Bulky Female Bodies

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Replies

  • My friend sent me a text the other day that said she didn't want me to get too bulky because then she'd get scared

    That is pretty much the dumbest thing i've ever heard. She'd get scared. Really.

    Tell her to be very afraid.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    Tagging to read later.

    When I told my friend I wanted to do a figure competition later this year, I was told not to get "beastly"
    You better send me lots and lots of progress and practice pictures, so I can let you know if you go too far. I'm selflessly helpful like that.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    The day someone calls me "beastly" is the day I will feel like I've succeeded.

    From the looks of your profile pics, I'd say you're pretty beastly. :smile:
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
    The day someone calls me "beastly" is the day I will feel like I've succeeded.

    I know right?

    I hope I look like a frigging beast for my comp.
    I will be so damn proud of myself.
  • 20Grit
    20Grit Posts: 752 Member
    Beastly women make me bulky.
    edward_scissorhands_yes.gif


    Love it.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    I used to be afraid of lifting because I "didn't want to look bullky." What changed my mind was shifting the focus away from what my body looks like, and instead seting my goals based on what I wanted my body to DO. Initially, I wanted to be able to do just one pull-up. Achieving that goal taught me how empowering strength can be. After three years of powerlifting and half a year of Olympic weightlifting, some people might think I look "bulky"... But I really don't care what they think, because I take a 100+ lb. barbell from the floor and toss it over my head and they can't.

    I think it's a good idea for anyone just getting into fitness to try setting goals this way: what do I want my body to do? It doesn't have to be strength related: your goal could be "running a mile," or something as simple as "walk up a flight of stairs without feeling short of breath." But I've found that the "looking good" part comes very easily if you focus on "what can I do?" rather than "what do I look like?"

    This. All of this.

    Just when I lose my faith in humanity....
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
    Tagging to read later.

    When I told my friend I wanted to do a figure competition later this year, I was told not to get "beastly"
    You better send me lots and lots of progress and practice pictures, so I can let you know if you go too far. I'm selflessly helpful like that.

    Thank you for your help Rally!
    I'm glad I have friends like you who will tell me when I become a man!

    <3:flowerforyou:
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    Any woman who is scared of getting too bulky should Google Anna Meares - an Austrailian track cyclist, and probably one of the strongest women in the world - short of competitive lifters.

    She's only 5'4", weighs less than 150 lbs, and can squat over 320 lbs, single leg press 500 lbs, and deadlift over 200 lbs. Sure, shes short and "chunky", but she's certainly not "bulky" and "manly-looking" in any way.
    meh- female top squat is like 843 lbs... and if you are lifting heavy for more than 6 months as a woman- you should be able to hit over 200 dead lift.

    that's not really that impressive.

    Did I forget to mention that she's not a competitive lifter - that she's a cyclist? No, no I did not.

    The only women who could possibly reach 800 lbs on a squat is one who focuses soley on lifting. A cyclist wouldn't do that. Besides, 320 lbs is more than twice her weight.

    In 2008, 6 years ago (she's stronger now), she posted that she weighed 65 kg and her strength training routine consisted of squatting 140 kg (308 lbs) x 4, single leg press of 225 kg (496 lbs), and deadlift at 100 kg (220 lbs), amoung other arm and ab exercises. She did two gym sessions each week, along with three track sessoins and four road rides.

    I can't see many women who compete in athletics managing to squat that much weight. Yeah, if you go to the gym and lift heavy 5x/week and never touch any cardio equipment, you could do more, but that was besides my point. This girl can sprint a track bike around a track faster than most professional men can. That takes an incredible amount of strength - strength she gets from the gym, and she hasn't "bulked up and beomce beastly, like a man" doing it.
  • RECowgill
    RECowgill Posts: 881 Member
    That woman is not bulky at all, she has an ideal musculature for an adult female. A regular goddess. If guys think that's too big they must have tiny little chicken arms and tiny little egos. I can tell just by looking at her physique that I lift considerably more than she does and I'm not even that big or strong.

    She back squats 310 and can snatch 190.

    You sure you can lift considerably more than her?

