I, for one, happen to have a problem where my quads, or as they are termed properly, quadriceps, the large leg muscles that start just below your hips on the fronts of your legs, get absolutely huge when I work out consistently or very hard. But only if I’m doing certain types of aerobic exercise, and I’ve figured out which ones to avoid and which ones to do liberally to keep them smaller so my pants fit me right.

One of the worst things, at least for me, to do, to get big quads, is the treadmill. It may be because I use the treadmill in an uphill climb somewhat, but I also think it’s because I tend to move slowly and deliberately. This also happens to me if I’m running though, so I’ve figured that a treadmill is just too choppy and high impact for me since my quads tend to grow from those types of exercise for some reason.

I’ve found an excellent alternative to the treadmill though, to not build up my quads, is the elliptical machine, because it is designed more with muscle lengthening, and long, smooth strides that elongate the muscle rather than make it contract, as a treadmill can do since it is high impact.

I love my Horizon elliptical, because it provides me with aerobic exercise, but yet it doesn’t build my legs up too much like other pieces of exercise equipment can do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Elliptical Reviews, Fitness Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.