How many women on here are lifting weights????????

Lozze

That is a WONDERFUL video. Thanks for the post!

JJasMyself

I haven't read all of the responses on here, so sorry if this is redundant, but for the most part women won't bulk up unless they want to, i.e. take supplements to do so. Also, there are different ways to lift. To lift to stay slender and tone and lenghten your muscles you want to lift less weight with more repetitions. Ex: instead of hammer curling 25lbs 10 times, curl 10 lbs 15 times. If you want an example of someone who lifted and didn't bulk up, take a look at my profile pics. The grey and black one is the one I use for my blog A Better Reflection. I could bench press 135lbs at the time -doing 3 sets of 10 reps (which was a good 15+ pounds over my body weight at the time. I could squat 145 lbs, and put 65lbs on a curl bar, and 80lbs on tricept pull-downs. I was not at all bulky or big. I was just ripped and slender, but I also did cardio for 15-20 minutes at least 3 days a week. You will notice an increase on the scale or maybe it just won't drop for a week or two, but once your have that muscle burning calories around the clock it will start dropping faster than it did before.

JJasMyself

first off, muscle does not weigh more than fat. a pound is a pound. muscle takes up less space than fat though.
secondly. it is not possible for you to bulk up. you don't have the testosterone for it (as someone else said). Lifting heavy is great.

I have been lifting for close to a year. I have not bulked up (because it's not possible since I'm not roided out!) but I have noticed significant toning going on which was the idea.

The pound of muscle pound and pound of fat argument drives me nuts. I always think it's so silly. You can do that about anything. Does a feather weigh more than a pound of bricks? No because a pound is a pound. But the fact of the matter is you need MORE feathers to make a pound of bricks. The same is true about fat. You need a greater quanitity of fat to make up a pound. A smaller volume of muscle will make a pound before the same volume of fat. So it is possible to put on a lesser amount of muscle before you burn and equal amount of fat. So, even though this is a question of MASS not WEIGHT, when you step on the scale it looks like you weigh more.

Lozze

To lift to stay slender and tone and lenghten your muscles you want to lift less weight with more repetitions

You cannot lengthen your muscles. Period. Your muscles will stay the same length no matter WHAT exercise you do. That is based on genetics. You can strip fat to show them better. You can make them bigger. But it's impossible to lengthen your muscles.

Lifting less weight with more reps will help your muscles with endurance.

ninerbuff

I don't think posting pictures of women who happen not to bulk up is especially helpful, as they aren't relevant to those of us who do.

I don't lift heavy weights. I do circuit training, which includes 30 or so press ups, lightish weights (10 lbs doing lat exercises, things like that) and a fair bit of resistance band work, but I don't belong to a gym and certainly don't lift free weights.

However, I have considerable arm and shoulder muscles. Larger than I think most women on here are aiming for.

So it depends on what you are aiming, for, and on your body type. I would love to be one of those women who looks smooth and lovely when they do weight training, but I'm not.

Granted some females have genetics to not have to do much to look more fit without having to put as much effort into doing it (just like some males do). There are always exceptions to any situation, but in most cases females aren't really going to put on muscle like they think they will. It's really hard to do with a surplus and practically impossible to on deficit.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

Also, there are different ways to lift. To lift to stay slender and tone and lenghten your muscles you want to lift less weight with more repetitions.

Just wanted to say you're doing a fine job. But had to interject and say that you can't lengthen any muscle with exercise and that lifting light weights with high reps develops muscle endurance and really doesn't condition the muscle much. The "slender" look is based more on having a higher body fat % on a body that lacks significant muscle. Genetics will play a part in this.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

To lift to stay slender and tone and lenghten your muscles you want to lift less weight with more repetitions

You cannot lengthen your muscles. Period. Your muscles will stay the same length no matter WHAT exercise you do. That is based on genetics. You can strip fat to show them better. You can make them bigger. But it's impossible to lengthen your muscles.

Lifting less weight with more reps will help your muscles with endurance.

Smacks head........................I should have read your post first before posting.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

rjbrowne

I gotta bump this to read later. I've been in the same boat.

HeidiMightyRawr

Hey,

You don't have to worry about the scale staying up. I've managed to lose and gain weight both from lifting heavy. The main factor that plays a part in whether you build muscle or not is how much you eat. On a deficit to lose weight it's extremely hard to build any muscle, especially being female. You might gain a little as your new to it, but it's not going to be enough to create a major stall in weight loss or anything.

I haven't got any recent pics of changes, but the full body one in my photos (green/white dress) is last year after getting to my goal weight, lifting heavy the whole time. I've since purposefully bulked up (around 3000 cals a day + lifting 5x a week), and now cutting. Dropped 5lbs in 7 weeks so far on 2000 net calories a day, but changed so much in inches lost. With less than 5lbs I've gone from jeans being so tight I can barely do them up, to fitting comfortably. :drinker:
Also, when I compared me at my heaviest (150lbs) before MFP (not so much muscle) and after my bulk (much more muscle) I may have been the same weight but I was approx 5% less body fat and smaller in clothes sizes.

There's so many benefits to lifting, it really would be a shame to miss out on them all. Good luck with your goals!

ETA: Don't listen to any of the "light weight, high rep to tone" stuff. That really doesn't do much at all apart from build endurance.

LorinaLynn

What lifting heavy did for me:



Started strength training in July:

Beastette

Loads. Scads. And they look super hot.

JennieAL

I'd also be interested to see how she looks when she's not completely flexed and straining. I bet no one would say, "Ew! Too many muscles!"

Good video to demonstrate the difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jdyILCFhKA

Really good video here! Thanks for sharing this... I've never actually seen the immediate difference flexing makes to the appearance like that. Eye-opening really!

redmichelle67

I just started lefting weights .....so Im hopping to see some toning ...

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Snubbleup

Bump

littlebutcurvy

bump

Matt_Wild

I find it somewhat bizarre women think they will bulk up easily when its faaaaaaaaaaaaar from easy even for men!