How to get skinny legs wasn’t really my concern since I had man boobs, not fat legs. I typed in the trusty search bar, how to skinny legs anyway, just to see what came back. There were almost a million returns. No doubt I would have to sift through the bad information to get just a few gold nuggets I could use. Why was I looking for this if I didn’t need it?

I had read somewhere in my search of how to get rid of man boobs, that with weight loss, we can’t just target a specific place. You lose weight evenly over the whole body. So, that gave me another bright idea. I had already put myself through a weight lifting workout that had caused partial paralysis for a week due to soreness and over doing it, so I wasn’t going to do that again. No, I had come up with a new way to bring pain back into my life.

You see, when I had pulled out the weight bench and started dusting it off, I had been eying my dusty mountain bike too. I didn’t do much weight lifting when I was young, but I did ride my bike all the time. Now, that was something that would work for me. You never forget how to ride a bike, right?

Looking back now, I sure wish I had. We have 28 miles of rugged, dirt trails close to our house.

My Big Ride

I got up early in the morning, had my coffee, put on some shorts and headed out. I stopped to air up the tires because they were flat from not being used for so long. I made it to the trails, and it was a beautiful morning. The birds were singing, squirrels were everywhere, and the coolness of the morning made everything seem perfect. I was ready, again.

I started down the trail and felt the muscles in my legs start to stretch. Oh, no! I forgot to warm-up. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. So, I stopped and did some warm-up stretches, and I headed down the trail once again. I got my legs pumping, my heart beat up, and started breathing heavy. I wish being fat and having poor exercise and eating habits were my only vices, but their not. I smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. I know I need to quit and have been telling myself I would since my seventeen year old son was born. Not far into my ride, I started wishing I had.

It took about ten minutes until I had to start pushing myself mentally to keep going and not to stop and rest. That was something I had hoped would not have to be tapped into until much later in the ride. This is pathetic, I thought. What’s even more pathetic is that my cigarettes were in my back pocket. Had I really thought I would take a cigarette break during my ride? I sure did! I even thought about smoking one when I stopped to take a breather. Man, I was in worse shape than I thought.

I didn’t smoke during my ride, mainly because I thought I would have a heart attack,  and I slowed the pace down so I would last a while. I was focused and riding at a comfortable rate and wasn’t paying attention to how far I had gone. When I realized where I was, I had gone about 10 miles. This was fantastic. I had pushed myself down that path with determination. Now I had a new problem, I was 10 miles away from my truck. I had to ride all the way back now. During the seemingly never ending journey back, I found myself being re-acquainted with will power and self-motivation I hadn’t had to use since the 20 mile road march during basic training in the Army.

How To Get Skinny Legs, That Shake and Wobble

When I finally had my truck in sight, my legs were on fire and I could hardy breathe. As I got off my bike, my legs wobbled and nearly gave out. My mind was filled with the horrible and painful memories of how I felt after my weight lifting experience. Man, I had done it again. I was going to have another adventure in pain. So, that night I took extra ibuprofen in hopes that it would ease what I was going to experience in the morning. I don’t know if they worked at all. I woke up the next day stiff and in agony once again. My legs were still shaking when I stood on them. Actually, day 2 was worse. I didn’t think they could hurt any worse but they did.

Obviously, I am a slow learner. Again, I had failed to make a plan and I was paying for it. I look back and it’s all pretty funny now, now that my legs work again without pain. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes. If you are out of shape and it’s been a while since you’ve done any physical exercise, then start easy. When you decide on your plan of how to get skinny legs, don’t get carried away. It’s not good to rush into it and hurt yourself. This is especially important  for the people that searched for, how to skinny legs. You are in a hurry to see results and I understand, I was too. But, take your time and don’t hurt yourself like I did.