fact or fiction?

i have heard that certain types of excersize (like sprinting) can actually bulk up leg muscles, where as others (long distance running) can make them more lean and toned...

i'm more interested in acheiving the second option... I love going out walking/running but am worried about making my legs bigger, but at the same time know that i can't just not excersize because then i will lose muscle tone..

could someone please specify which leg/cardio/etc. excersize is the best to tone and lengthen legs without adding bulk?

and best excersizes to improve overall resting metabolic rate... because i have heard too that cardio barely has effect on metabolism, then heard that it does help your metabolism, and i am very confused now

thanks in advance

 Over the short term, there's nothing much that has an effect on your resting metabolic rate - though you can get a transient spike in RMR from cayenne pepper, green tea, and assorted others. Over the long term, excessive cardio can destroy your muscle fibre and depress your CNS leading to a loss of neurogenic tone, but that's mostly a concern for marathon runners, century bikers, triathletes and that sort of person, for the average exerciser it isn't really a significant influence. You have to expend more than 4000-6500calories worth of intense cardio a week before it becomes a significant risk, or more than 12-15 hours of intense effort.

 Well, at least if you read the Harvard Alumni study - death risk dropped sharply up until some threshold in that range was crossed, and then increased again for the highest brackets of exercise. Looks like the golden mean rule holds true there as well - too much and too little cardio is equally bad for you.

 Uhn, but I digress.

 Only exercise form that permanently elevates RMR is strength training, though cardio can provide much larger transient spikes in metabolism than strength training can, and combining the two works better than either one alone.

 Calves are mostly genetic - the training regime you have to undertake to build significant calf muscle is pretty nasty. Though they do respond to high volume/high intensity, calves are mostly connective tissue and hard-to-train Type I slow-twitch fibre so unless you already have very large calves that grow as soon as you walk upstairs, there's probably very little to worry about.

 And in general, you should Step Away From the Treadmill, so your outdoors running habit is good for you ;)

 (Best way to not bulk up? Don't be a man, and don't do steroids, and you should be fine :-P)

Original Post by carmenxox:

could someone please specify which leg/cardio/etc. excersize is the best to tone and lengthen legs without adding bulk?

The only way to lengthen your legs (assuming your at your adult height) is surgery, or some sort of medeval tourture device.

Adding bulk is REALLY HARD TO DO, unless your eating everything in sight, lifting a ton, taking bunch of 'supplements' and are genetically gifted you don't need to worry about it.  I'd bet 90% of the men at your gym are there trying to add bulk, and most aren't getting anywhere.  What makes you think that you'll add bulk 'accidentally' while everyone else who's trying to do it can't?

 

i don't mean 'lengthen' like actually elongate my legs, i mean more in the sense of how things like yoga or pilates makes you look longer/leaner.

a few days ago i had read a post on here about how someone's legs were getting thicker due to some type of cardio that they were doing... then responders would say things like 'running makes MY legs skinnier' or 'sprinters have more musclular legs, but long distance runners have thinner legs'

i'm sure it has a lot to do with genetics, but certain excersizes help, right? i just would like to know what would be best 

no cardio is going to bulk you up.

sprinters that HAVE bulky legs, are bulky because they do weight training to add muscle not all sprinters have bulky legs either.  Look at American Olympic 200m sprinter Alyson Felix.  She's extremely lean, and easily outran the other girls at the trials ( I watched, it was impressive)

now if you have like no muscle tone at all, yah youll see some gain in mass, but you won't be bulky, you'll just have muscles to support you.  you'll look healthy, it will help you avoid the unhealthy concaved appearance I see in so many young girls.

I have no problem with thin people, I have always been thin, but I've always been active, so it's been a toned thin.  muscle is sexy!

Original Post by carmenxox:

i don't mean 'lengthen' like actually elongate my legs, i mean more in the sense of how things like yoga or pilates makes you look longer/leaner.  So you want your legs to look longer, but be actually grow? Trick photography and photoshop can do that. Clothes that fit a certain way can do that to an extent.  Yoga and Pilates cannot make your legs look longer than they are, reguardless of what the people trying to sell you yoga and pilates classes/DVDs tell you.

a few days ago i had read a post on here about how someone's legs were getting thicker due to some type of cardio that they were doing... then responders would say things like 'running makes MY legs skinnier' or 'sprinters have more musclular legs, but long distance runners have thinner legs' Long distance runners have 'thinner legs' because they have less muscle mass in their legs.  If you want to lose muscle mass in your legs you can try long distance running, but just sitting on the couch all day would shrink your legs even faster.

i'm sure it has a lot to do with genetics, but certain excersizes help, right? i just would like to know what would be best