I get bulky from weights...

AnvilHead

i wish I was a woman because I want to get bulky. I keep trying, but I can't make it happen.

I think some of these ladies should collaborate on writing a book detailing their diet and workout programs - it would be an immediate bestseller. A lot of guys who are struggling for every pound of muscle, chowing down and busting their butts throwing heavy iron would LOVE to know how to "accidentally" pack on hyooge slabs of muscle in a few weeks while in a caloric deficit.

RGv2

I would add some yoga or some sort of stretching to your routine. My thighs were getting really bulky so I added some light yoga to my routine and it helped.

How?

Possibly because it lengthens muscles......

(ducks.....)

Can yoga really build muscle?

“People always ask me, ‘Don’t you lift weights?’” says yoga expert Rodney Yee. “I sort of giggle to myself and say, ‘Yes — I lift my own body weight!’”

When you do yoga poses, Yee explains, “You’re putting your body in positions and orientations that you ultimately have to support with your muscles. So you are lifting weights.”


Like many yogis, Yee doesn’t like focusing on how yoga can sculpt your physique. They want students to focus on yoga as a way of thinking, feeling and being, versus getting preoccupied with perfecting their outer appearance.

Still, when you look at Yee’s arms (the photos in this article show him in a few strength-building yoga poses) or those of his wife, Colleen Saidman (pictured above), you can’t help but want some of the yoga poses they’re having for breakfast.

The upshot is that you can increase muscle tone and definition — and even muscle size — with yoga. But because you're limited to “lifting” your own body weight, it may take a lot more skill, time and determination than it would with lifting weights.

“Yoga can be just as effective as weights when it comes to building a stronger, more impressive physique,” says Nicholas DiNubile, M.D. Yet experts agree that whether yoga can be your sole form of strength training depends on your goals.

Weights are best for building bulk

“If all you’re looking to do is build muscle, weight training is the more practical approach,” advises DiNubile. In fact, the American Council on Exercise defines strength training as “exercising with progressively heavier resistance for the purpose of strengthening the muscular skeletal system.”

Yet the key phrase here is progressively heavier resistance. Basically, your muscles and bones must be overloaded to keep developing. With traditional weight training, as your muscles adapt to the resistance and get stronger, that weight is no longer a challenge, and you have to add more weight to achieve the same results.

With weight training, theoretically you can continue to grow the size and strength of your muscles forever — as long as you continue to add weight.



There are several reasons yoga is a more balanced way to do strength training:

A regular yoga practice can reduce your risk of injury and condition your body to perform better at things you have to do every day: walk, sit, twist, bend, lift groceries .... A form of functional fitness, yoga moves your body in the ways it was designed to move to help ensure that it keeps functioning properly. For example, in yoga you use both large and small muscles and move in many directions (twisting, arcing, etc.), not just back and forth on a one-dimensional plane, as in the forward-back motion of a bicep curl.

Yoga tones muscles all over your body, in balance with each other. Weight training exercises typically isolate and flex one muscle or muscle group at a time.


Yoga relies on eccentric contraction, where the muscle stretches as it contracts, giving the muscles that sleek, elongated look while increasing flexibility in the muscles and joints. Weight training relies on the opposite physical principle of concentric muscle contraction, which means the muscle gets smaller as it contracts. Without proper stretching, the muscle fibers heal close together, giving the muscle that compact, bulging look.

Yoga increases muscle endurance because you typically hold any given pose for a period of time and repeat it several times during a yoga workout.

For good general fitness, do some of both.

I advise clients who are just trying to stay fit and healthy (not do body-building) to get a mix of both body-weight exercises and workouts using weights or resistance tools. Many studies have shown that the more variety in your workout routine, the faster you’ll see results.

Note that body-weight exercises also include good-ol’ pushups, squats and other calisthenics — any type of movement that requires you to hold or lift yourself up with your limbs.

While the most important thing is to find a form of exercise you love and can see yourself doing as a lifelong habit, I encourage my clients to continally try new and different forms of exercise. If you include many types of workout techniques, you’ll continue to test and push your body in different ways, and you'll keep growing as a fitness enthusiast and as an individual.



Which yoga poses are best for developing strength?


