Question:

I was wondering what types of exercises I can do to lose inches off my thighs without gaining a whole lot of muscle. I have muscular legs already, but I want to lose the fat around my legs. Do you have any eating or exercises tips that can help me? 

Answer:

The primary factor that influences whether an exercise builds muscle or not is rep range, while losing fat depends heavily on nutrition.

If you would like to increase strength without gaining muscle, use a rrep ange of between 1 to 3 reps on each where you just about hit muscular failure in that range.

Alternatively, if you use a rep range of 15 reps per set, you will build muscular endurance and very little muscle mass.

You can combine both of these rep ranges into a workout while avoiding everything in the middle (between 4 - 15 reps).

Exercises such as squats, lunges, leg curls, leg extensions, stiff-legged deadlifts, and calf raises are all excellent for toning your legs.

There are plenty of good sites on the web to find instructions on how to best do some of these exercises as well.

Cardiovascular training such as running is very good for keeping the thighs from gaining much muscle while still losing fat. Not a lot of serious runners have large legs but most do have very lean legs. The same is true of cycling or the stair machine.

As far as nutrition goes,

1. Increase your protein intake, e.g. fish, chicken, lean meats, eggs, other poultry, etc. This will help to support your metabolism.

2. Cut way back on junk food. This will make a very big difference very quickly. You don’t have to totally eliminate it, just decrease it greatly.

3. IOt’. If you do eat before training, your body will burn what you just ate rather than bodyfat.

4. Eat immediately after a workout. Stick to protein and low-fat foods.

5. Don’t eat after 8 pm. Your body won’t have a chance to use those calories and will store them as fat.

If you’re interested in a DVD workout series that targets this EXACT problem, I highly recommend checking out Joey Atlas’s Hip, Butt and Thigh Makeover program. It’s EXTREMELY powerful stuff and will help you with what you’re looking for!