Want To Tone Up and Have Definition But not look muscly?!?!

SergeantSunshine_reused

Everyone starts somewhere! I used to think that i would be bulk too

Compound lifts like others have mentioned will target many muscle groups. Like I mentioned Starting Strength is an excellent way to start :]
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Lifts

_Christine_

You lost me at 'coordinated'.

So to clarify even more- a compound lift wouldn't be sitting in a chair doing over head presses. It would be standing doing overhead presses (at least that's how I think of it). Basic lifting i suggest:

squats
deadlifts
military (overhead) press
rows (for the back)
bench press
bicep curls
chin ups
hanging knee raises with a twist to make those obliques POP!
[/quote]


Ah! Thank you!!

EpiGaiaRepens

[facepalm] Sorry to be unassisting. But is March "Nat'l Women Get Freaked Out About Weight Training Month?" I feel like every other post has been either a woman being afraid or a mand telling women not to be afraid. Read books, people. The knowledge you get from them will far surpass the knowledge of MFP "doctors."

Hahahaha! It's just good timing!

I got a lot of great info from my MFP friends and I wouldn't change that!

But for reading, I recommend www.stumptuous.com it's a great weightlifitng for ladies site!

AlsDonkBoxSquat

That's true. It would take many years and steroids to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, if ever.

But if you are woman who tends to put weight on only in certain areas, any kind of heavy duty strength training will only make you look bigger and even a small increase will be problematic. Most women develop bigger shoulders and arms from strength training, which they're very happy about. They don't mind buying a larger jacket. They might mind having to buy bigger jeans.

I'm only talking about women who are strength training for general health and to look good, not women who are training for a particular sport.

I know this is not the conventional wisdom, but this is what I have observed.

I think that there are a lot of lifting ladies on here that would disagree with this observation. My problem area is my butt and thighs and I wouldn't exactly call a decrease from a 10 to a 4 (0 when cut) an observed increase in size.

mfpcopine

I'm not a genetic freak, although I am pear-shaped. Short of getting liposuction, that's my shape. Realistically, I don't expect to lose much more weight, although I used to weigh much less in my youth. I don't use heavy weights on my lower half because any muscle added there would only make me look bigger. I use weights only on my upper body.

I like this program: http://visualimpactforwomen.com/

Anomalia

body rock tv

MoooveOverFluffy

focus on compound lifts.

you won't get bulky or muscly. it takes years of heavy lifting and eating properly to put on significant muscle

<whispers>

What's a compound lift?

A compound lift is an exercise that uses several muscle groups, instead of an isolated movement. For instance a pushup works the chest, biceps and triceps. A squat works your quads and glutes. An example of an isolated movement is a bicep curl, which....only works the bicep.

DG_Allen

Thanks everyone for the information.

I basically have the same goal as the original poster. I want to add a little more strength and maybe get a little definition. I have lots of activities each week and not a lot of free time. I'm going to do about 30 mins of lifting at home (at 5:30 AM - yawn!) 3 days a week and do my running 3 days a week.

I had been doing low weight and high reps before (15 to 20 reps) with some results but not a lot. It seems like you guys recommend going to more weight and less than 10 reps is that accurate?? What do you think the top 5 exercises are that I should do??

Thanks!

SergeantSunshine_reused

Thanks everyone for the information.

I basically have the same goal as the original poster. I want to add a little more strength and maybe get a little definition. I have lots of activities each week and not a lot of free time. I'm going to do about 30 mins of lifting at home (at 5:30 AM - yawn!) 3 days a week and do my running 3 days a week.

I had been doing low weight and high reps before (15 to 20 reps) with some results but not a lot. It seems like you guys recommend going to more weight and less than 10 reps is that accurate?? What do you think the top 5 exercises are that I should do??

Thanks!

High reps makes it more of a cardio workout really. Lower reps and higher weight is best

my top 5 are from starting strength!
Deadlift
Squat
Press
Cleans
Bench

I build my workouts around these. Most important^^

Jenjaz1910

I love when I get to post this link:

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

Tell me what you think of Staci She lifts heavy and I don't think you need to worry. You will be fine if you lift.

Ok I take it back!! Lol WOW!! X

Jenjaz1910

Thanks everyone for the information.

I basically have the same goal as the original poster. I want to add a little more strength and maybe get a little definition. I have lots of activities each week and not a lot of free time. I'm going to do about 30 mins of lifting at home (at 5:30 AM - yawn!) 3 days a week and do my running 3 days a week.

I had been doing low weight and high reps before (15 to 20 reps) with some results but not a lot. It seems like you guys recommend going to more weight and less than 10 reps is that accurate?? What do you think the top 5 exercises are that I should do??

Thanks!

High reps makes it more of a cardio workout really. Lower reps and higher weight is best

my top 5 are from starting strength!
Deadlift
Squat
Press
Cleans
Bench

I build my workouts around these. Most important^^

Cheers I've got 5lbs which are the heaviest, my upper body is sooooo weak lol I'm going to do some reps with those now! How reps and sets should I do?! X

Jeff92se

Lift heavy and train like a man

Have been lifting like that for 2 years now



Not so bulky eh^^

Try Starting Strength to learn how

Hot. Love the legs.

And clean your room.

DG_Allen

Thanks Sarge! I need to go buy some new dumbells and a bench to make it happen. I canceled my gym membership a couple years ago when we bought an elliptical.

