Got any exercise recommendations for bigger legs?

[HuckyHucky]

I'm naturally super thin. I like being thin but I don't really like my shape. I'm so top-heavy, wide shoulders, average waist, bleh. Super athletic-shaped, which I guess some people would like but I want a change. I'd like to add mass to my bottom half, in hopes of balancing out the top.

SO any recommendations? I don't care about making my butt bigger, just focusing predominantly on the outer hips/thighs area, and calves.

[AdamThomas]

Squats are the main exercise, lunges are good too. You want a weight that you can manage for 10 reps, and do about 4 sets with 1-2 minute rest. If your dumbbells are too light you could try one leg squats or pistol squats which are harder than regular squat. Ignore advice to lift for high reps, that's good for building endurance but it won't build muscle which is what you want. As for protein, try to eat more meat. My girlfriend just eats chicken and fish since she isn't a big lover of meat either.

[Illusive_Man]

Squat.
Deadlift.
Weighted glute bridge with a barbell.

Everything else optional.
Do some inner-thigh machines if you wanna.

[HuckyHucky]

Can deadlifts be done with dumbbells or no? I don't have access to any barbells.

[Illusive_Man]

Oh sure !
But some day you're gonna outgrow those dumbbells. Exercise and kinesiology is such a broad topic I don't even know where to begin lol but what you're looking for here is the hypertrophy of muscles.

This will show you a few exercises using just dumbbells that target the lower body. (tho I suggest you do a full body workout if you don't want to be one of those freakazoids body-snatchers with disproportionate lower bodies)
www.dumbbell-exercises.com/.../index.html

General fitness tip.
www.muscleandfitness.com/.../fast-lane-hypertrophy

[HuckyHucky]

Great exercise links and tips, thanks! I need to start trying to get more protein. My daily eating habits primarily consist of grains and vegetables (they're my favorite food groups) and I hardly eat meat so I know I'm probably not getting the amount of protein I need.

[Illusive_Man]

Grains and vegetables are your friends.
You don't REALLY need meat to get your protein, legumes also have protein.
I am a fan of soy myself. Tho I am probably speaking out of my depth here cos I do use to eat a bit of meat till 2 weeks ago lol

[AdamThomas]

Soy is one of the worst things you can eat as a man - the reason a lot of vegetarian men have low testosterone levels is because they eat a lot of soy.

[HuckyHucky]

Cool, I love legumes too, peas and beans are a big part of my diet. Great, seems like I've got the diet part down.

[Illusive_Man]

@AdamThomas
We have come a LONG way since the research in 2001 lol
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11524239
Later research have shown to be otherwise.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803173/

www.muscleandfitness.com/.../5-things-you-need-know-about-soy

Tho like a ghost that myth just refuses to die.

[Illusive_Man]

The general rule of thumbs is 1g of protein for every lb of bodyweight :3

[Illusive_Man]

NOYCE

[Climber]

so you need exercises for your leg muscles. If you are in a gym, ask a program there. Otherwise, squats, biking, running (circuit, not long distance). Are you doing a sport with your upper body or is it your build that gives you wide shoulders?

[HuckyHucky]

I do tumbling every once in a while, which does mainly involve handstands and stuff, but not enough to really impact my build much. My back has always been very wide and because my hips are so narrow my shoulders are quite wider than them.

[HuckyHucky]

Interesting that you mentioned bike riding, I love biking! I thought that it was just making my legs slimmer, though. It builds them up?

[Climber]

@asker. Then I suppose its your bone structure that gives you wide shoulders, so not much you can do there. You could train down fat level, but that will make you more toned and visisbly muscular on the upper body too and will make your boobs smaller. So maybe focuss on loxer body is ideal for you.

[Climber]

@asker: biking does two things. It burns fat so yes it will make them slimmer, but if you bike intensive, it will build legg muscle that makes them thicker. And that thickness is a nicer view because it is more toned and sculptured

[HuckyHucky]

I WOULD like a smaller chest, didn't know it was possible for exercise to have that affect though.

[Climber]

@asker. Oeps. Reply got in the wrong box :-) See above

[HuckyHucky]

Lol it's okay. Yeah that makes sense. Trust me I'm in no way aiming for bodybuilder level, I'm actually trying to get more of a womanly shape going here. Chest is a bit too big for my frame, though. What kind of exercises even target... boob fat?

[Mr187canada]

Sound like a good looking girl already and girls with thick legs normally have a nice ass and that's a lot better in my eyes than stick legs.

Anyways running especially going up stairs is a good one. Squats and dead lifts won't really burn fat unless you're doing 40-60 reps each set, normally it's going to add muscle and keep your legs the same size so if you plan to do those workouts make sure you're doing light weight with heavy rep count as stated 40-60 to burn the fat. A good thing to do would be to get a gym membership and use the thigh machines but if not going up stairs does the same kinda burning feeling to a lot of girls.

[HuckyHucky]

If I'm burning fat, though, won't that make me smaller? I already have a low body fat percentage.

[Mr187canada]

I actually read your question wrong I assumed you wanted to burn the fat and gain muscles didn't know you just wanted them bigger in general. The best solution than of course is weight lifting so that you can gain muscle there, normally you're going to want to make sure you're upping your weights and reaching goals and doing routines such as 4-5 set routines per workout normally with a heavy set with 6-8 reps and a light set 25-35 reps for legs.

You're going to need a gym membership for this as well simple weights at home won't do much because your body will get use to it very fast. Now I am not the best at giving advice on how to gain muscle at only one area of your body because I focus on every area but normally diet is key and remember if you do do this you will likely gain muscle elsewhere.

[AdamThomas]

It will indeed.

[HuckyHucky]

The area I live in has a free gym included with it so that's cool, thanks

[RCuber]

Squats and deadlifts will probably be your main exercises.

More important are your sets, reps, weight, and rest
For hypertrophy (muscle growth) you should be aiming for this:

Sets: 4-8
Reps: 6-12
Weight: 60%-80% of your 1RM
Rest: 2-5 minutes

[Octavion]

Squats lunges use a leg press.

[Climber]

@asker. Yes boobs are fat, so if you train fat down, they will shrink. Why do you think female bb have no boobs left, only chest muscle. But please, don't go that far. I don't like it :-) Athletic bodies should stay female

[Octavion]

@Climber What?

[Climber]

@octavion: don't worry. My reply got in the wrong box. :-)