For all women afraid of gaining muscles!

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  • CakeFit21
    CakeFit21 Posts: 2,521 Member
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    I've not had any complaints about my muscular build. If anything, I'm hoping to get more muscular in the next year.

    I think some women use the "I don't want to get bulky" excuse so they don't have to work hard. No one said it was easy.

    Muscles are beautiful.

    Dani, I think you nailed it on the head!

    I'm looking for more muscle too and I know that no matter what, there is no way I am EVER going to look masculine!

    ETA: but I will do my best to look like those CF girls above!
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    I lift because I don't want to look saggy and skinny fat.

    I could care less about improving my lift amounts, 6 pack abs, and the list goes on.

    I just do it so that I look good.. period.
  • jetscreaminagain
    jetscreaminagain Posts: 1,130 Member
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    I'm so glad those crossfit pics were posted. They look awesome. And the waify model below them looking so unhappy must be sad she can't do as much or eat as much or look as good as the crossfitters above her. But she could probably have the one dude who came on this positive and encouraging thread to denegrate strong women. What a catch. I bet it makes up for the rest.
  • uLinx
    uLinx Posts: 148
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    i dont like when women that do weights bc it makes them big and bulky. My friends and i dont find women with muscles attractive at all.

    my 2 cents

    You sure have to do lots of weight training to get bulky. Body builders have a body fat percentage of maybe 12 % and have really big muscles. I don't like most of those women, too. It's too much.

    What I was talking about are normal women and girls trying to lose fat. While losing fat, it's also a good thing to gain muscle. Despite of the fact that some women are afraid of it, I can say: it looks good.
  • uLinx
    uLinx Posts: 148
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    To each their own :) but I personally would LOVE to look like one of the women of the crossfit games:

    Screenshot2011-12-01at60216PM.pngScreenshot2011-12-01at61951PM.png

    Screenshot2011-12-01at80937AM.png

    But more importantly than looking like them, is I want to be strong like them. I love being part of a community that values physically strong women.

    I do know a lot of women who aspire to look like this:
    Screenshot2011-12-04at73832PM.png

    If that's your thing, that's fine... but for me, this isn't only unrealistic, but it also wouldn't allow me to do what I love - run and lift! (I'm not saying I think the poster who wrote they don't like the bodies of the CF women wants to look like the image above! I'm just thinking back to a lot of girls I knew in college, and the women they looked to for inspiration for bodies)

    They look awsome!!! Thanks for sharing!
    And that skinny fat should start eating at least a couple of times a week.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,669 Member
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    Dear ladies,

    I would like to share this with you because women sometimes think they could gain too much muscle and look masculine if they exercise a lot. (It also happened to me.) Well, I am now exercising a lot and I am gaining muscle... and IT LOOKS GREAT!!! My arms and legs (that's where I'm losing fat more quickly and muscles can be seen better) are not getting masculine, they're TONING UP and getting firm!

    This morning I was getting dressed when my boyfriend looked at me and told me that my shoulder blades and arms look sexy now that they are getting more defined. :blushing:

    So ladies, my advice is: do strength training and don't worry about gaining muscles! They make us look healthier and sexier and we will not become body builders over night for lifting one handle weight. :wink:
    Great for you! Just a quick correction: you can't gain muscle on calorie deficit. You can REVEAL it though from fat loss.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • katcena
    katcena Posts: 326 Member
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    Love those pics! Thanks for posting! Might have to copy them so I have something to strive for....would love to look like those Crossfit gals someday. :)
    And now I am going to google those stats on how many calories muscle burns compares to fat....my Challenge group was just talking about that today. Thanks for posting that too! :)
    Great thread.
  • uLinx
    uLinx Posts: 148
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    Dear ladies,

    I would like to share this with you because women sometimes think they could gain too much muscle and look masculine if they exercise a lot. (It also happened to me.) Well, I am now exercising a lot and I am gaining muscle... and IT LOOKS GREAT!!! My arms and legs (that's where I'm losing fat more quickly and muscles can be seen better) are not getting masculine, they're TONING UP and getting firm!