BTW, you look great!

blantonjm1

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mstawnya

focus on compound lifts.

you won't get bulky or muscly. it takes years of heavy lifting and eating properly to put on significant muscle

<whispers>

What's a compound lift?

aww. that's cute!

A compound lift is things like squats and deadlifts that you do with free weights and use your whole body.

Also, some buff six pack carrying lady wrote on here that she used 10-15 lbs weights and got definition and that she was leaving before the heavy lifting police came! haha! But seriously, I'd like to see more of your pics and figure out why you got so babe-a-licious with light weights, but I had to go heavy to see any change. Why do you suppose that is??? Cuz I would do 10-15 lb weights and nothing really changed for me but the amoutn of time i spent in the gym.

Bwahahaha! Thanks! Maybe my arms are just predisposed to have muscles? When I first started seriously exercising (pre kids), I'd run for 20 min, do my light weight arm routine one day, and a 20 min. pilates video the next. That was it. I saw more improvement from those 5 pounders than any other thing. After kids, I joined the Y and started taking classes (gotta love the childcare), but kept with my 5 lb. lifting routine (and I guess I was lifting my kids a thousand times a day too). Of course, after reading about the benefits of heavier lifting, I've been slowly upping my free weights (like in the last 2 weeks or so). Before that, I was doing 10 lb. bicep curls and the rest were the 7.5 pounders (and those weights were probably started just 3 months ago). Maybe it was just the high number of reps? I don't know, but it worked for me. I say if all you have is 5 pounds, then lift it a lot!

SergeantSunshine_reused

I cleaned my room! That was from a week or so ago :]

hmm honestly 5 pound weights aren't going to do much Think about how much your purse weighs!
You can make your own weights until you can buy them. Like gallon milk jugs full of rocks or something creative :]

Normally I do 3 sets of 5 reps on the main lifts, trust me you will be able to do more than you think!

Seppron

Here I train we say:
10 and higher for endurance
10 and lower for strength
just basic

Normaly I do 2-5 sets and 4-12 reps depending on the muscle group and how I feel.

And I would not be afraid to get huge muscles if I where a girl, because of the lower amount of testoterone.

DixiedoesMFP

If you don't have the heaviest dumbbells (yet), lift really slowly and pretend the weight is much heavier....using resistance to lift the weight and put it back down. That will help until you invest in heavier weights.

EbbySoo

focus on compound lifts.

you won't get bulky or muscly. it takes years of heavy lifting and eating properly to put on significant muscle

This.
I WISH getting muscly was that easy lol.

Exactly. I had to eat a *kitten* ton of food and lift some pretty heavy assed weights for hypertrophy to acquire my build and I still feel like I could use more muscle sometimes...

Jenjaz1910

Thanks guys! Can't afford anymore weights at the moment, but I know what you mean about doing the lifts, feels soooooo much heavier, little shameful secret, I've only been able to lift the 5lb weights properly over the past few days!! I am like spaghetti arms but my legs are pretty strong tho, just need to get rid of the wobbly mess lol x

MoooveOverFluffy

Body weight exercises are good too.... think squats, lunges, and pushups.

kh1386

Try using some of these Tracy Anderson videos on youtube. I love the arms routine and the one for legs (it is long but great results). Basically you just want less weight and more reps to tone not bulk.

http://www.youtube.com/results?q=tracy+anderson&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGHP_enUS415&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w1

MoooveOverFluffy

Try using some of these Tracy Anderson videos on youtube. I love the arms routine and the one for legs (it is long but great results). Basically you just want less weight and more reps to tone not bulk.

http://www.youtube.com/results?q=tracy+anderson&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGHP_enUS415&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w1

YOU WONT BULK! LIFT HEAVY!!

bmccrory2

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LorinaLynn

Try using some of these Tracy Anderson videos on youtube. I love the arms routine and the one for legs (it is long but great results). Basically you just want less weight and more reps to tone not bulk.

http://www.youtube.com/results?q=tracy+anderson&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGHP_enUS415&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w1

YOU WONT BULK! LIFT HEAVY!!

Exactly! The June picture is how my arm looked at 135 pounds using 5# dumbbells and body weight exercises. The March picture is me at 132 pounds after doing heavy weights for about 7 months.



For example, I typically curl 40-50 lbs (20-25 lbs per arm), which isn't a crazy amount, but it's five times more than I did before. And my arms just got smaller.

cal1973

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tuffytuffy1

But if you are woman who tends to put weight on only in certain areas, any kind of heavy duty strength training will only make you look bigger and even a small increase will be problematic. Most women develop bigger shoulders and arms from strength training, which they're very happy about. They don't mind buying a larger jacket. They might mind having to buy bigger jeans.

I have found this not to be the case. And I definitely don't want to buy a larger jacket! My top half is already larger than my bottom half. But back to your point, my arms and chest have thinned out significantly from heavy lifting for the past 10 months. I almost kissed my friend the other day when she said my boobs looked smaller, lol :-)

MissJennaBelle

Bump - to read later!

curvatrino

Lift heavy and train like a man

Have been lifting like that for 2 years now



Not so bulky eh^^

Try Starting Strength to learn how

Yeah look at your manliness......*drool* you look fantastic lady :flowerforyou:

oh my god, you look how I want to look! Well done girl!!

70davis

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