Female question for the males!!

**rockstar55** · 07-06-2009, 08:45 PM

HI guys, I have a question, and Ineed an honest answer hear because Im a little OCD when it comes to my training. Ive been taking 10mg Var for about 8 weeks, and Ive noticed some quality strength gains, but my legs are getting bigger, whereas my upper body is lacking a bit. Im quite heavy bottomed naturally, and anything I do to stimulate my legs results in crazy mass.

A friend of mine whos a guy and very experienced in the gym told me to stop training legs for a while, and just focus on upper body. I really need to "even out" for my comp. in Oct. And right now, Im doing Lyle Mcdonalds UD2 which is all full body workouts basically. Problem is, I feel like Icant stop training legs!!! Should I just completely stop doing legs and see what happens?

***RAGE*** · 07-06-2009, 08:53 PM

NO, do not stop doing legs, might want to lighten up on the weights...and just push the upper body a little harder...JMO

**dd0316** · 07-06-2009, 09:00 PM

like the poster above said..i wouldnt cut it out...but i would maybe decrease the # of sets, weight, etc...start doing maintenance instead of mass

**eatrainrest** · 07-06-2009, 09:14 PM

dont cut out legs they are half of your body and will help the rest of your body grow. how many sets are you doing per quad/ham exercises? what rep range are you working in? how often do you train legs? what intensity? if your working in a lower rep range, maybe a higher rep range (12-15+), will stimulate more red fast twitch fibers and will allow for more growth once you go back down to low reps. i can have more input once youve supplied some answers to the ?

**ninesecz** · 07-06-2009, 09:24 PM

Maybe try doing just like leg extensions and some lunges and stick to more shaping exercises. this way they will not get any bigger but you will still be stimulating them and actually helping them to get more defined at the same time

**jbm** · 07-06-2009, 09:29 PM

lighter weights higher reps...

**jackuped** · 07-06-2009, 09:42 PM

My female volley ball freinds in college have gain a lot of size in there legs due to diet and water retaintion. For some reason women tend to store size in there legs and soon as the volley ball season is over they fall back to there normal size. Their diet was a lot of sports drinks and carbs. There is not much muscle difinition and smooth due to fluid retention. Try less salt and more complex carbs.

**Dont wanna be old** · 07-06-2009, 09:53 PM

What type of competition . Bodybuilding or fitness ?

If obsessive about legs . I suggest do as little as possible but do your cardio following .
( You will lose your passion if not enjoying what you do )

I am not familiar with Lyle Mcdonalds UD2 .
Intensity and weight necessary for upper body growth .

Good luck in October . You have plenty time to make corrections you aspire for .
Keep us posted of your Win !

**rockstar55** · 07-06-2009, 10:34 PM

Well, the UD2 is cyclical diet with full body muscle depletion days(12-15reps,3-6sets per bodypart) of lighter weight and short rest periods, then theres tension and power days which are heavy training days, low reps and sets, longer rest periods. Each of these days are full body. I dont think the program is as effective if you dont complete a full body workout, which is why Im not sure what to do for my legs. The whole concept is to slowly loose bodyfat while preserving muscle mass, if not increase it.

**CMPD213** · 07-07-2009, 07:43 AM

The same thing happened to my girl when she ran anavar . She put on good muscle but she felt her legs were getting too big. She trains legs on saturdays, so what i had her do was...

First saturday she'd do a normal leg routine, squats, leg presses, everything she would normally do with normal weight.
Second saturday i'd have her focus on leg extensions, hack squats, lunges, and i would have her go lighter and really do the movement slow so it was helping shape the muscle more than build it.

It was like a build leg workout one week then shape workout the next.

It helped her...

**Ronnie Rowland** · 07-07-2009, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

HI guys, I have a question, and Ineed an honest answer hear because Im a little OCD when it comes to my training. Ive been taking 10mg Var for about 8 weeks, and Ive noticed some quality strength gains, but my legs are getting bigger, whereas my upper body is lacking a bit. Im quite heavy bottomed naturally, and anything I do to stimulate my legs results in crazy mass.

