I Don't Want To Get Too Big

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Another stellar article worth reading from A Workout Routine.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/i-dont-want-to-get-too-big/

juliemouse83

Thanks, Vegas...Bumping to finish after work. So far is a great read!

blably

bump for later

skeo

I was about to come in here and face palm myself again because of this "too big" non-sense I've been reading all day, but this is good..bump!

DrMAvDPhD

But Isn’t There A Small Chance I Might STILL End Up Getting Too Big?

As long as you’re not a dumbass… then no.

Hah. Love it.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Every article Jay writes is pure gold.....love him!

spookyjo

Tagging thanks

kathrinnbauer

Hey,
I actually was about to ask a question that is related to that. Maybe you can help me as you seem experienced.
I tend to build up muscle really fast and I love it. I am not a very feminine person so I don't want to look my body as if.
But there are at least two muscles that I just don't want to get bigger: the abdominalis obliquus and the deltoideus. I already have broad shoulders (a broad bones in that area) and I want some waist line.
So did I get that right that the only way to not get bigger there is to avoid exercising those muscles a lot? I feel that I need to train my shoulders because they hurt in other exercises (like push-ups). Please don't tell me that women don't get bulky when they lift, because I do.
I know similar questions have been asked but most of the replies were that women don't get bulky that easily, but I do tend to get bulky quite easily.

DavPul

Hey,
I actually was about to ask a question that is related to that. Maybe you can help me as you seem experienced.
I tend to build up muscle really fast and I love it. I am not a very feminine person so I don't want to look my body as if.
But there are at least two muscles that I just don't want to get bigger: the abdominalis obliquus and the deltoideus. I already have broad shoulders (a broad bones in that area) and I want some waist line.
So did I get that right that the only way to not get bigger there is to avoid exercising those muscles a lot? I feel that I need to train my shoulders because they hurt in other exercises (like push-ups). Please don't tell me that women don't get bulky when they lift, because I do.
I know similar questions have been asked but most of the replies were that women don't get bulky that easily, but I do tend to get bulky quite easily.

soooo..... how does this easy bulking thing manifest itself? do you measure your delts and midsection and the tape measure shows an increase? or does the scale go up along with having the same or lower amount of BF? do your abdominalis obliquus and deltoideus just "look bigger"? and, most importantly, do these increases happen while you are otherwise losing weight? you still have 25-ish pounds to lose to get to your goal and you're worried that you'll put on muscle while losing? because that pretty much doesn't happen. like ever.

shrewd1983

The easiest way to drop muscle is to do more cardio, look at physique of a long distance runner. No fat, little muscle as this is the best type of build for marathon type races. Focus more on cardio then weights if you feel like you build muscle to fast or if you are not happy with physique.

MapleFlavouredMaiden

There's really no need to work your obliques at all. If you are doing lifts like deads, squats, pull ups etc heavy enough then your core is being worked naturally and much more efficiently then if you were to do side crunches or something similar.

Also, if you feel that you "bulk" too quickly or too much, then you probably are eating too much. Women have to work really hard to bulk. If you feel like you are bulky than it's probably just that you've built muscle underneath fat. If you don't want to be bulky, then lose the fat and keep lifting.

cafeaulait7

Hey,
I actually was about to ask a question that is related to that. Maybe you can help me as you seem experienced.
I tend to build up muscle really fast and I love it. I am not a very feminine person so I don't want to look my body as if.
But there are at least two muscles that I just don't want to get bigger: the abdominalis obliquus and the deltoideus. I already have broad shoulders (a broad bones in that area) and I want some waist line.
So did I get that right that the only way to not get bigger there is to avoid exercising those muscles a lot? I feel that I need to train my shoulders because they hurt in other exercises (like push-ups). Please don't tell me that women don't get bulky when they lift, because I do.
I know similar questions have been asked but most of the replies were that women don't get bulky that easily, but I do tend to get bulky quite easily.

I agree to not worry about working the obliques separately, so that covers that. For the delts, there are rep/weight ranges that promote strength that are different than the ranges for hypertrophy, so do those.

I have really broad shoulders (bones), but my delts are silly small on such a wide set of bones I'm trying my hardest to get them bigger (without an actual bulk; that would come later). So far, the gains can still be measured in ounces there at most! After really trying, darnit.

I do have many muscles that get 'big' fast, but they aren't new gains. Big difference there, imho.

kathrinnbauer

It first shows on my balance. But I know that those balances that measure body fat and muscle mass percentages are not that accurate. Still mine shows a muscle percentage of 43%. As the body fat seems to be within a range that seems plausible I don't think that the muscle mass percentage is totally of the charts. According to my balance I also gained 8 lbs of muscle since I started the diet and I restarted the doing sports.
I also shows because guys laugh because the muscle in my calves are bigger than theirs (and in some cases even the biceps and the quadriceps and as I don't have much fat in my lower body it really is my quadriceps and not just fat). And that was before I started exercising again. I don't have more strength than them but my muscles seem bigger.
And the trainer in my gym (years ago) told my that I would be rather successful if I started Olympic weightlifting because in his opinion I could easily gain the strength that is necessary for it.
I know those aren't hard facts, but still I do believe that I tend to gain muscle rather easily. There are men that gain harder than others why shouldn't there be women that gain easier?
Right now my muscle looks bigger, but I guess after changing the routine that is quite normal.
I don't say that this is a problem for most women. I actually got my androgen levels testes several times. They were normal, but obviously something seemed weird. My fat distribution is not not very typical for women and I don't question that what is said in this forum is not true for most women. But maybe I am part of the 5 or 10% of the others?
Oh and I measure my midsection and it does not decrease despite the weight going down. But I figure that I just lost the fat in other areas of my body (like the lower part of my stomach).

