Bar method and thigh bulk

[flamingoo]

Am I the only one who increased in thigh size from doing the bar method? I've seen so many posts on how great the new dvds are and I really loved the old ones. I did a three or four month rotation last summer using The Bar Method 3x per week along with cardiobarre and by the start of winter my jeans were soo tight in the thighs. Did I not give it long enough? Now I'm wondering if it was because I was using them in conjunction with Cardiobarre. So many awesome dvds and too little time. Any ideas?

[weighttrain]

I have been live taking Bar Method classes this month. I took advantage of the $99 unlimited classes for 30 days special at their new studio in Southern California. The biggest eye-opener for myself is the fact that live instruction will set us up properly. I thought my tuck was appropriate, and my pretzel position was effective, etc. but in a live class the instructor is constantly fixing our form and not allowing us to get sloppy when we are ready to pass out. The instructor will eyeball the class and work the room to 'fix' the participants. I felt like I had a private lesson with every class as the Bar Method instructor would move my ribs, hip, shoulder, elevate heels, etc. one inch or a fraction of an inch.....it makes a huge difference in the way I feel the exercise during class *and* for many days afterwards. After the first week of live classes I felt like I was run over by a truck. I was absolutely wiped out in the physical sense. Every day the DOMS traveled around my body like a malleable entity.

It is possible that your body responds to this type of exercise with the end result of bigger thighs. For myself I am finding out that many barre type exercises are form specific.

I am taking a live class today with Burr. For the first time in my life I am a little fearful of going to a live class.

I am sure other will offer their thoughts and suggestions.

Beth

[mle777]

Beth - How was the live class????

Flamingoo - I found that when I was at my slimmest, I was doing TBM/LB 4-5 days a week and walking 3-4 days a week. Maybe you need to add a different form of cardio.

[Jane P.]

This is just a guess, but I wonder if some people retain more fluid in the thigh tissue while exercising than some others.

[weighttrain]

Originally Posted by mle777

Beth - How was the live class????

awesome! Burr drove down for the weekend to teach all of the classes at the new studio. She is absolutely gorgeous; flawless skin, lovely personality. Her cute pomeranian was also in the studio. 'Pi' stayed in the doorway until Burr finished the class with us.

Beth

[Demeris]

Originally Posted by weighttrain

lovely personality.

Beth

There's an exercise in one of the new Bar Methods where she says, "This is almost fun."

I laugh out loud every time.

[KathAL79]

Originally Posted by Jane P.

This is just a guess, but I wonder if some people retain more fluid in the thigh tissue while exercising than some others.

I feel that way when I'm doing barre / ballet-type work. I'm sure this happens, too, with heavy weights, but for some reason my legs feel puffier to me after unweighted work.
But I have some odd body issues, so don't take me as a good example!

[glorybelle75]

I know that if you look on the Bar Method site, in the frequently asked questions, it says that it's not unusual to bulk initially then slim down after a while. The explanation is a little more thorough than that.

[Debbie M]

Just my 50 (LOL ) cents....

Since you did do your rotation for 3-4 months, I do not think that fluid retention or anything like that would cause the thighs to be larger. That reaction only lasts for 2-3 weeks after starting a resistance program or after an increase in intensity or sudden shock to the muscles.

All resistance training builds muscle to some extent unless you are overtraining. If it did not, there would be no reason to do it! Adding muscle is how we add shape to the body.

It is a myth that certain workouts, such as Bar Method, Tracy Anderson, etc. will make you smaller through any means other than bodyfat loss or muscle loss. It is an anatomical impossibility. The only way we lose inches is by losing bodyfat or breaking down muscle (or combinations).

If we are building muscle (even slightly) in an area, that area will measure larger unless we have also lost some bodyfat. Since muscle is denser by about 18% compared to bodyfat, you do not have to lose as much bodyfat as you gain muscle in order to see a reduction in inches.

For example, if you gain 1 pound of muscle (for imagination purposes let us just pretend it is in your thigh), but only lose 0.8 of a pound, you will measure identically but look better. If you gain 1 pound of muscle and lose 1 pound of fat, you will measure smaller and look better. If you gain even 0.5 pounds of muscle but do not lose bodyfat, you will measure larger.

Bodyweight exercises with high reps (where barre work falls in exercise physiology terms) target the slow twitch endurance fibers in our muscles which have a limited potential for growth, but they do still grow. Of course, the aesthetic goals of this type of training are far different than those of someone trying to gain significant muscle mass using heavy weights, low reps, long recovery times, etc., but it is only the degree that differs.

Some people gain muscle easier than others. Some people gain muscle in specific areas more than others. Fat distribution is genetic. There are so many factors.

Diet and overall caloric burn (including all forms of exercise) are the biggest contributors to slimming the thighs or any other body part.

Anyone claiming significant inch loss using any method has either lost bodyfat (either combined with muscle gain or muscle loss) or broken down muscle by overtraining.

I think if expectations are realistic, people will not be as likely to look for that "magic workout".

If barre work is not working for you but you enjoy it, I would look to change your nutrition and cardio first.

If you do not have bodyfat to lose and barre work just causes your thighs to develop muscle more than you would like, I would reduce the amount of quad work (usually called "thigh work" in barre workouts) and add more glute work to your rotation. It is rather easy for many women to overdevelop their quads in relation to other parts of the lower body. I have to be mindful of this myself.

HTH

Deb

[flamingoo]

Thanks so much for all the great advice. Now that I look back I was prob. over working myself. I tend to start out slow, but then exercise way too much. Infact, I was doing the bar method on the same day that I was doing cardio barre. I'm just really bad with rotations and try to squeeze too much into one day. I've recently started doing kundalini yoga with exhale core fusion. I do want to order the new bar methods, but my credit card tells me otherwise