You have been working hard on leg-specific sports, including cycling, hiking, squats and deadlifts. Your goal is to get thinner, but your thighs and calves seem to get bigger and bigger.
Mirrors can provide clues to leg makeup. (Source: SrdjanPav / iStock / GettyImages) If your leg is usually a problem area, it is difficult to determine if you are experiencing muscle gain or fat gain. This is especially true in the early stages of fitness, where muscle mass is covered by a layer of adipose tissue.
Muscles are thinner, healthier tissues that power you through exercise and your day. It's stronger and fills your jeans without shaking. If you carry more of this ideal tissue on your lap, some clues will let you know instead of fat.
Gender Differences and Body Composition
According to the University of New Mexico online publication “Gender Differences in Fat Metabolism,” men and women differ in the way they metabolize and store excess fat
In individuals with female or pear-shaped bodies, excess fat is more likely to be distributed around the legs and buttocks than around the abdomen. Female body types are more common in women. In contrast, most men who carry excess fat have robots or apples, where fat is more easily stored around the abdomen and abdomen.
If you always have a heavy lower body, this may just be the way you store fat. Even if you slim down, you will still be shaped like a pear - although the body is less fat, including your legs.
Consider your size
Your body size is a measure of your metabolism and how your body uses and stores fat; you are genetically inclined to certain types. Compared to ectomorph and mesomorph, endomorphs effectively store fat deposits, giving people of this size a rounded or soft appearance.
Nevertheless, endoderm tends to have very strong lower body muscles. These muscles are the largest muscles in your body, which means that keeping them healthy can boost your metabolic rate. Endomorphs are also more likely to gain weight than muscles.This makes untrained legs more likely to contain disproportionate fat.
Determine if you are an endoderm, or an ectomorph or mesomorph, considering whether you are relatively easy to put on your muscles. Are you building more like an endomorph or an ectomorph? Then exercise through a healthy diet and exercise to make your body as thin as possible. This helps you develop as much muscular legs as possible.
Using a fat caliper
A fat caliper gives you an overall measure of your body fat percentage. You can find a thick caliper at your local sports shop or borrow one at your local gym; if you have a fitness professional to perform the measurements for you, you will get a more accurate reading.
Although the measurement of body fat is comprehensive for your entire body, your body knowledge type or body shape can help you determine where your leg muscles are or where there is fat deposits on your muscles.
Look in the mirror
An easy way to assess whether your legs are mainly muscle or fat is looking at them in the mirror. Signs of muscle strength in your legs include hamstrings, a clear separation line between the quadriceps and calf muscles. Bend your muscles to make these lines clearer. If your legs are not bodybuilding, this method may not be as effective because you don't have a muscle definition.