A friend of mine whos a guy and very experienced in the gym told me to stop training legs for a while, and just focus on upper body. I really need to "even out" for my comp. in Oct. And right now, Im doing Lyle Mcdonalds UD2 which is all full body workouts basically. Problem is, I feel like Icant stop training legs!!! Should I just completely stop doing legs and see what happens?

Try weighted lunges-3 sets and leg extensions-3 sets for high reps (15-20 reps). Keep reps up on hamstring exercises as well. Try lying leg curls-3 sets and stff legged dead lifts-3 sets. Train leg very intense only once a week for 6 sets total for quads and 6 sets total for hams during reloads. That's 3 sets per exericse. You can reduce it to 1-2 sets per exercise during deloads.

When it comes time to compete, I would say drop the lunges 2 weeks out before the show and do only high rep leg extensions for quads. If you are doing figure you may need to deload with lunges starting 4 week out for 2 weeks then discontinue them. Or maybe drop lunges 4 weeks out?! Have to see your pics.

Are you doing figure?

If I could see a full-body pic it would help a great deal. Shoot me a pm if you want to e-mail them too me. My wife and I will take a close look.

Good luck!

**ninesecz** · 07-07-2009, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by Ronnie Rowland

Try weighted lunges-3 sets and leg extensions-3 sets for high reps (15-20 reps). Keep reps up on hamstring exercises as well. Try lying leg curls-3 sets and stff legged dead lifts-3 sets. Train leg very intense only once a week for 6 sets total for quads and 6 sets total for hams during reloads. That's 3 sets per exericse. You can reduce it to 1-2 sets per exercise during deloads.

When it comes time to compete, I would say drop the lunges 2 weeks out before the show and do only high rep leg extensions for quads. If you are doing figure you may need to deload with lunges starting 4 week out for 2 weeks then discontinue them. Or maybe drop lunges 4 weeks out?! Have to see your pics.

Are you doing figure?

If I could see a full-body pic it would help a great deal. Shoot me a pm if you want to e-mail them too me. My wife and I will take a close look.

Good luck!

Hey you stole m idea! LOL Na just s=joking. I agree as I said Lunges are good for muscle separation and extensions are great for definition as well with little chance of building extra muscle! Light weight lunges theough

**rockstar55** · 07-08-2009, 09:02 PM

Here are some recently updated pics of my legs, and my upper body really doesnt match! My shoulders are teeny only because I cant push weight on them...have a slight injury. So I think I need a week off of the gym to reasses.

**Little Herc** · 07-08-2009, 09:25 PM

I sat keep doing what your doing...looking good

***FireGuy*** · 07-09-2009, 07:36 PM

You have tightened up some since your last pics. Your legs dont look overdeveloped to me but its hard to tell from those pics. Do you have (or can you take) a front repose picture in a two piece? Something along these lines please. This will make it much easoer to assess your symmetry.

**collar** · 07-09-2009, 07:47 PM

to be honest with you, your legs are are not overly big or dominating your body.
i do believe you need to get harder and leaner.
they just look on the soft side, i hope you dont take these wrong way

.
just trying help.

give us a look at your workout routine right now and your diet.

and like fire said better pics would be great to really assess whats going on.

**stpete** · 07-09-2009, 07:53 PM

You think they're too big? I think they fit you perfectly. They could even be a little bigger imo. Good luck!!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 07-09-2009, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

Here are some recently updated pics of my legs, and my upper body really doesnt match! My shoulders are teeny only because I cant push weight on them...have a slight injury. So I think I need a week off of the gym to reasses.

My wife and I think you legs look fine for figure. They are certainly not too big from these pics.

I would suggest not training each muscle more than once a week adn certainly not more than twice as this is probably causing you to have shoulder problems. Please check out Slingshot Training at the top of this workout section. The figure competitors I train love it!

Now heres some big legs-my wife "Kathy Rowland"..lol

**rockstar55** · 07-09-2009, 09:18 PM

Please excuse the terrible posing, this is my first time and havent met with my coach yet. I think I need to stick with high rep and go back to a low carb diet because I feel thats what works best with me. This carb cycling of seriously high carb days and training is tough, and I think Lyle has a good program but it might not be for me. Plus I thiught the Var would help with my upper body a little more.

