Lower Body Nightmare

Hi all,
After reading the posts here for a while I have decided to sign up, I feel like a fraud to be on here as I dont look anything like the great photos of all you other girls but gotta start somewhere!
I trained a bit when I was younger for athletics and swimming,  however..... I have not trained for 7 years and have just started again a couple months ago. I had an accident that damaged my legs, after numerous operations I am walking and doing well medically speaking.  So, my question to all you lovely ladies out there is 'how can I improve my hideous lower body?' I  carry all my body fat on my lower body (25inch waist & 41 inch hips!), I cannot do squats or lunges etc due to my leg problems, I cant even squat my own body weight. I saw the post on the Glute Hip Thrusts, it sounds like a great one to try, any other ideas like this?  Need all the help I can get!
Off to the gym to try the Glute Hip Thrusts, wish me luck!

Welcome and well done for posting. It's not all scary.
 
Can you do leg extentions?glute extensor thingies, ham curls that sort of thing?Also what cardio can you do?
 
Sounds very specific and hopefully someone better qualified will be along soon.

Really sorry to hear that Bella.
 
What about exercises using ankle weights or pilates bands even?

Hi thanks for your reply, great to have some support.
 
I can do leg extensions but can only manage the lightest weight (10kgs), I try to do 20reps but the main problem is that my knees are screaming at me long before my quads have noticed anything. I cant do the glute extensor thing as you have to kneel on one knee while doing the other leg, I cant put any pressure on my knee cap - I shattered it in the accident. Hamy stuff is easier, I do seated ham curls. Cardio wise I do the recline bike, 30 to 45 mins 5days a week. Any thoughts? I was thinking about maybe Ball exercises but think they wont be enough to really have an impact?

Hi Bella and welcome to MT. We all had to start somewhere so don't consider yourself a fraud.
 
If you can manage leg extensions how about doing as many as you can without hurting your knees with a light weight and then doing partials which are basically just about taking the weight without straightening out your legs and just little pulse movements at the bottom. This should not really put any pressure on your knees at all but will pump the quads.
 
For leg extensions, you could alwyas invest in some good ankle straps and attach those to a cable and do standing cable curls. Again, no pressure on the knees. You can also do kick backs with these to isolate the glutes too.

Thanks for the advice. I hadnt thought about using cables, not sure what you mean by kickbacks for glutes, will look it up and find a demo somewhere. I tried the glute thrusts thing mentioned on the other thread today, it went ok, only used 15kgs but I did it so fingers crossed I will still be walking in the morning!
I have been really negative for a while now and I just need to start focusing on what I can do and keep motivated. Been to a couple of shows over the last month - inspirational.
Thanks to kitty, flick and gingernut, I really appreciate your thoughts on my situation. Its a good day tomorrow, best body part - back training!!!!

Hi and good luck with your training. I reckon body fat is more to do with diet than training, well at least the body chooses where it comes off, so why not train your upper body and concentrate on your diet if your legs are giving you grief?

Hi, I totally agree with the bodyfat issue. I have lost 6kgs which has really helped reduce the size / bodyfat on my hips and thighs but my worry is that there is not any 'tone' to my legs, the skin is not tight - grose I know! I am not sure what weight I am supposed to be aiming for but just going by how I look in the mirror (when I see any sign of abs I know Im there). I am going to try the exercises suggested by the other ladies and keep going with the cardio on the bike. I am not sure how many calories I am eating, (should work that out really) but think my diet is about right as I have been loosing around 1/2 kg a week for 12weeks - think that slow and steady loss is best. My unrealistic aim is to look like Helen Stack by next summer!!!! (even is only from the hips up). Thanks for your post, I know bodyfat is the main issue for me.

Something else I thought of was gripping a swiss ball between your legs and squeezing but I don't know how that gets on with your leg condition, and of course it's only a small contraction.
 
I know I used ankle weights quite successfully when I had a cruciate problem and couldn't bend my knees - but I was already very slim at the time. I would perform lying leg raises from front, side and inner thigh lifts. I seemed to maintain quite a bit of strength this way, not sure about building it though.

Glute kickbacks will be keeping the leg straight and kicking back the leg so that you're lifting from the hip.....it's like doing a standing version of the exercises that you kneel on the floor to do with ankle weights (used to be called Rovers in aerobics but on here we call them buttbusters)

Had a go at the glute kickbacks today, no pain and I really felt it working. I now have a good programme of leg exercises I can do, going to take some photos and hope there will be a difference in 3months... reasonable time do you think?
Any advice on the number of reps / sets I should aim for? I hope to do the following exercises:
Leg extensions
Lying Leg lifts (with ankle weights as suggested by gingernut)
Seated Leg Curl
Stiff leg deadlift (with dumbells)
Glute hip thrusts
Glute extensor thingys (lying over a swiss ball, with ankle weights)
Glute kickbacks
 
My aim is to have smaller legs. My legs seem 'empty' at the moment. For example, if I tense my tricep I cant see any sign of tricep due to the layers of bodyfat however I can feel a hard muscle underneath, in contrast, if I (try) to tense muscles in my legs/glutes theres seems to be nothing there. Does that make sense?
Postive note to end on, back training today was good, felt strong, probably my best bodypart. Thanks again for the advice, promise to stop bugging you lovely people once Im on track. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to stick on a photo!!!

Bug away, we like it when people are enthusiastic

Bella makes total sense about the muscle underneath. I have only just started to get some really decent muscle in my Quads, that I can feel underneath the fat!

Hi Bella
 
Are you able to go swimming?  Being non weight bearing in the water may help, not just swiming but doing some leg exercises in the water?

Hi Hazel,
 
Swimming is my thing. I use to swim competitively and after my accident the physio advised I continue with the swimming, however.... I have big shoulders from swimming so much and they really take over in the workload. Over the years I have got use to not using my legs much at all, recently I have been doing one session for cardio and one for my legs. On the leg session a use a float for my upper body and then use my legs for movement. I am impatient.... as I am sure most of us are when waiting for results, I dont know if my expectations are unrealistic due to my injuries - I just need to feel like I can wear shorts again!
Thanks for your post, I do find the forum motivating!

Maybe I need to take up swimming instead of weights to make my Shoulders grow - nowt else flippin' works!!!

By the looks of your photo Flick your doing pretty damn well, your physique is what I am aiming for!
 
I think swimming from an early age helped my shoulders develop but also my swim coach use to push weights for shoulders a lot. I spent years doing all most nothing but shoulders and back to improve my strength for the pool.
Keep banging out the presses!

Hello all,
 
Thought I would give a little up date after all the kind advice given....
Leg training is going well. I bought some 5kg ankle weights and have been doing some leg raises and glute lift things about three times a week, also doing the glute thrust thing with a 15kg dumbel which seems to be doing some good. I can really tell the difference in how my legs feel - dont look much different but I know it will take time. The diet has gone AWOL, bad week, so back on it today, I have lost just over a stone, another stone to go. On a real plus (totally off topic!) I did a 60Kg bench this week, only one rep but still I am very proud of myself!!!!
Thanks again for all the advice it has really helped me to make positive changes.

Brilliant stuff all round, sounds like you're making great progress.

Hypers
Single Leg Hypers
Reverse Hypers using a stability ball
Stiff legged deads
Romanian Deads
Single Legs of the above
Glute Ham Raise (if you can find machine as this will not pressure your knees.
 
Work with what you can do rather than focusing on what you can't do. If the injury dictates that you have problems bending your legs then focus on building them from the 'back'. I have yet to see someone with great hams and glutes and sh*t quads.