Physique 57 making my hips larger?
 

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and this is my first time posting. I have read many of the P57 reviews and I know that for some women the workouts can lead to larger/bulkier thighs. My issues seem to be more with my hips. I have been doing the workout (I only have the first set for now) about 3 times a week for the past two months. I have seen noticeable changes to the outer thigh area just below my hips. I unfortunately did not take measurements but I now have noticeable indentation from slimming down. The problem is that this seems to make my hips, a problem area of mine, more pronounced if that makes sense.

I am within a normal weight range, so I decided to do barre workouts to tone and work on my hips, thighs and butt. I am a classic hourglass shape, 5'7" with a large bust and wide hips. While I love the slimming of my outer thighs, I'm not sure if it's worth it if my love handles seem bigger. I do feel the burn in my hips when I'm doing the workout, but so far I don't think I've dropped in pants size and now that I'm starting to break out some jeans again for the fall I've noticed that instead of feeling looser some of them feel almost tight around my thighs.

I should add that I usually workout 3-4 days a week. I do no other cardio with the exception of walks around the neighborhood in the evenings with my hubby, kids and dog. I am a stay-at-home mom to 3 year old twins and I run around all day long. I used to have a pedometer to ensure I was walking 10,000 steps, but most days it ended up being closer to 15,000 or more without even trying. I don't really have the time or energy to add extra cardio on the days when I do P57. Sometimes it's difficult to find the time to even squeeze in 4 workouts a week.

I'm torn on if I should continue or not. I love some of the results, others not so much! Should I continue on with the hopes that the results eventually make it to my hips/love handles or should I focus on something else? Any thoughts?

thanks!
Tracy

Hi Tracy, welcome to the forum!

I find your post interesting because I have a build similar to yours--same height, hourglass figure, but I do tend to gain in the lower body. I'm a huge P57 devotee, and have found it to be very slimming through the hips, so I can't say I have noticed what you're noticing.

I don't know that you would need to add in cardio. Maybe just pay very close attention to your diet. I did P57 exclusively (5-6x/week) for a year and didn't need any additional cardio. Like you, I have small children and get plenty of activity throughout the day!

Also, if you have a barre studio in your area (Pure Barre, Bar Method or similar), I strongly suggest taking a class or two. Although other methods differ from Physique 57, I find my at-home practice is greatly enhanced by taking the occaissional live class. It's very easy to do some moves incorrectly. My video workouts are always more effective after I've gotten a form tweak at a studio.

Let us know how you do!

Well, one difference I noticed between the first two posts is the number of times per week. Tracy, what were you doing before? Stephanie was doing P57 5-6 days a week, and if you're only doing it 3x/week, maybe it's not quite enough?

I found out recently that if I don't work out (couldn't, due to various physical limitations) I won't gain weight if I'm relatively mindful of my eating. However, I will fill out differently, mostly getting wider in the hips. So, my workouts change my shape even if my weight stays the same. I found that my abs REALLY changed shape--got a lot softer and looked bigger--but fortunately got back in shape relatively easily once I started working them again.

One other thing--you said hips, but then you mentioned muffin top, which makes me think of abs. Is it your abs or hips that seem wider?

I had good results with P57 three times a week. But I went as heavy as I could for the exercise with the weights and did on toes pushups as much as I could. I also did daily cardio, but I was actively trying to lose weight. I couldn't imagine doing it 6-7 times a week but I just don't generally do resistance training on back to back days.

It is hard to say since you didn't take before measurements. I am a short hourglass and overtime gain and lose evenly. My chest, shoulders and hips are generally the same measurement and my waist usually 10-11 inches smaller. But when I was actively losing weight and taking weekly measurements something would happen where I would lose in one area but not the others. The difference was small--a half inch here, an inch there. But to me it visually messed with my sense of proportion. So one day I'd think my hips looked bigger and d measurements and see they were the same as last time (not bigger) but my chest decreased an inch or my waist decreased, etc. I wonder if your thighs slimming could make that illusion occur? I didn't get bigger anywhere doing P57 but my biggest loss at that time was in the thighs. But if that is happening, maybe time will sort it out if you continue to lose fat. I think the areas we consider our own problem areas tend to be where our bodies like to store fat so can be the last place it is released from.

Some people feel the pretzel move (and similar) if done wrong or sometimes anyway can increase size in their waist/muffin top area. So I guess you could try skipping that exercise or being careful with your form.

Another thought is that some people find the pretzel move built up the lower back/upper glute muscles too much for their tastes. The second DVD set has more of the hairpin move, which I find really, really effective for the hips.

You also might want to try out their book. The descriptions of the moves can really help with form, and the paperback edition has a vol. 2 compilation disc. That would give you a little more material to work with, at fairly minimal cost.

Also, the online FIT workout has a lot of great floor work. They do pretzel and hairpin variations. I started a thread on GD about their recent free two-day access to the online workouts. The free offer is good until the end of October, so if you have decent internet and can keep your kids occupied, you might want to try FIT.

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I've been doing various DVDs and workouts throughout the years. Prior to P57 I completed my second round of Jillian Michael's Body Revolution. I've also done P90, various Firm exercises, some Tracey Mallett DVDs and I used to take Zumba classes at the Y because giving up my membership.

I'm not exactly sure what the area I'm complaining about is called. It's kind of the area on the upper part of my buttocks, around my hip area. Is this the "love handle" area? Maybe it's considered the upper glute? It definitely leads to a muffin-top in the back if I wear jeans with too low of a rise.

I would love to do P57 5-6 times a week but truth be told it kind of bores me. I don't mind doing the workouts, but anything more than 3-4 days a week and I'm dreading them. I'm thinking about getting the second set and maybe trying a Pure Barre workout live, as suggested, so I can get the moves down. I admit there are parts of P57 seat workout where I'm not sure if my leg should be off to the side or behind me. That could be causing problems. And I am most definitely not as flexible as the ladies on the DVD! Maybe I should skip the pretzel workout.

I really wish I would have taken measurements. I'm not sure if the area really is more bulky or if it just seems like it because I'm losing inches below that area on my upper outer thighs. Maybe I should take my measurements today and keep with it for another month or so and then retake the measurements to see where I am at. I'm hoping that if I stick with it long enough I will start seeing a slim down in my muffin top!

Tracy

So I checked out FIT.
Now I want it.. Why? oh why can't they offer these workouts as downloads???? :mad:

I feel with you, Tracybates, that area, and my outer hips, don't want to budge. I'm doing P57 and walking/jogging. I do the 30 minute workouts more often and I've created my own "premixes" using freemake video converter to get two 30-ish minute workouts out of the classic 57 minute workouts.
I love CV2.