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2008/07/12, 09:52 AM
Hi, I'm new here. I hope I picked the right forum to post in, and I apologise if I got it wrong.
I'm 5'3, female and weigh roughly 135lbs. I am a pear shape. I have narrow shoulders, a tiny rib cage, flat chest and slim arms. I have an ok waist and a fairly flat stomach. My problem is my bottom half. My hips are about 40 inches. I have those annoying pads of fat at the top of my butt just behind my hip bones. My butt itself is flat, wide and droopy. I have saddlebags and my thighs are big and flabby.
I'm looking to lose fat and tone up. I would love to drop a jeans size and have a higher, rounder, narrower butt and slimmer hips and thighs. I know you cannot spot reduce though.
In order to achieve my goals, I recently joined a gym. This is in addition to the 5 hours of walking I do each week and have done for months now. I am working out four times a week. One day I go to a legs, bums and tums class. The other three sessions I do weights and cardio. This is usually 30 minutes on the crosstrainer and 30 minutes weights.
With the weights, I do 2 sets of 15 on the leg press and the same on the hip adductors and abductors. I change the weights so that my muscles get really fatigued each time.
I also use the shoulder press, chest press and another machine where I sit facing the handles and pull them down. I do two sets of 12 on each of those (I can't manage 15) and work my muscles to exhaustion each time.
I'll come to the point...What I'm wondering is, am I doing the right things to achieve my goals? I'm prepared to work hard, but I want to work smart too. I keep reading how important weight training is and to experience the benefits of it. Prior to joining the gym, I did squats and lunges at home, but never saw a difference. Maybe that was due to a lack of cardio though. I do some squats and lunges in the legs, bums and tums class.
I am eating more healthily too.
What do you think? Are there things I really should be doing to achieve my goals? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much to anyone who made it through this long post.
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