Avoiding Estrogen Dominance

Q: I'm a 23 year old male. My problem is that I have really fat thighs and calves. It actually runs in the family. I tried all sorts of leg exercises, but they end up looking more thick. If I do too much cardio I end up losing weight from my upper body. Any help or advice will be appreciated. 

Thanks, 
Jivesh


My Answer: Tough to say what your issue is, because I don't know if you're fat overall or just fat in the legs. But let's just assume you're fat in the legs and not the upper body. If this is the case, then you have a major problem. You as a young male should not be having a pear shaped body like a woman. If you're fat in the hips and thighs, then you've got too much estrogen circulating in your body. Again I don't know what exactly your issue is, because I don't know if you're fat overall or just fat in the thighs.  Drinking a lot of alcohol screws up your androgen levels, so avoid alcohol.

With that said, you should avoid squats, lunges and leg presses as these will build your thighs. Obviously don't do any calf work, since your calves are naturally big. Exercises to tone the thighs instead of building them up would be deadlifts, step-ups and bicycling. This is how I normally train women with pear shaped bodies and estrogen dominance.

To avoid muscle loss in the upper body, you should train the upper body with multiple sets of heavy weight. In other words, 8-12 sets of 3-8 reps per upper body muscle.