    Everything but squats, yes. But I have a slipped disc and shin problems that hold my squats back. But that's why she's a competitive athlete and I'm not. ;)
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    meh- female top squat is like 843 lbs... and if you are lifting heavy for more than 6 months as a woman- you should be able to hit over 200 dead lift.
    Started lifting again one year ago. Didn't go over 200# deadlift until September. :sad: I guess I'll just give up now and go eat a box of girl scout cookies. :frown:
  • MiloBloom83
    MiloBloom83 Posts: 2,724 Member
    My friends list is polluted with bulky women who didn't heed my warnings to only lift 3lb pink weights. They disgust me. I stare at their bulky progress pictures for hours and hours, trying to ignore that tingly feeling of disgust that builds up inside of me.

    That's not disgust tingling, sweetie

    Well, it feels sinful, that's for sure...
  • Joreanasaurous
    Joreanasaurous Posts: 1,384 Member
    And what we're saying is that any aesthetic that requires you to limit yourself as to what you can achieve athletically or performance-wise is broken.

    Yes. I completely agree with this. If I had to choose a fitness pro whose body is close to what I'm trying to achieve, it would be Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. And I've had guys tell me, upon seeing her picture, that her arms are too big. Too big for what? Her arms support the work she does. It's not like she went out and tried to get huge arms. That's just what happens when you do what she does. Is she supposed to not do something she's great at because it might give her arms that some people think are "too big?" That's ridiculous.

    By the way, here is Camille, for those who don't know who I'm talking about:

    574710_3084767159684_1006065122_n-e1362419130468.jpg

    Dear lord that woman is gorgeous. If people consider her manly or too bulky sign me the hell up. I think she and Christmas Abbott are both so beautiful in their strength.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    I detest the implication that musculature and fitness are inherently masculine traits, throughout our society, and that to be feminine immediately implicates you must be slender, light and fragile-looking.

    edit; obviously not my thoughts on the article, but more generally surrounding the issue

    I totally 100% agree with you. 10000%. infinity percent.

    Look at my avatar... she's a woman who lived 50,000 years ago (well, a forensic reconstruction of her). She very likely had to learn to use a spear like the one in the pic, maybe to defend herself and her kids from animals or hostile tribes, she may sometimes have had to go hunting with the men (and neanderthals hunted huge animals like bison, mammoth, woolly rhino and similar with only close range weapons (like the thrusting spear she's holding)). And she most likely had children, i.e. pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, raising kids to be able to survive as adults, all with only middle palaeolithic technology. and they lived in Europe during ice ages.... so she had to be able to withstand the cold with only fire and animal skins for warmth.

    Really...... women are NOT supposed to be fragile or delicate. Strength is a human quality common to both males and females, necessary for survival through most of the ages that humans have lived through.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    I'm just going to say it: aesthetically, I don't find that pleasing. Sure, I'd rather look "muscular"("bulky") than chubby, but I'd rather not look like either of those things.

    I think it's great that these women reach their goals and have these abilities, but from a purely superficial perspective, I personally don't like the way it looks. Which is fine. My body is mine and theirs are theirs. How they look doesn't affect me in the slightest. I just wouldn't want it for myself.

    Granted, I'll never look like this, because I'm lazy and can only commit to a 5K run a few days a week as far as exercise goes, nor would I ever pour my attention into a bulk/cut cycle or watch my macros like very muscular women. It is damn hard to get one's body to look like that.

    Maybe I'm just indoctrinated by the media's output of what women should look like. But nonetheless, I wouldn't ever aim for any of the bodies I've seen here.
  • ZoeLifts
    ZoeLifts Posts: 10,347 Member
    The day someone calls me "beastly" is the day I will feel like I've succeeded.

    I already know you're beastly!! :tongue: :heart:
  • Mother_Superior
    Mother_Superior Posts: 1,624 Member
    Beastly women make me bulky.
    edward_scissorhands_yes.gif


    Love it.

