Swimming might help you lean them out. Squats will help you build complementary muscle (hamstrings to balance your quads/make the calves look more proportional).

Well this is all good news. How long did it take you to see significant improvement in time and shape?

I have big legs but now have great legs from Crossfit. I even have a thigh gap which wasn’t something I aimed for. I am also relatively lean so I am sure that helps too.

Yes, right before I got married I went from 128 pounds to 118 pounds. I'm 5'7". I did rope jumping every day (1000 jumps), swimming a mile, bikie 10 miles. My legs looked awesome after that

Pilates, barre or yoga for longer, leaner muscles.

I have athletic legs, too, and the first place I gain weight is my thighs/hips. I'm a long-time runner and while running helps keep my overall body fat down, the shape of my legs has never changed all that much with running. The best way I've found to slim my legs is pilates and barre (along with regular cardio).

I changed mine by using a exercise bike on an interval setting. They got super lean and muscular.

I do calf raises in the shower (ledge to the walk in) every day, and it helped tone my lower legs.

Running. They’re lean and mean and at 38 mostly cellulite free. I do run a lot of hills though—that’s kind of my strength work.

Yes. I gained a lot of weight in my upper thighs when I was pregnant. With doing lots of squat and lunge exercises and running 4-5x per week my thighs have slimmed down dramatically.

Yes - barre! Barre totally changed my bulky thighs

Yes. With lots of running. Now I have two under two and no time and I'm skinny-fat

Yes, actually. Fairly intensive trail running (with lots of hills), 4 - 5 times a week, 4 miles each time, for about 6 months. Muscle definition in my case reshaped what in my opinion were chunky-ish legs.

Changed the shape, no, but made them their leanest, sure. For me, that's lots of running and yoga twice/week for strength. My legs aren't short, but they're muscular, and I carry my weight there. I also build muscle very easily, so I build up my shoulders and arms to balance out my legs, and overall look great.

I've been doing solidcore for about 16 months, and that's made them look good, too, but running is way cheaper.

Former college soccer player without any of her former muscles here. My legs are short and heavy by nature. I've always hated them, even when I was in great shape. Thick ankles and calves, fat deposits around the knees, big quads and thighs. I'm at the low end of my weight range and yet carry most of my fat in my legs. Ugh.

I know it's pretty hard to exercise away genetics and my legs are never going to be long and skinny, but I have hope there is something out there that I can focus on to improve. Have you found any exercise that changed the shape of your legs? How long of consistent workouts did it take to notice a difference?