Yee explains that certain types of yoga poses build muscle tone in different ways.

“Challenging arm balances and inversion poses are very effective for building muscle strength,” he says, “because they flex groups of smaller muscles — not just the major muscles you work with a weight machine — to support the body’s weight during the pose.”

“Holding standing poses such as the Warrior Poses and Triangle Pose is great for strengthening the leg muscles.” he adds. “And in balance poses such as Tree Pose, one leg has to hold up your entire body. So you’re increasing your strength just by putting your weight on that leg.”

By holding the positions longer, doing more repetitions, and learning new yoga poses, you can make your yoga practice more or less challenging, just as you can with traditional body weight exercises like squats and lunges. Just don’t try to go straight to the advanced yoga videos and poses like arm balances to get on a fast-track to “cut” arms.

I can add a few articles from bb.com if you like.

etoiles_argentees

from bb.com -

eight training and cardiovascular activity such as running tightens and shortens the muscles while yoga lengthens and builds functional strength. It teaches you how to use this strength effectively so you develop muscles that not only look good in the gym but are also useable in the real world.

Take a simple yoga class for example, here you will find tiny ladies balance up in full handstands while standing beside in frustration are big muscular guys who can't even hold themselves and inch off the floor.

The majority of bodybuilders in my yoga classes could not even hold tree pose.

You practice yoga already, you might want to do a couple of days working on the compounds to achieve your goals.

allisonrinkel

Yeah, you look soooo bulky.

I know, she looks pretty small to me!! I'd love to have more muscle bulk! I have a hard time thinking you can get really bulky as a woman who is not on steroids anyhow, but to each their own!

AnvilHead

Don't bother. I immediately discount anything which mentions "toning". There's no such thing as "toning" a muscle. You can make it bigger, make it smaller, reveal it by losing the fat covering it, or cover it up by gaining more fat - but you can't "tone" it.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

jimmmer

from bb.com -

eight training and cardiovascular activity such as running tightens and shortens the muscles while yoga lengthens and builds functional strength. It teaches you how to use this strength effectively so you develop muscles that not only look good in the gym but are also useable in the real world.

Take a simple yoga class for example, here you will find tiny ladies balance up in full handstands while standing beside in frustration are big muscular guys who can't even hold themselves and inch off the floor.

The majority of bodybuilders in my yoga classes could not even hold tree pose.

You practice yoga already, you might want to do a couple of days working on the compounds to achieve your goals.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

etoiles_argentees

Wow, that's quite some wall of text.

You can progressively overload bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, sandbag, strongman, etc exercises and get stronger muscles. What of it? Yoga incorporates some pretty advanced bodyweight exercises that take people years to master and provide massive scope for progressive overload. What of it?

I'm not sure what the point of your response was here?

That both work depending on your goals.

rml_16

from bb.com -

eight training and cardiovascular activity such as running tightens and shortens the muscles while yoga lengthens and builds functional strength. It teaches you how to use this strength effectively so you develop muscles that not only look good in the gym but are also useable in the real world.

Take a simple yoga class for example, here you will find tiny ladies balance up in full handstands while standing beside in frustration are big muscular guys who can't even hold themselves and inch off the floor.

The majority of bodybuilders in my yoga classes could not even hold tree pose.

You practice yoga already, you might want to do a couple of days working on the compounds to achieve your goals.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

jimmmer

Wow, that's quite some wall of text.

You can progressively overload bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, sandbag, strongman, etc exercises and get stronger muscles. What of it? Yoga incorporates some pretty advanced bodyweight exercises that take people years to master and provide massive scope for progressive overload. What of it?

I'm not sure what the point of your response was here?

That both work depending on your goals.

Progressive overload is all that is needed to make someone stronger. There are myriad ways to achieve it.

etoiles_argentees

Don't bother. I immediately discount anything which mentions "toning". There's no such thing as "toning" a muscle. You can make it bigger, make it smaller, reveal it by losing the fat covering it, or cover it up by gaining more fat - but you can't "tone" it.

Ohhh... Come on Anvil, I've taken enough exercise science classes to know what "tone" is. This IS MFP.

holothuroidea

I guess this depends on what you mean by "bulky." If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look "bulkier."

