Can a woman bulk up

nerchk
nerchk Posts: 136 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So everyday at the gym when i take 10kg, some random guy or fitness trainer will either tell me to reduce it to 5 or less because i dont want to look musculine. I read a lot about women who lift and according to my understanding, it takes testesterone to bulk up and a whole lot of lifting, not 10kg on bench press machine, Should i listen to my ever so volunteering personal trainers or do what i want to do?

Replies

  • SnivyToast
    SnivyToast Posts: 25 Member
    It is very hard for women to gain true mass and look bulky.

    This is a great article about female weight lifting:
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    You can, but only if you eat at a surplus and take steroids. In addition to the excellent link above, see this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/884447-do-you-lift-heavy-are-you-bulky
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    Not without eating a big calorie surplus and steroid use. Women don't have the testosterone it takes to get bulky.

    10kg weights certainly aren't going to do it either. You could go much heavier and still not get bulky.
  • alaskanaomi
    alaskanaomi Posts: 36
    No. Muscle is hard to build. Unless you're an extreme genetic outlier, you can't get too bulky. Your body won't allow it. You need to use weights heavy enough to make your time at the gym worthwhile. It's not enough to do a lot of reps with a little weight. You're increasing your endurance but not your muscle. You need your muscle to grow, so that you will burn more fat at rest.
  • nerchk
    nerchk Posts: 136 Member
    So now i am really going to verbally attack a lot of men at the gym because it is really irritating when they do it. I want to gym in peace. the other day i was on the squat machine and this guy came and removed all my weightsw. told me to 10 kg will be too heavy for me, i was offended but said nothing and put back 5kg. Now i will go off on them seriously
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    You can, but only if you eat at a surplus and take steroids. In addition to the excellent link above, see this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/884447-do-you-lift-heavy-are-you-bulky
    ^This!!!
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    So now i am really going to verbally attack a lot of men at the gym because it is really irritating when they do it. I want to gym in peace. the other day i was on the squat machine and this guy came and removed all my weightsw. told me to 10 kg will be too heavy for me, i was offended but said nothing and put back 5kg. Now i will go off on them seriously
    I squat 125 lb (57kg). Take a look at my profile pic.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    So everyday at the gym when i take 10kg, some random guy or fitness trainer will either tell me to reduce it to 5 or less because i dont want to look musculine. I read a lot about women who lift and according to my understanding, it takes testesterone to bulk up and a whole lot of lifting, not 10kg on bench press machine, Should i listen to my ever so volunteering personal trainers or do what i want to do?
    Tell them to go get educated about strength training and shove their broscience where the sun don't shine. Bulking requires a caloric deficit (eating above your maintenance calories), lots of protein, lots of heavy lifting and, in the case of most women, some kind of "enhancement" such as prohormones or anabolic steroids. Women have roughly 1/10 the testosterone of men, and under optimal training and diet conditions, can add about a half-pound of muscle mass every two weeks. Presumably (since you're trying to lose weight), you're eating at a caloric deficit - muscle gain doesn't happen when you're eating at a deficit.

    Are they a bunch of "curl bros" with legs like toothpicks because all they do is curl and bench press all day, never coming anywhere near a leg workout? Ask them if they're afraid you're going to have better legs than them. :bigsmile:
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    So now i am really going to verbally attack a lot of men at the gym because it is really irritating when they do it. I want to gym in peace. the other day i was on the squat machine and this guy came and removed all my weightsw. told me to 10 kg will be too heavy for me, i was offended but said nothing and put back 5kg. Now i will go off on them seriously

    I would seriously consider complaining to the gym management about that, that's not right.

    And the dude is totally wrong. It has done nothing but good things for me.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    So everyday at the gym when i take 10kg, some random guy or fitness trainer will either tell me to reduce it to 5 or less because i dont want to look musculine. I read a lot about women who lift and according to my understanding, it takes testesterone to bulk up and a whole lot of lifting, not 10kg on bench press machine, Should i listen to my ever so volunteering personal trainers or do what i want to do?

    It takes testosterone (we have about 1/16th of guys), a whole lot of food and/or steroids to bulk up. You will NOT bulk under any circumstance, testicles or not, doing 10kg on a bench press machine.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    So now i am really going to verbally attack a lot of men at the gym because it is really irritating when they do it. I want to gym in peace. the other day i was on the squat machine and this guy came and removed all my weightsw. told me to 10 kg will be too heavy for me, i was offended but said nothing and put back 5kg. Now i will go off on them seriously

    Tell him to stop being such an ignorant moron and get the gym manager if he bothers you again.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Bahahaha! I lift heavy (heavy enough I can only do 4 reps to failure) and I have gotten stronger and firmer, but no where near bulky. Check out my pic! What a beast, huh? :laugh:
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
    The personal trainer is wrong. Read "the new rules of lifting for women." According to the book it takes weeks to see a measurable difference in muscle, and it is almost impossible to gain muscle mass when you are on or near a deficit. Muscles swell a little bit after a weight workout from water retention which scares some women into thinking they are bulking, but this goes away over time.

    I am just starting out with weight training. I am going all out on 8 rep circuits at the gym, doing 150 on the leg press and over 50 on biceps / triceps pulleys (sorry if that's wimpy!) and I've got to say, I have only slightly more definition on my body and that is 90% from reducing the amount of fat that is still hiding my muscles. I am not manly looking or bulky at all. The more I lift weights, the slimmer I get.
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
    You can, but only if you eat at a surplus and take steroids. In addition to the excellent link above, see this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/884447-do-you-lift-heavy-are-you-bulky
    Wat?
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    You can, but only if you eat at a surplus and take steroids. In addition to the excellent link above, see this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/884447-do-you-lift-heavy-are-you-bulky
    Wat?
    ?
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    So now i am really going to verbally attack a lot of men at the gym because it is really irritating when they do it. I want to gym in peace. the other day i was on the squat machine and this guy came and removed all my weightsw. told me to 10 kg will be too heavy for me, i was offended but said nothing and put back 5kg. Now i will go off on them seriously

    If that is too much for you, how on earth are you supposed be able to stand up?
    If that was too much on the bench press, how are you supposed to get up off of the floor?

    Report this kind of behaviour immediately, harassment is not acceptable. I've never heard of such appalling behaviour (at the gym).
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    Another thing I find confusing about this,

    If you're not trying to get stronger/fitter, why are you exercising?
  • SmileyFaceGuy
    SmileyFaceGuy Posts: 201
    Ignoring their claim that using that weight will get you bulky, it is highly amusing when people act like muscle mass is just going to sneak up on you overnight.
  • alaskanaomi
    alaskanaomi Posts: 36
    Another thing I find confusing about this,

    If you're not trying to get stronger/fitter, why are you exercising?

    Sounds like she IS trying to get stronger/fitter, she said she doesn't want to get "bulky". I see the difference.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Another thing I find confusing about this,

    If you're not trying to get stronger/fitter, why are you exercising?

    Sounds like she IS trying to get stronger/fitter, she said she doesn't want to get "bulky". I see the difference.
    Have you seen this thread yet?:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/884447-do-you-lift-heavy-are-you-bulky

    Take a look at the responses in there. PLENTY of women who lift heavy and have posted pics of how "bulky" it hasn't made them. Believe me, if getting big and bulky were easy, there would be a LOT more big, buffed, muscular guys walking around the face of this earth. It doesn't happen by accident and it doesn't happen overnight.

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