    This morning I was getting dressed when my boyfriend looked at me and told me that my shoulder blades and arms look sexy now that they are getting more defined. :blushing:

    So ladies, my advice is: do strength training and don't worry about gaining muscles! They make us look healthier and sexier and we will not become body builders over night for lifting one handle weight. :wink:
    Just a quick correction: you can't gain muscle on calorie deficit. You can REVEAL it though from fat loss.

    I don't agree with that. Sorry. I am on a calorie deficit diet AND I am gaining muscle. Maybe you mean that you can't gain muscle on a starvation mode. That would make sense: if you aren't even covering your metabolic needs you will actually break down the muscle mass for energy. On an healthy lowcal diet, you CAN (and should - my opinion) build up muscle.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    Dear ladies,

    I would like to share this with you because women sometimes think they could gain too much muscle and look masculine if they exercise a lot. (It also happened to me.) Well, I am now exercising a lot and I am gaining muscle... and IT LOOKS GREAT!!! My arms and legs (that's where I'm losing fat more quickly and muscles can be seen better) are not getting masculine, they're TONING UP and getting firm!

    This morning I was getting dressed when my boyfriend looked at me and told me that my shoulder blades and arms look sexy now that they are getting more defined. :blushing:

    So ladies, my advice is: do strength training and don't worry about gaining muscles! They make us look healthier and sexier and we will not become body builders over night for lifting one handle weight. :wink:
    Just a quick correction: you can't gain muscle on calorie deficit. You can REVEAL it though from fat loss.

    I don't agree with that. Sorry. I am on a calorie deficit diet AND I am gaining muscle. Maybe you mean that you can't gain muscle on a starvation mode. That would make sense: if you aren't even covering your metabolic needs you will actually break down the muscle mass for energy. On an healthy lowcal diet, you CAN (and should - my opinion) build up muscle.

    I love you're post btw! I have to agree though that you can't generally gain muscle mass on a calorie deficit. If you are new to strength training it is possible :) but it won't last forever.

    The average non strength training person would generally lose muscle mass on a deficit, regardless of if it was a healthy, (not starvation mode) deficit. When people strength train and get enough protein they can maintain and only lose fat (which is great!) but the actual building of muscle is very unlikely to happen unless you're obese and/or new to lifting. You can however, gain lots of strength :D and if may certainly look like your building muscle as when you shed the fat as you become more defined.
  • thecrossfitter
    thecrossfitter Posts: 424 Member
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    I love you're post btw! I have to agree though that you can't generally gain muscle mass on a calorie deficit. If you are new to strength training it is possible :) but it won't last forever.

    The average non strength training person would generally lose muscle mass on a deficit, regardless of if it was a healthy, (not starvation mode) deficit. When people strength train and get enough protein they can maintain and only lose fat (which is great!) but the actual building of muscle is very unlikely to happen unless you're obese and/or new to lifting. You can however, gain lots of strength :D and if may certainly look like your building muscle as when you shed the fat as you become more defined.
    I'm an example of one of these women Heidi speaks of. I started serious weight training for the first time in my life in August 2011.
    The photos below show me in:

    August (146.4lbs) - September (?lbs) - November (150lbs)
    Screenshot2011-11-20at84527AM.png
    (I recently looked up my weight from August. I had thought my weight was 140 in August, but I was totally off! I think I may have posted in one thread that I weighed 140 when I started. My apologies!)

    I weighed at the same time everyday (after waking up, before eating and after bathroom) on the same scale. Now I can't PROVE that this weight gain was muscle rather than fat. But I can make an educated inference that it is very unlikely this weight gain was not fat.

    I actually think that my weight is now going down (I weighed this morning at 148.9). Only time will tell if this weigh in was just a natural fluctuation, or my weight truly going down. I do still have some fat I can lose and be healthy!

