Sitting is almost as harmful as smoking

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A sedentary lifestyle for the leg muscles is akin to cardiac arrest. Here's how genetics and activity affect the appearance and health of your legs, and why you shouldn't avoid strength training if you're looking to slimmer your legs.

The idea that has been popular in recent years - to work while standing, despite criticism, still has positive aspects. In a standing position, the metabolic rate is higher than when you are sitting: calorie consumption is about one and a half times more. In addition, prolonged sitting increases the risk of many diseases and leads to muscle numbness and atrophy.

Mark Hamilton Physiologist, professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana. Sitting is the new smoking, it's just as tricky!

Perhaps Hamilton is exaggerating. However, it is terrifying that many people allow their legs, and then the whole body, to turn into porridge.

What happens to the legs during activity

With the help of electromyography (EMG), it is possible to analyze the work of the legs during a variety of activities: walking, running, jumping, lifting on toes. The electronic activity of skeletal muscles is recorded by the difference in bioelectric potentials and is recorded in the form of a curve, as in the usual electrocardiogram (ECG). If we are talking about the heart, then at the sight of a horizontal line, doctors begin resuscitation. In the case of the legs, this line is observed when you are sitting. But one has only to get up, and the legs again begin to show signs of life.

You may not feel too tired, but when your legs support the weight of your entire body, each muscle contracts isometrically. A couple of hours standing on your feet is equivalent to a beginner.

How genetics affects leg length and volume

Today it is believed that the legs depend mainly on genetics. In general, women are slightly more leggy than men: the length of the legs of the average woman aged 18–45 is about 45% of the height, while for men the same indicator is 44%.

Another thing is the volume of the leg muscles. How slim your legs will be depends not only on genetics, but also on how you use them every day. About exercise, lifestyle, we'll talk a little later. To begin with, a little excursion into the anatomy of the legs.

Among the muscles of the legs, we distinguish four main ones:

• the quadriceps muscle - participates in the extension of the lower leg and flexion of the hip;
• popliteal muscle - provides flexion and rotation of the lower leg;
• anterior and posterior tibial muscles - responsible for the movement of the foot;
• calf muscles - gastrocnemius and soleus, which are responsible for flexion of the foot and stabilization of the body during movement.

But the size and composition of the muscles in humans varies.

To a greater extent, the human body is "sharpened" for work that requires high endurance, rather than speed. The reason for this, according to evolutionary biology professor Daniel Lieberman, is because most of us have slow twitch fibers in our feet. Even the fastest humans are not the best sprinters in the animal kingdom. The speed of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is 2.5 times slower than the speed of a cheetah.

At the same time, the percentage of fast twitch fibers in the quadriceps muscle can vary from 10 to 90%.

Vonda Wright Fitness and Orthopedic Surgery Specialist Many women are so afraid of leg enlargement that they avoid strength training altogether. But bulky hips are primarily the result of excess fat, not muscle. Plus, excess fat makes your legs weaker and store more fat. It's like a snowball.

Problems of female feet

the body tends to store fat in the area from the waist to the knees. For this, nature has its own reasons: to provide the body with a reserve in case of a possible pregnancy. Even if your body type is not a pear.

In addition to excess fat on the thighs, many women are familiar with another problem. When disorders occur in the subcutaneous fat layer, the legs become like an orange peel. And although there is still no consensus in the medical community about the causes of cellulite development, it is an indisputable fact that leg exercises help to improve metabolic processes in tissues, reduce fat and reduce the appearance of legs in general.

Effects of strength training on leg appearance

Melissa Roth, the author of the original article, decided to experiment. Despite the fear of pumping up legs like Schwarzenegger's, she included dozens of squats and lunges, as well as stair climbs and bicycle aerobics (spinning) in her training program. Subsequently, a study of the legs showed that the amount of fat in 4 weeks decreased by 10 percent. After 8 weeks of training and diet (1,500 kcal per day), the volume of the thighs decreased by about size.

The main thing that research has shown is that the combination of diet and exercise did not decrease the amount of muscle tissue, as it would if diet alone were a means of losing weight.

Squats, lunges, stair climbs and bicycle aerobics not only do not lead to an increase in the volume of the legs, but also improve their composition - the proportion of fat decreases, and the muscles increase.

Another myth among women is that lower leg workouts will make your ankles less graceful.

In fact, the area between the ankles and calves is not a muscle, but the Achilles that connects the two. In some women, the transition in this area is more pronounced, in others, the gastrocnemius muscle does not go so abruptly into the ankle. But the tendon does not grow as a result of exercise. Its shape and volume depend only on genetics. In general, the thickness of this area is a rather subjective thing. Look for models with stick-like legs without a pronounced transition from shin to ankle.

If you want to have graceful legs, including ankles, your choice is a combination of diet, strength and cardio training.

Strong and resilient legs are the path to overall leanness: they facilitate all types of physical activity during the day. You become more active and burn more calories. Research shows that there is a link between maintaining lost weight after dieting and having strong legs. And statistics confirm that the volume of the hips of women decreases if they lead an active lifestyle.

Some ideas for slim legs

• 100 squats for beautiful legs and a toned butt.
• Killing leg workout.
• Exercises for legs from Men’s Health.
• Beach workout for legs and abs.
• Exercises with a massage roller for the legs.