How can I get skinny thighs through exercise instead of really muscular ones?

Question

I'll be a bit more specific. I'm a girl, about 5"7 and I played competitive basketball two years ago 5-6 times a week including games, tournaments and training so I had very, very muscular legs and upper body rather than toned. I really didn't like my out of proportion body especially when it came to clothes, bathers etc. When I stopped I ate healthier, did light exercise and thankfully lost most of the muscle.

However I did stop the exercise and now I just have flabby tree trunks/thighs. I'm still eating healthy but only recently started exercising again. I run/walk/swim 30 minutes, 3-5 times a week. I'm wondering if these exercises will trim down and tone my thighs rather than making them the scary muscular things they were. If not what sort of exercises can I do to make them toned and thinner?

Answer 1

swimming is great for that, i used to be an athletic swimmer but quit cause i wasnt good enough for olympics.. dnt ask haha anyway before i started swimming the first time 2 years ago i was pretty overweight and it trimmed me down heaps especially my thighs :) but only to a point so after i quit swimming i became a serious dancer which means every day 1/2 hour of squats, pushups and situps and stretching of the legs and i only did this cause i needed to for dancing but the results were amazing! my butt is so toned now and my thighs are toned and trim :) i highly reccomend this but please note i did this while eating a healthy diet very low in refined sugar and loads of water soo.. yeah goodluck!

Answer 2

Try long distances, as this will work your endurance-tuned white muscle tissue (slow-twitch) muscles, which are slimmer and less bulky than the strength-tuned red muscle-tissue (fast-twitch).  Work on endurance exercises, rather than the strength and power that is commonly focused on in basketball.

It sounds like you're off to a good start.  Keep those 30 minute runs/swims/walks, and forget things like sprints and plyometrics (jumping exercises).

Answer 3

Walking is great leg exercise... Dont do squats of leg presses just steady exercises

Answer 4

Cristina, I'm sure I'm a much older male?  (dirty old man?).  I've been observing women for many years.  Thin ankles are nice, but it stops there?.  Woman, if your thighs have a little tone, yet thick as tree trunks, don't worry about it??!!!  Big calves are nice too.  

Men love those scary muscular thighs!!  You might have had some snide remark from some little boy or girl?  They're just jealous.  Heck, big thick thighs, even with a little cottage cheese, is nicer than those thin sticks.  Take the word from an old man?!!  It's very s**y.  Look at those gymnasts Johnson and Sacramone?  Those pitiful little Chinese girls might have won gold, but to me, there's no comparison??  You must be watching those women on the modeling boardwalk?  Think about it C.?  Men buy porno, etc., etc. Even when I was young, I never had a buddy that suggested, let's go watch a "fashion show"??    

Answer 5

running and swimming will tone it down. WHen you were playing basketball your legs were in another level of intensity. Playing basketball also required you to practice and condition, which explains the muscular legs. Since you're not conditioning or working them out by sprinting or doing intense workouts, you'll be toning them, by mild running and swimming.  

Answer 6

Pilates =P