    Happy lifting ladies :) (And men, for that matter!)
    (Edit: Sorry the photo sort of cut off on the right. It's just a larger version of my profile photo though)
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Lifting weights or doing crossfit or any other sort of strength training does not cause women to bulk up. It is extraordinarily hard for adult women to put on muscle weight, since you need testosterone to do it. The women you see who look like the bulked up women look that way because they are getting assistance (steroids). If you're not using steroids, all strength training will do is help prevent muscle loss during weight loss (which everyone who is losing weight experiences some of), and increase definition. It won't make you look manly.

    I'm not doing weight loss, as I'm already tiny (although no where near as skinny as the non-crossfitter skinny girl model pic) I'm hoping to do a lot more than "prevent muscle loss" when my best friend and I start Crossfit. I've had more muscle before and I already know I won't "bulk up." I tend to build rather lean and wiry. I'm already pretty strong: ask any of the folks in the mosh pit that see a scrawny girl and then find out she hits hard/can take the hits. I've backpacked miles with 1/2 my body weight as a pack weight and I can carry my 50 lb dog in my arms no problem, as well as pick up my 400lb motorcycle from its side. As others have said, I'm really just wanting to improve my core strength/balance/flexibility. I'm not really worried that it will make me look a certain way.

    As for the person who mentioned body fat percentage: I am completely unable to figure that out. I've tried numerous online calculators, measured my waist at the narrowest and at my navel, measured my neck, hips, wrist, and forearm and have had outputs all over the board: 13%, 17%, 19%, 24%, 26% ?!? Seriously, that's quite a spread. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure mine's low, I'm not skinny-fat, I'm just plain skinny: here's to adding more muscle.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,669 Member
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    I don't agree with that. Sorry. I am on a calorie deficit diet AND I am gaining muscle. Maybe you mean that you can't gain muscle on a starvation mode. That would make sense: if you aren't even covering your metabolic needs you will actually break down the muscle mass for energy. On an healthy lowcal diet, you CAN (and should - my opinion) build up muscle.
    Practically impossible though. Several studies have been done on it by peer review. You need to be in calorie surplus. To build muscle, is to add weight. Along with that muscle you will also add fat. Just like when you lose weight, you lose a combination of fat and lean muscle.
    The biggest misconception is that when people see definition, they mistakenly think it's muscle gain, while in truth it's fat loss revealing muscle.
    You don't have to take my word for it. ASCM, The Journal for Sports Medicine, The Journal for Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism all will tell you the same.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • laveyniyahr
    laveyniyahr Posts: 1
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    I wouldn't mind looking like any of those girls in the picture but yea I'm afraid I might add more muscle to the bulges of muscle I have already. I'm praying my calf muscles won't look like a pro body-builders when I'm done. Hopefully!
  • Iamjulez
    Iamjulez Posts: 48 Member
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    Yes, muscle does burn fat... which is why it's always a bonus to add exercise to a diet routine :)

    I am SO not worried about looking muscular! I can't WAIT to have my old guns back...and my amazing butt and thighs! I love muscles... looking strong on the outside is just the icing on the cake of losing weight and getting a healthy body.
  • foster59803
    foster59803 Posts: 439 Member
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    Bring on the lady muscles... and I would love to look like one of the beautiful crossfit ladies posted! :)
  • EmeriaDewes
    EmeriaDewes Posts: 78
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    Bump
  • runningfromzombies
    runningfromzombies Posts: 386 Member
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    You realize that those ladies who compete at the high levels for the Crossfit games aren't your average woman trying to lose a few pounds and "tone up", right? It take years of dedication and nutritional perfection to get to that level of fitness and physique, not to mention genetics. That would be like telling me I shouldn't lift weights because I'll look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    Please don't confuse elite athletes and their elite results with the average Joe(anne).

    ^This.

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