***FireGuy*** · 07-10-2009, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Ronnie Rowland

My wife and I think you legs look fine for figure. They are certainly not too big from these pics.

I would suggest not training each muscle more than once a week adn certainly not more than twice as this is probably causing you to have shoulder problems. Please check out Slingshot Training at the top of this workout section. The figure competitors I train love it!

Now heres some big legs-my wife "Kathy Rowland"..lol

If you two are ever training at my gym please give me some notice so I can be sure I have full length sweats on that day as not to be put to shame in the wheel dept by a female. Damn!

***FireGuy*** · 07-10-2009, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

Please excuse the terrible posing, this is my first time and havent met with my coach yet. I think I need to stick with high rep and go back to a low carb diet because I feel thats what works best with me. This carb cycling of seriously high carb days and training is tough, and I think Lyle has a good program but it might not be for me. Plus I thiught the Var would help with my upper body a little more.

From the front I can see what your trainer is talking about. Although I dont think its your legs that are too big for your upper body as much as your upper body is too small for your legs. It is not nearly as noticable from the side. When you get leaner you will be able to make an even more accurate assessment.

**rockstar55** · 07-11-2009, 06:16 AM

So what can I do to really blast my upper body? I have to ease into shoulders, but for back Im doing seated rows, bent over barbell rows, assisted pullups (since I cant do any unassisted yet), pulldowns, close grip pull downs, etc. Usually rotate between all of these.

**xnotoriousx** · 07-11-2009, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by FireGuy1

If you two are ever training at my gym please give me some notice so I can be sure I have full length sweats on that day as not to be put to shame in the wheel dept by a female. Damn!

hahahaha tell me about it, I every time I see kathy's wheels i'm like REALLY??!!

I have alot of respect for the rowlands. You guys are awesome people, and that's a big understatement.

***FireGuy*** · 07-11-2009, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

So what can I do to really blast my upper body? I have to ease into shoulders, but for back Im doing seated rows, bent over barbell rows, assisted pullups (since I cant do any unassisted yet), pulldowns, close grip pull downs, etc. Usually rotate between all of these.

I think your exercises are fine, it just takes years of traning to build a really good back.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 07-12-2009, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by fireguy1

if you two are ever training at my gym please give me some notice so i can be sure i have full length sweats on that day as not to be put to shame in the wheel dept by a female. Damn!

i know, her legs are ridiculous..lol

**Ronnie Rowland** · 07-12-2009, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

Please excuse the terrible posing, this is my first time and havent met with my coach yet. I think I need to stick with high rep and go back to a low carb diet because I feel thats what works best with me. This carb cycling of seriously high carb days and training is tough, and I think Lyle has a good program but it might not be for me. Plus I thiught the Var would help with my upper body a little more.

Women in general do better on less carbs. I recommend high protein, moderate fats and low carbs for most females. But, some of my female clients cannot digest or they simply dislike eating fats and in that case its high protein, moderate carbs and low fat.

NOTE: My wife (Kathy) does best with the Slingshot Ketosis diet for her shows. The girls I train with fast metabolisms usually choose Slingshot carb cycling.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 07-12-2009, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by rockstar55

So what can I do to really blast my upper body? I have to ease into shoulders, but for back Im doing seated rows, bent over barbell rows, assisted pullups (since I cant do any unassisted yet), pulldowns, close grip pull downs, etc. Usually rotate between all of these.

You'll want to do a rowing movement where the hands are pulled into the upper abs as well as to the lower abs. This will develop muscle in the upper back region of the lats. Stick with the bread and butter exercises most of the time so specific adaptations will occur. 8-15 reps is good and don't forget to reload and deload. My wife has gained a lot of muscle with Slingshot Training by reloading for 4 weeks and then deloading for 1 week. She only carbs up twice a week compared to my 4 times per week during the off-season. I KNOW-MOST WOMAN HAVE IT TOUGHER THAN MEN!!!

**Misery13** · 07-14-2009, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by prone2rage

NO, do not stop doing legs, might want to lighten up on the weights...and just push the upper body a little harder...JMO

I agree...you need to redo your workout to fit how your body responds to weights...I have the same problem but in reverse...my upper body grows by just looking at the weights...where as my legs don't...