Help? Crazy muscle soreness

So I'm in college right now and I'm trying to lose weight to look good for my boyfriend's junior prom in early April (I'm hoping 20 lbs or so) and one of my good friends on campus is very into physical fitness and bodybuilding. When I told him what my plan was he asked if he could design for me, a workout.

Yesterday I went to the gym with him and he basically took me through my Monday Friday arms and my daily cardio, and my Tuesday Thursday legs. I have some pretty strong legs and he has me doing 240lbs, 35 reps on the leg press. 

Basically I'm pretty worried that I'm going to bulk up which is NOT what I want. I want to tone my body without looking all steroid-esqe.

Will I have bulging leg muscles from this?

Original Post by xxbonitaxlatinax:

Basically I'm pretty worried that I'm going to bulk up which is NOT what I want. I want to tone my body without looking all steroid-esqe.

Avoid the 'roids - that should keep you safe.

at 35 reps your not going to get bulging legs. You should get toned legs =) It takes a ton to get really bulging legs. I mountain bike a ton and do jump training and a leg workout every week and my legs are toned but not bulky.

For muscle soreness, eat some bananas, the potassium helps a lot.

Tons of leg presses won't make your legs big, but it will mess your back up.

And why aren't you doing any chest, back or core exercises? If you're only doing arms, legs and cardio you should find someone who knows what they're doing to make you a routine.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Tons of leg presses won't make your legs big, but it will mess your back up.

And why aren't you doing any chest, back or core exercises? If you're only doing arms, legs and cardio you should find someone who knows what they're doing to make you a routine.

 Couldnt agree more, you should be working on your back before doing heavy leg presses. I threw my back out doing this once before i knew what i was doing...my legs could handle 400 but my back said no way bucko!

oh i am doing chest and back and abs i just got lazy and figured ya'll didn't want a complete list of my workout...my legs are what i'm worried about because i'm a dancer and as is i pretty much have tree trunks... =/

Err, why are you even doing leg presses? They place excessive pressure on your lumbar spine and hips, robs you of the core stability component of squats and are all-round vastly inferior to squats in all the physical parameters that matter.

 I know I'm going to sound like a broken record on this, but seriously - all exercises that attempt to replicate the training effects of squats without actually being squats are inferior to the real deal in every way.

Melkor is right...exercises that target multiple muscle groups throughout the entire body are way better in every way than single targeting. They improve your posture (by strengthening your total core area..abs and back) which will make you look loads thinner without losing weight and rev your metabolism considerably more so you burn fat faster. If you are interested in some other exercises besides the squat, I'm sure the exercise section of the site has plenty of suggestions. T-nation might also help.

Without the appropriate diet, extreme strength training routines, and probably "assistance" women will not bulk up like men...especially if you are doing any kind of cardio training several days a week for more than 20-30 minutes.

On days you do strength training and cardio both, do your weights first so you don't fatigue your muscles and lose some of that 'oomph'. Talk to your friend and see if he can incorporate some of these things into your routine, and if he can't teach you proper form or close to it find someone who can. Incorrectly doing some of these lifts can cause you to really hurt something.

Make sure you're getting enough liquids, electrolytes, and potassium to prevent cramping and soreness. Try to eat a little something before and after you work out too. Protein afterwards will help your muscles out.

Good luck.

(edit: No pro here, just speaking from experience.  If I've said anything outrageously stupid feel free to correct it, I won't be offended :))

depends on the leg press machine...but he's right...squatsare the 11th Wonder of the world.

chamomile tea should help with the muscle soreness...I drink one cup everyday...sometimes 3...helps a lot... 

other than that keep on working through soreness as long as it's not a pulled muscle or anything close to one.

Listen to Eddie here, he knows of what he speaks :) 

- even if he does these crazy endurance workouts because he's a competitive martial artist and needs the strength endurance to be able to keep on kickin' for 12 rounds ;)

 (Btw - long time, no see - as I recall you were prepping for a tournament last we spoke, how'd that go?)

women will not bulk up like men. period. the only way for that to happen is some seriously aggresive lifting- i mean so heavy your at about 3 reps, and you would have to work out ALL the time, eat alot of food, and probably still not look bulky. we just dont have it in us naturally. dont worry about that. i lift alot, and i mean ALOT and i have shapely definition and some great cuttage if i try to show off but i'm not bulky.

as for the soreness- i have the same problem, sometimes after a good leg workout, i will stay sore for three or four days- like cant-sit-on-the-toliet-sore. i found that taking creatine- half a tsp before and half a tsp after helps a bit. also it helps me pump out reps when it gets hard.

keep up the cardio and eat right and you'll slim down just fine.