DixieDisc

O.K., here's the bad news: In general, genetics has predetermined what type of muscle fibers you have. For instance, I have long, lean, sinewy fibers like my mom (skinny ankles, knees and wrists, as well) but the women on my dad's side of the family have shorter, larger, fibers thus resulting in larger muscles (larger ankles, wrists, and so on) and there's nothing you can do to change how your muscle fibers will respond to the "work" you require of them. No form of cardio will give you different muscle fibers and I learned that for myself. Honestly, I would love to have big, round bulges above my knee and great big calves, but no matter what I do, my legs just get leaner and tighter (I'm not saying there's no fat on them, but the muscle fibers don't expand but so much). Then other women seem to blast past me in pure muscle size just by taking the stairs once a day instead of the elevator! BUT if you're trying to keep "bulk up" to a minimum, I would suggest that whatever you do, do it quicker at the lowest resistance possible so you're asking the least of your muscles, strength-wise, thereby placing emphasis on calorie and fat burning. Personally, when I "elypticize" (a favorite of mine) do intervals of higher and lower resistance, even the highest, to get a god leg workout but that might not be the route for you if you have larger muslce fibers. I hope this helps you understand the bigger picture!