    How_you_doin'.gif
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    Crazy idea: how about we just let people achieve/work towards the body aesthetic that they desire for their own bodies - without imposing our own aesthetic preferences or cultural ideals of gender normativity on other people's bodies.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    The day someone calls me "beastly" is the day I will feel like I've succeeded.

    I got called a "beast" at the gym a couple of weeks ago. I was all like *swoon* :love:
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    The day someone calls me "beastly" is the day I will feel like I've succeeded.

    I already know you're beastly!! :tongue: :heart:

    :heart: :heart:

    It's going to take a bit more work to catch up to you!
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    And what we're saying is that any aesthetic that requires you to limit yourself as to what you can achieve athletically or performance-wise is broken.

    Yes. I completely agree with this. If I had to choose a fitness pro whose body is close to what I'm trying to achieve, it would be Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. And I've had guys tell me, upon seeing her picture, that her arms are too big. Too big for what? Her arms support the work she does. It's not like she went out and tried to get huge arms. That's just what happens when you do what she does. Is she supposed to not do something she's great at because it might give her arms that some people think are "too big?" That's ridiculous.

    By the way, here is Camille, for those who don't know who I'm talking about:

    574710_3084767159684_1006065122_n-e1362419130468.jpg

    I think her figure is just about my ideal. If guys want to think her arms are intimidating- well, those aren't the guys for me.

    ETA: I just looked it up- she's 5'2". YAY for shorty brickhouses.

    May I say a friend recently hinted about my wearing a dress recently. my calves are big. lots of stairs and inclined treadmill in the past. Can you IMAGINE what would happen if I got all bulky with steady progressive lifting? Anyways she seemed to be uncomfortable with the fact that I'd worn a dress and she just turned it around to express how uncomfortable she was in dresses, but I see her wear them proudly all the time. I felt like telling her "bish, if you can't handle that my legs are way curvier and awesomer than yours and WITHOUT even putting on the high heels yet, then ...

    av0LRKd_700b.jpg"
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Eh, I think most members of both sexes are attracted to fitness/healthiness (at least the appearance of it), not particular "looks". Fitness, in whatever shape it takes, is almost always beautiful and appealing. Lack of it, toward either extreme, is almost always the opposite. We really can't consciously control this either; it s more or less hardwired.

    Edit - With the exception of unnatural uberfit appearances, which isn't particularly appealing to most people.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    And what we're saying is that any aesthetic that requires you to limit yourself as to what you can achieve athletically or performance-wise is broken.

    Yes. I completely agree with this. If I had to choose a fitness pro whose body is close to what I'm trying to achieve, it would be Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. And I've had guys tell me, upon seeing her picture, that her arms are too big. Too big for what? Her arms support the work she does. It's not like she went out and tried to get huge arms. That's just what happens when you do what she does. Is she supposed to not do something she's great at because it might give her arms that some people think are "too big?" That's ridiculous.

    By the way, here is Camille, for those who don't know who I'm talking about:

    574710_3084767159684_1006065122_n-e1362419130468.jpg

    I think her figure is just about my ideal. If guys want to think her arms are intimidating- well, those aren't the guys for me.

    ETA: I just looked it up- she's 5'2". YAY for shorty brickhouses.

    May I say a friend recently hinted about my wearing a dress recently. my calves are big. lots of stairs and inclined treadmill in the past. Can you IMAGINE what would happen if I got all bulky with steady progressive lifting? Anyways she seemed to be uncomfortable with the fact that I'd worn a dress and she just turned it around to express how uncomfortable she was in dresses, but I see her wear them proudly all the time. I felt like telling her "bish, if you can't handle that my legs are way curvier and awesomer than yours and WITHOUT even putting on the high heels yet, then ...

    av0LRKd_700b.jpg"


    "I'm sorry that I'm so fabulous and you seem to be suffering from jealousy that must really be a burden every day- I know my awesome-ness can be really tiring for you"
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Eh, I think most members of both sexes are attracted to fitness/healthiness (at least the appearance of it), not particular "looks". Fitness, in whatever shape it takes, is almost always beautiful and appealing. Lack of it, toward either extreme, is almost always the opposite. We really can't consciously control this either; it s more or less hardwired.