kathrinnbauer

Thanks to all of you
I do like having muscle but not in that areas. So maybe I just don't train them but then there will be dysbalances right?
I already do cardio but I don't want to do only cardio.
Maybe compound exercises instead of abs is a good idea
And yeah, maybe I just have muscle and it doesn't grow that much. They always looked bigger. But maybe it's just water and it goes away after some weeks of training. Muscles can be swollen, right?

cafeaulait7

Thanks to all of you
I do like having muscle but not in that areas. So maybe I just don't train them but then there will be dysbalances right?
I already do cardio but I don't want to do only cardio.
Maybe compound exercises instead of abs is a good idea
And yeah, maybe I just have muscle and it doesn't grow that much. They always looked bigger. But maybe it's just water and it goes away after some weeks of training...

Mine has gone away like crazy (5 months in or something). I must store a buttload of water at first and it seems like I 'gain' muscle at the drop of a hat. I wish Nope, just the same old muscles at different -- temporary -- sizes. I do like them tight instead of kind of floppy, so weight lifting is a no-brainer for me.

I've been doing strength reps/weight instead of hypertrophy for my quads, and that seems to work really well. I need them particularly strong. Do that for your delts, imho. Good luck!

kathrinnbauer

What excactly does strength reps/weight mean?

Thanks to all of you
I do like having muscle but not in that areas. So maybe I just don't train them but then there will be dysbalances right?
I already do cardio but I don't want to do only cardio.
Maybe compound exercises instead of abs is a good idea
And yeah, maybe I just have muscle and it doesn't grow that much. They always looked bigger. But maybe it's just water and it goes away after some weeks of training...

Mine has gone away like crazy (5 months in or something). I must store a buttload of water at first and it seems like I 'gain' muscle at the drop of a hat. I wish Nope, just the same old muscles at different -- temporary -- sizes. I do like them tight instead of kind of floppy, so weight lifting is a no-brainer for me.

I've been doing strength reps/weight instead of hypertrophy for my quads, and that seems to work really well. I need them particularly strong. Do that for your delts, imho. Good luck!

Pollart77

Cant wait to read!

cafeaulait7

What excactly does strength reps/weight mean?

Thanks to all of you
I do like having muscle but not in that areas. So maybe I just don't train them but then there will be dysbalances right?
I already do cardio but I don't want to do only cardio.
Maybe compound exercises instead of abs is a good idea
And yeah, maybe I just have muscle and it doesn't grow that much. They always looked bigger. But maybe it's just water and it goes away after some weeks of training...

Mine has gone away like crazy (5 months in or something). I must store a buttload of water at first and it seems like I 'gain' muscle at the drop of a hat. I wish Nope, just the same old muscles at different -- temporary -- sizes. I do like them tight instead of kind of floppy, so weight lifting is a no-brainer for me.

I've been doing strength reps/weight instead of hypertrophy for my quads, and that seems to work really well. I need them particularly strong. Do that for your delts, imho. Good luck!

Heavy enough that you can do very few reps. That's where you see the 5x5 on here, I believe. I do 6 and I've made real progress with the move I'm trying to get down.

Other folks here can tell you about that much more than I can, though. I just know that my quad strength has gotten much better compared to the old higher-reps (so lighter weights) that I used to do with them.

flannery2012

Read later

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

To be honest, you really needn't worry about specific muscles getting "bigger".

Honest.

You are not a special snowflake and what is in that article that I linked is applicable to everyone, all the time. The end.

For you to be gaining muscle and getting "bulky" you have to be eating a whole damn lot and doing a solid weight training plan consistently and even at that it STILL wouldn't happen that easily. Especially as a woman.

Your ticker says that you still have 25lbs to lose which means you should be eating at a deficit and that makes it pretty much impossible to gain muscle. Start a solid strength training routine (honestly at this point a strength or hypertrophy routine will not make a difference), just find one that you enjoy. Do some cardio if you like and eat at a deficit.

I promise that at the end this will get you the results you want. Honest.

kathrinnbauer

Ok, thanks. So basically high weight, low number of reps in each set? I was planning on doing that for the next couple of weeks and months

What excactly does strength reps/weight mean?

Thanks to all of you
I do like having muscle but not in that areas. So maybe I just don't train them but then there will be dysbalances right?
I already do cardio but I don't want to do only cardio.
Maybe compound exercises instead of abs is a good idea
And yeah, maybe I just have muscle and it doesn't grow that much. They always looked bigger. But maybe it's just water and it goes away after some weeks of training...

Mine has gone away like crazy (5 months in or something). I must store a buttload of water at first and it seems like I 'gain' muscle at the drop of a hat. I wish Nope, just the same old muscles at different -- temporary -- sizes. I do like them tight instead of kind of floppy, so weight lifting is a no-brainer for me.

I've been doing strength reps/weight instead of hypertrophy for my quads, and that seems to work really well. I need them particularly strong. Do that for your delts, imho. Good luck!

Heavy enough that you can do very few reps. That's where you see the 5x5 on here, I believe. I do 6 and I've made real progress with the move I'm trying to get down.

Other folks here can tell you about that much more than I can, though. I just know that my quad strength has gotten much better compared to the old higher-reps (so lighter weights) that I used to do with them.