jbug:Too many ladies in our club are noticing their thighs getting larger with RPM. They are noticing the difference in their pants, jeans, etc. Anyone else?
Three things: Body fat; Stretching; Diet.
Body fat. In order to see the true definition in the abs, arms and legs, you must be at a low body fat level. Women by nature carry a higher body fat percentage than men.
How low or high your body fat percentage is depends on the style of “tone” wanted. If you don’t want veins, then you should not have too low of a body fat percentage. If you want some muscle, but don’t want them undefined and “thick,” then you need a lower body fat percentage.
Stretching. The key lies in stretching. You’ve heard, “Stair climbers make my calves bulky!” and, “I have been working out for three weeks and my thighs are bigger!” Mostly it is because these women (and their trainers) ignore stretching. How often do they stretch? And for how long? Two minutes before bedtime isn’t enough.
Surrounding muscle tissue is fascia. There are different functions and layers, but two functions are flexibility and movement. You cannot alter the length of given muscle, but you can reverse the damage created over time from being in a shortened state from day-to-day activities.
Stretching should be placed at the right times depending on workouts. A good guide to follow would be dynamic stretching pre-lifting/cardio and static stretches post lifting/cardio. Stretching will not only give a better overall look to muscles and posture, but will keep protection from injury as well.
Diet. To gain muscle you need a surplus of calories. This means eat more than your body needs for energy in a day. That is what it takes to gain fat; and if working out, to gain muscle.
Sometimes, women (and men) start exercising to try to spot reduce problem areas, but they don’t do anything about their diet. In some cases, they are eating over their calorie limit anyway (which is what most likely caused the fat gain), and think exercise will help them spot reduce those problem areas. As you all know, you cannot spot reduce; fat is fat, and it comes off where it decides it wants to.
If a participant wants smaller, flatter abs, and then starts doing a lot of abdominal isolation work while taking in surplus calories, then the abdominal area will get bigger. If visible abdominal definition is the goal, the trainee needs to be in caloric deficit to lose body fat. Same goes for the legs.
The diet should be clean and with the proper amount of lean protein, good carbohydrates, and good fat sources. Water intake and sodium levels are also important. Water retention usually rises when starting an exercise program because most people ignore taking in adequate amounts of water. It is easy to mistake a case of water retention for bulky thighs.
So as an instructor, - and as a gym, since it's "many ladies at our club" - make sure your participants understand the importance of nutrition and water intake, and how they affect appearance as "bulky" or "feminine".