Expert: Ken Alan - 6/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am 18 year old and 157 cm. I weigh 112.4 pounds. I have
enormously heavy thighs and buttocks. Whenever I start
vigorous exercise regime to shed some weight from my thighs,
my shanks start paining. How can I reduce the flab in this
area without paining other parts of my body.

ANSWER: Need to know a lot more information.  What exactly hurts?  What type of exercise are you doing?  When does it hurt?  What type of physical activity do you do regularly?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I haven't joined a gymnasium for practicing aerobics, I follow a personal
routine. Therefore my exercise schedule is not well planned and regular.
But whenever I do start working out I jog for about 1/2 hour, do squats
with chair and basic jump rope for a total of about 1 hour. At times I
would just dance around in a way that my legs are used a lot. I don't do
pilates. After two or three hours of completing my work-out my calves and
the area around my ankle starts paining. There's also a slight pain at the
lower part of my thighs. It continues for two-three days after I stop
exercising at all. I don't have access to a good gym in the area I live.
Once I went to this average gym and I couldn't get out of the bed for 1
whole day, due to pain. So I can not go for that again. I haven't lived a
very active life and haven't participated in sports ever (at least not
regularly).

Answer
Glad you're motivated to exercise.  Based upon the information you provided, it appears you are simply doing too much too fast.  You need to give your muscles a chance to get used to working out.  You get so sore because you're doing so much initially.  Start with 10 minutes of jogging.  Add 1 minute each time you jog, so you take 20 workouts to work up to 30 minutes.  Do less squats and less jump rope as well.  If you're not sore at all, it means you can do a little more next time.  If you still get sore, cut back even more. You'll eventually be able to do more, without the soreness and pain.  The same thing happened when you went to the gym.  You likely did way too much exercise that one time, and therefore became discouraged thinking that pain will always happen from working out at a gym.  
Even though you may have the ability to do an hour's workout, your muscles and body are telling you otherwise.  Listen to you body.  It takes time for the muscles to adapt to that much activity, and the soreness is letting you know that!  Hope this helps.