size training

[Jay76]

This woman at my gym has big legs. She wants to loose size on her legs. and tone them up. SHe ends up going to a trainer who gave her a program of

3 exercises in a row.
Short rest periods.
rep range of 20, 18, 12, 10 reps

Am i stupid or isen't this a program to get ones legs bigger??

[rbibbs]

Women don't characteristically "get big" in response to exercise. Not all men do. But assuming the "bigness" in her legs is indicative of where she's genetically programmed to store fat, any exercise is better than none.

You mean the trainer gave her leg exercises? That may be more a psychological approach than a physiological one. Just from supporting that weight, her legs are probably quite strong (albeit imbalanced strength in the vertical plane and probably inflexible outside that plane). And exercising one muscle group doesn't (to my knowledge) cause that muscle group to preferentially burn just its own surrounding fat.

She probably went to him and said "do something about my legs" so he gave her leg exercises. Something like people going to a doctor and saying "do something about my cold" and he gives them antibiotics (to no avail).

I'm only scantly, peripherally knowledgable about weight control training. But I'd look at something closer to an all-body, motion intensive program to resurrect metabolic activity and get her "feeling good moving", and some dietary suggestions along the lines of Atkins.

Although, her reaction might be "what's waving my arms in the air got to do with legs?". Both the effectiveness of the program, and the dedication with which the client follows it, are dependent to an extent on the client's belief that what they are doing is going to address their specific concern.

Rick