Does Walking Make Your Thighs Bigger?

Walking is a low-impact form of weight-bearing exercise that causes gravity to push down on your body while you are on your feet. This in turn strengthens the bones. Aside from this benefit, walking also improves your cardiovascular health. If you want to start a walking program, but fear you might get bigger thighs, don't worry. Although it does involve the muscles in the thighs, walking will not make them bigger.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is the type you see people do for an extended period in a repetitive motion with the limbs. Walking is a prime example of aerobic exercise. During a workout, your heart rate rises, you break a sweat and your body burns stored fat for energy. Because walking burns fat, it does not make your thighs bigger. In fact, a regular walking program will make your thighs slimmer.

Muscular Endurance

During a walking workout, you likely won't face heavy resistance, but you are doing multiple muscle contractions for an extended period. This causes you to build muscular endurance. Building muscular endurance will not make your thighs big and bulky, but it will give your muscles a lean, defined look.

Gain of Lean Muscle Mass

Multiple joint actions take place when you walk, such as hip flexion and extension, knee flexion and extension, plantar flexion and dorsiflexion. Hip flexion takes place when you move your thigh forward and hip extension takes place when you move your thigh backward. Knee flexion takes place when you bend your knee to move your heel backward and knee extension takes place when you straighten your lower leg. Plantar flexion takes place when you point your foot down and dorsiflexion takes place when you move your foot backward. These motions cause you to work your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and anterior tibialis muscles, which run down your shins. Even a slight gain in muscle will boost your resting metabolic rate and further prevent you from getting big thighs. If you gained even 1 lb. of muscle from walking, you will burn an additional 30 to 50 calories a day, according to the University of Michigan Health System.

Intensity of Walking

The pace that you keep while walking will have an effect on your caloric expenditure. Interval training, for example, burns more calories than steady-paced training, and it can further keep your thigh size down. Perform interval training by alternating back and forth from a fast walking pace to a slower pace. Another way to boost your caloric output is by walking up hills. This will also work your leg muscles with more emphasis.

The Real Way to Build the Thighs

If building bigger thighs is your objective, spend time doing weight-training exercises that involve the quadriceps and hamstrings. Compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts and lunges work both the quads and hamstrings at the same time.