    I said that yesterday and everyone said I was shallow and vain.

    Gasp- how dare you be attracted to someone for their physic!!!!
  • janeite1990
    janeite1990 Posts: 671 Member
    "I'd lift, but I don't want to get bulky muscles" sounds just like "I'd eat healthy, but I don't want to get anorexic." Do these people not understand how hard it is to get muscles? I exercise an hour every day, cardio and weights, and I'm nowhere close to those ideal, muscle bodies. And I eat pretty well, so I can't just blame the cookies. It is really really hard work to get any musculature! Don't these people understand that they could just...stop lifting, if they started to look to big?

    No, this is just an excuse not to move. Those who say it may not know it is an excuse, but it is.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Gasp- how dare you be attracted to someone for their physic!!!!

    Yo, chicks that are into physics are hawt.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Any woman who is scared of getting too bulky should Google Anna Meares - an Austrailian track cyclist, and probably one of the strongest women in the world - short of competitive lifters.

    She's only 5'4", weighs less than 150 lbs, and can squat over 320 lbs, single leg press 500 lbs, and deadlift over 200 lbs. Sure, shes short and "chunky", but she's certainly not "bulky" and "manly-looking" in any way.

    I think that Anna Meares is disgusting*

    (* but that's only because she beat Vicky Pendleton in the women's track sprint in the final of the 2012 Olympic Games...)
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    My friends list is polluted with bulky women who didn't heed my warnings to only lift 3lb pink weights. They disgust me. I stare at their bulky progress pictures for hours and hours, trying to ignore that tingly feeling of disgust that builds up inside of me.

    I knew we were friend for a reason.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    There's a definitional problem. Many women would love to look like Jessica Biel. But that look is not attainable by everyone. The issue some women have is with looking bigger (not "bulky" like a man) than is attractive for their height and physique. For example, if you already have disproportionately big thighs certain exercises such as spinning will make them bigger. If you're exercising for strength or a sport aesthetics may not matter to you, but for some women it does.

    A lot of women have large thighs. It's not "disproportionate" it's normal. I read something that said 64% of women are pear shaped. That's the majority of women. Pear shaped women should not focus on trying to lose their thighs, or preventing growth, but on accepting their shape and realizing it's beautiful.

    Also, yeah, I'd love to see some proof that spinning while at maintenance or at a deficit made anyone's thighs bigger. Actually I even doubt it made anyone on a surplus's thighs bigger other than fat gain.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    Crazy idea: how about we just let people achieve/work towards the body aesthetic that they desire for their own bodies - without imposing our own aesthetic preferences or cultural ideals of gender normativity on other people's bodies.

    Pretty sure that's exactly what I said in my post...

    "I'm just going to say it: aesthetically, I don't find that pleasing. Sure, I'd rather look "muscular"("bulky") than chubby, but I'd rather not look like either of those things.

    I think it's great that these women reach their goals and have these abilities, but from a purely superficial perspective, I personally don't like the way it looks. Which is fine. My body is mine and theirs are theirs. How they look doesn't affect me in the slightest. I just wouldn't want it for myself.

    Granted, I'll never look like this, because I'm lazy and can only commit to a 5K run a few days a week as far as exercise goes, nor would I ever pour my attention into a bulk/cut cycle or watch my macros like very muscular women. It is damn hard to get one's body to look like that.

    Maybe I'm just indoctrinated by the media's output of what women should look like. But nonetheless, I wouldn't ever aim for any of the bodies I've seen here."
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    Maybe I'm just indoctrinated by the media's output of what women should look like. But nonetheless, I wouldn't ever aim for any of the bodies I've seen here.

    I have no problem with that. None at all. You went about expressing your opinion respectfully and without demeaning the goals or bodies of women who are happy to be more muscular.

    And I'd like to clarify that when I say women who are afraid of "bulking up" are too lazy to do it anyway, I'm not talking about people who just prefer running to lifting or who simply aren't interested in being that lean. I'm talking about women who refuse to lift because they think they're going to add 20 lbs of muscle overnight just from glancing at a squat rack. People like that have no idea how long it takes and how difficult it is.