Women getting bulky!??

I keep reading that less cardio and more lifting is the way to go...

How do we explain the physique of marathon runners?

I keep reading that less cardio and more lifting is the way to go...

How do we explain the physique of marathon runners?

Low body fat? They're not trying to have "big, heavy muscles". They want to be as light as possible for their running. Much different than sprinters.

Do women realize that it's almost a physical impossibility to lose their feminine features and start looking too bulky just from weight training and lifting heavy weights (relative to their strength)?

So many women are paralyzed by this fear that they never get to reach their potential of physical strength and muscularity and all the benefits that come with it: better fat loss, faster metabolism, injury prevention, better immune system, a better looking body, etc, etc.

Natural men as is have a hard time putting on muscle. If a man does everything right, if he eats, sleeps and trains right, he will be lucky to put on 3 - 5 pounds of pure lean muscle tissue in a year! So compare that to females, who have up to 20 TIMES LESS testosterone than men! That translates into a fraction of 1 lb of lean muscle gain in a year in comparison.

So please know that it's a mere fantasy that you will ever look "too bulky" from weight training, because your body simply can't give you the type of muscle gains needed to look bulky. If you ever see a "bulky" looking woman, it's either because of high body fat percentage or because she's injecting male hormones into her body.

Yes this is SO TRUE!!!

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.


My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can cardio away fat, but really you cannot out exercise too many calories.

Even if intermittent fasting isn't for you this is a great article about the myths of bulking --> http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-and-bulking/

And while we are talking about females here is more --> http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/womens-body-ideal-measurements/

It's good stuff!

i don't understand the stink of fear that surrounds the B word. a bulky woman is a strong woman (literally). being a woman is more than hair and breasts and the slenderness of one's limbs. if all that makes you female is your anatomy, then you have a whole range of problems that have nothing to do with muscle.

I actually have a question about this. When you women who lift heavy started did you "feel" more bulky at first? I dont mean body builder bulky, but just pants getting tight even though youre watching calories? I have started insanity and feel this way. I rememmber feeling this way when I lifted in high school too. I guess my question is, is this temporary?

I want to lift heavy sh#t!

Whether or not women "get bulky" is just hogwashery in its most misogynistic form. The photos being posted are dopers. The end.

The natural gal lifters ya see in pics are just super swole from a very recent blood pumping workout. If they don't have a fat layer and you see them in "clothes" (i.e. not their lifting / photographing wear) they look like super seriously hot and fit folks.

I, for one, am champing at the bit to get back home (in Beijing for a year) and back to my CF affiliate and into the personal programming lessons I've signed up for. HOOAH!

I agree with the OP, but I have had this discussion over and over and read it over and over in these forums and I think that there is a translation issue with the term bulky. When SOME women say they don't want to get "bulky" they are actually referring to any sort of muscle definition. Many would call my arm and shoulder in my pic bulky, I'm sure, because there is shape and some definitiion to the muscle, albeit small because I still have high body fat.

Yep. They don't want to look "bulky" like Madonna. She's not bulky. She's not even particularly muscular. She just has very, very low body fat.

TRUE STORY about Madge. Have you ever seen this chick in real life? She's RIDICULOUSLY TINY! omg. like ITTY BITTY! The word "bulky" is just a word.

A Muscle is a MUSCLE. "Toned" and "bulky" and "defined" are just dumb words with either positive or negative emotions attached. The bottom line is too much fat is unhealthy. More muscle is more CAN DO. Period. All the other ****e is ****e.

I've been doing some heavy lifting lately. About 2-3 months and I haven't been making much progress. Perhaps my diet isn't right? Any tips? Meal plans? I'm on a real tight budget because its winter and work is slow.

Not making progress in what way? Strength progression or weight loss?

I wish I could get a little bulky! Been lifting on and off for a decade but I'm just soft and jiggly because I love cake and beer far more than I like losing weight - apperantly I love that ripped sectioned shoulder look, and guns. Yeah. Sometimes I think about telling my doctor my asthma is out of control so I can get advair and then I can become a beefcake, because that is a steroid medicine and that is totally how it works

I've been doing some heavy lifting lately. About 2-3 months and I haven't been making much progress. Perhaps my diet isn't right? Any tips? Meal plans? I'm on a real tight budget because its winter and work is slow.

It takes a long time to develop muscle. Keep at it. Some training programs are better than others. You will improve your bone density if you keep it up which will help you as well when you are older. You don't need to eat extra to develop your muscles. If you have fat to lose you can still eat at a calorie deficit while developing muscle. My doctor had me do a DXA scan and checked my hormones throughout my weight loss journey, from obese to 10% body fat and it proved I did not lose lean body mass or go into starvation mode.

Calories determine fat gain/loss. Eating just enough, not extra, is enough to develop your muscles. If in doubt check with your doctor.

Thanks-but I don't have a doctor

I enjoy my weight lifting classes and wouldn't change them. I enjoy trying to hit the "failure" point, and our trainers push it.

I love lifting heavy and toning up...so glad I've never had the misconception that it would turn me in to She-Hulk.

My coworker and I were talking about lifting recently and she said that she didn't want to lift because she'd be less feminine. I then showed her a bicep pic and she was surprised as my arms don't look that 'bulky' when I'm not flexed. Unfortunately even that doesn't convince some people to change their thinking so they stick to cardio a couple times a week and keep gaining weight.

I love lifting weights and not at all afraid of becoming "bulky"

I've been doing some heavy lifting lately. About 2-3 months and I haven't been making much progress. Perhaps my diet isn't right? Any tips? Meal plans? I'm on a real tight budget because its winter and work is slow.

Not making progress in what way? Strength progression or weight loss?

Not really too much in either...I'm pushing myself hard. My diet could definatly do some improvement but this time of year, whose diet doesn't suffer. I also had to cut back my food bill

I had a quick look at your diary - it looks fine.

I would suggest doing 2 things:

1) take a 7 - 10 day diet break. Dieting is hard on our bodies (as is exercising) after a while our hormones can get out of whack causing weight loss to slow (usually more true for women). A diet break is a way of getting them back in sync. Also, what happens a lot of the time is that when we are tired our activity is less intense - eating at a deficit can cause this.Less food = less energy = less moving. You basically eat at maintenance during this time (plus it's good timing with the holidays coming up). Here is a good article that explains it in more detail:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

2) after this, I would drop your calories a bit. I notice that you are eating all your exercise calories back. While this is a good thing in that you will not be creating too large of a deficit, the burns are just estimates and I would suggest eating back only 75% to leave some wiggle room. If you do this, I would not drop your base calories. I am assuming here that you have your weight loss goal set to 1 lb a week - if more, I would change it to that.

The other thing to make sure you do is be really diligent about weighing/measuring and logging.

My sister actually told me it's not healthy to try to build muscles until you are at or close to your goal, said it would slow down weight loss, I guess if you are putting on lbs in muscle it would slow weight loss, lol. I agree w/an earlier post, I don't want to be bulky and I won't be w/o hormones, but I can't wait til I can do 100 pull ups too.