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

jimmmer

If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look bulkier. If anything they look thinner.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

You are agreeing with what I wrote, but you are disagreeing with me?

I don't get it.....

etoiles_argentees

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

holothuroidea

If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look bulkier. If anything they look thinner.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

You are agreeing with what I wrote, but you are disagreeing with me?

I don't get it.....

You didn't say what you meant, then.

If you say two things are mutually exclusive, it means they can't exist at the same time. You said it's not possible to be inflexible and muscular at the same time. That doesn't make any sense, so I assumed based on context that you meant you couldn't be flexible and muscular at the same time, which is a popular misconception.

rml_16

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with the discussion in this thread. I haven't seen one person say yoga isn't useful as an exercise.

Get over yourself.

jimmmer

If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look bulkier. If anything they look thinner.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

You are agreeing with what I wrote, but you are disagreeing with me?

I don't get it.....

You didn't say what you meant, then.

If you say two things are mutually exclusive, it means they can't exist at the same time. You said it's not possible to be inflexible and muscular at the same time. That doesn't make any sense, so I assumed based on context that you meant you couldn't be flexible and muscular at the same time, which is a popular misconception.

How about:

Being muscular and being flexible aren't mutually exclusive.......

.....I'm sure that makes you happier!

thesupremeforce

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

Being able to do a handstand doesn't automatically equate to being "functionally fit" either. It's absolutely more about balance. Yes, I do yoga, by the way.

etoiles_argentees

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

Being able to do a handstand doesn't automatically equate to being "functionally fit" either. It's absolutely more about balance. Yes, I do yoga, by the way.

Start doing handstand pushups.

etoiles_argentees

If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look bulkier. If anything they look thinner.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

You are agreeing with what I wrote, but you are disagreeing with me?

I don't get it.....

You didn't say what you meant, then.

If you say two things are mutually exclusive, it means they can't exist at the same time. You said it's not possible to be inflexible and muscular at the same time. That doesn't make any sense, so I assumed based on context that you meant you couldn't be flexible and muscular at the same time, which is a popular misconception.

How about:

Being muscular and being flexible aren't mutually exclusive.......

.....I'm sure that makes you happier!

It makes me happy! Thank you.

vjohn04

i wish this thread would just die already.

LorinaLynn

I'm all for functional fitness.

There's been many times in my life I've had to lift and carry a heavy object.

There has never been a time in my life that required me to stand on my head.

rml_16

I'm all for functional fitness.

There's been many times in my life I've had to lift and carry a heavy object.

There has never been a time in my life that required me to stand on my head.

You must get some more excitement in your life! lol

etoiles_argentees

i wish this thread would just die already.

I do too, actually. So does the original poster - "Haha! I appreciate you being positive and supportive. I stopped reading the thread awhile ago. But for the record, I did see the pics of those two girls they posted and no, I do not want to look like that and yes, in my opinion if they had clothes on they'd look bulky. I prefer long and lean. I'm quite aware that I won't get TALLER, but I can look slimmer without as much bulk. Fine, maybe it's not "science" but it's an optical illusion that works for me. HAHA!!! "

PriceK01

I am actually trying to bulk..I must be doing something wrong!

More ice cream!

dbmata

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with the discussion in this thread. I haven't seen one person say yoga isn't useful as an exercise.

Get over yourself.

You're off topic, get over yourself!



This thread has gone on long enough to become a cat thread.

LiftAllThePizzas

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

LiftAllThePizzas

I just hope the OP knows that if something isn't working for her to do what is best for her. Everyone can say that women don't get bulky by lifting I know that not to be the case and from what the OP said so does she. Do what it best for you and forget the ones who think they know how your body works because that is the "norm".

Even if she is actually getting "bulky" it is not "lifting has made me bulky" it is "being a genetic freak has made me bulky."

Trechechus

I looked at a dumbbell once and now I look like Chris Evans.
< --- See!

froggerhkc

Show me a photo of what you think is "bulky"

I love lifting. Heavy and Low reps.
Dropping body fat percentages and pant sizes.

After a good season, my jeans are tight for 2 days. As my muscles repair, and hold water.
This is normal.

It is not mass.

OMG this right here :smooched: