hear this. The following exercises are great for your body, but they do build a lot of muscle and can make you bulky. If you want a leaner look, these exercises should be avoided. Also, I am mostly talking about exercises for mesomorphs and endomorphs. Most ectomorphs can lift weights without getting bulky. But for the other two body types, these exercises should be avoided. Any heavy weight lifting. Any time you lift heavy, low rep (i. Avoid any maximum strength type exercise. Squats and chin ups. I can see the personal trainers cringing. Yes, these exercises are great for your body and use LOTS of different muscles. But for me, squats just make my legs bigger and chin ups make my back broader. They build SO much muscle and really change the shape of my body, in a way that I do not like. These 2 exercises will make you bulky. Other exercises that will most likely contribute to bulkiness include overhead pressing, deadlifts and lunges. Cross. Fit. Cross. Fit includes LOTS of squats and squat variations, burpees, deadlifts, chin ups and overhead pressing exercises, exercises that I suggest you avoid if you don’t want to increase your muscle size. Crossfit can make your legs bigger and bulkier. Sprints. Any short bursts of energy using your legs will make them bigger because of the muscle fibers it recruits and energy system your body uses. By short bursts I mean around 3. A lot of people do their sprints by running as hard as they can for 3. Unfortunately, this type of sprinting will make you bulky. I do some sprinting (but only when I am already very fit). I prefer to do my sprinting as more of a fast paced run. I run faster than normal (but not at my maximum) for 2 minutes, and then rest for 1 minute. By the end of the 2 minutes, you should be so puffed that you need to stop. This type of running will still get you fit really quickly, and won’t make your legs bulky. Hill Sprints. Any type of hill sprinting will make you bulky, especially your quadriceps (the muscles at the front of your thighs). Avoid doing these. Incline Treadmill. Walking on an incline on the treadmill will use your quadriceps and may make your legs bigger. Walking is amazing for slimming down your legs, but it’s best done on a flat surface. Step Machine. I’m sure you’re getting the theme here – anything uphill will bulk up your legs. The same goes for the step machine. Exercises that may make you bulky – use with caution. These are exercises that I am always questioned about. A lot of them really depend on the person and their body type. But I will try to provide some general advice. Spin class / cycling. If you are an endomorph body type, I would avoid spinning / cycling because it will make your legs bigger and more muscular. You probably already have shorter and muscular legs so there’s no need to increase the muscle size. Mesomorphs can do it, but just monitor the changes in your legs and see if it makes them bigger. For me personally, I can do a spin class once per week without getting bulky. But a lot of mesomorphs can’t (especially if you are a combined mesomorph / endomorph body type). I would keep spin classes to once per week maximum. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)This is a tough one because it’s such a great workout, but if you overdo it on leg exercises (jump squats, jump lunges, burpees, box jumps, etc), you will get big legs. You can still do HIIT, but it’s all about the exercise selection. I still enjoy doing HIIT workouts but the exercises I do are different. I have written a blog series of HIIT workouts that won’t make you bulky, so you can use this for some ideas. Skipping. This is another tough one, because it is great cardio, especially if you can’t go outside. Skipping will help you lose weight overall, but won’t necessarily slim down your legs. Skipping will also probably make your calves bigger as skipping really focuses on your calf muscles. If you want small calves, it is best to avoid skipping. I personally don’t do any skipping. Cross trainer / Elliptical. I know a lot of women use the cross trainer in place of the treadmill, especially if they have knee injuries. The cross trainer is a good alternative if you can’t walk for some reason, but is not as effective as walking for slimming down your legs. What Should I Do On My Off Days From Lifting?(Sometimes a reader will email me a question that needs a full article to answer properly, and sometimes it’s an answer I think others will benefit from hearing. This is one of those times.)QUESTION: I’m currently working out 4 days per week and was wondering what I should do on my off days from weight lifting? I was thinking of maybe doing some cardio on those days, but I wasn’t sure if that was okay? I’ve also heard people say that the best thing to do on your off days is to just rest completely and let your body recover. Or maybe do something to help with recovery such as stretching, foam rolling, mobility work, epsom salt bath, massage and that kind of thing. What do you recommend? ANSWER: What should you do on your off days? Not because it’s a stupid question, but because there is no single universal answer to it. And typically the best answer I can give is a combination of annoying, complicated and lacking real direct concrete advice (you’ll see in a second). Why? Because what you should be doing on your off days is one of those things that just depends. It Depends. It depends on all kinds of stuff, all of which are specific to you. There’s just a ton of individual factors specific to you that play a role in determining what, if anything, you should do on your off days from weight training. Potential Answers. Based on those factors, the potential answers can be all over the place and range from one extreme (do a lot of something) to another (do none of that same thing). For example, maybe your off days would ideally involve doing a certain amount and type of cardio. Maybe a certain amount and type of stretching or mobility work. Maybe some form of active recovery. Maybe some other unrelated form of training for some unrelated sport or activity you happen to be training for. Then again, maybe you should be doing absolutely nothing on your off days. That’s why I hate this question. I get a ton of people who tell me they’re using The Beginner Weight Training Routine, or The Muscle Building Workout Routine, or a program from The Best Workout Routines, and they follow that up with “so um, what should I be doing on my off days?”I really don’t have all that great of an answer for them. The Best Answer I Can Think Of. So, what should you do on your off days? The best possible answer I can give you is this: Do whatever the hell you need/want to be doing for your specific goals in accordance with your specific needs and preferences. See. But, it’s honestly the best answer I can give without knowing every other detail about your exact situation. It sucks, I know. But rather than leave you with a glorified “it depends” and send you on your merry way (although something tells me the answer above won’t leave you feeling all that merry), let’s pretend I know at least one thing about you? Now just based on the many people with these goals who have asked me this question, I’ve found that the two most common “off day” options being considered are usually: Cardio. Nothing. Here’s my advice. Should I Do Cardio On My Rest Days? Guess what? Only now we can come a lot closer to a useful answer. No. Similarly, if you want to lose fat but you’re creating your required caloric deficit through diet alone, then again there is no need for doing any cardio on your off days. In both of these scenarios, the only thing you truly need to do on your rest days is. Cardio isn’t needed at all and you can avoid it completely. That doesn’t mean you MUST avoid it, it just means that these are two common examples of people who CAN avoid it and still reach their goals just fine. So if either of these examples describe you AND you have no other reason or preference for doing cardio, then your answer is pretty clear. Don’t do any. And then there are separate examples of people who should probably not do any, but less because there’s no need (like our previous examples) and more because it will cause problems. Take for instance the skinny guy/girl (aka an ectomorph and/or hardgainer) trying to build muscle who has a hard time eating enough calories to support growth. Burning additional calories through off- day cardio would just make that problem worse. Another example would be people who do their off- day cardio in a way that makes it detrimental to their goal by cutting into recovery and making it harder for them to build muscle when that’s the goal, or maintain muscle when fat loss is the goal. Step 1 for this person is to reduce the duration, frequency, and/or intensity of their cardio so it’s less problematic. But if that’s not something they can do for whatever reason (some people just can’t hold back a little. Meaning, you flat out NEED to do cardio on your off days in order for that deficit to exist. In this case, the above advice would change since a true need for doing cardio has now presented itself. Or, maybe you CAN create your deficit through diet alone, but you just don’t want to. You’d prefer to use cardio anyway (in conjunction with your diet) to help create that deficit. In these cases, you most definitely can (and most likely should). It always depends on individual needs, goals and preferences. You’ll have to take it from there. What About Me? As for me personally, any regular reader probably knows by now that I’m not much of a fan of cardio. But strictly for losing fat, building muscle and just looking great naked? I consider it completely optional, HIGHLY overrated and occasionally counterproductive. I don’t find it very fun, either. So when muscle growth is my goal, I tend to avoid cardio because A) my calorie needs in a surplus are high enough as it is, so burning additional calories via cardio on my rest days just makes my job harder, B) I recover better without it, and C) I just hate doing it. When fat loss is my goal, I tend to do little to no cardio because A) I have no problem whatsoever creating my deficit through diet alone and prefer doing it that way, B) I recover better without it, and C) I still just hate doing it. But hey, that’s just what’s ideal for me based on my specific needs and preferences. You should do what’s ideal for yours.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2017
Categories |