HALP! Heavy Lifting Made Me SUPAH Bulky!!!

I want a weight set, or at least one of those adjustable bar bells you can put up to 100lbs on it. The whole myth of lifting heavy will make you bulky is exactly why my husband won't help me pay for a weight set / bench. It pisses me off. I have had an easier time convincing him to help me get breast implants than lift heavy weights. Not that we can afford those, but the point stands. Nothing I say will convince him that I won't look like a body builder on steroids if I lift weights.

I find other ways to lift heavy, though, when I can. Aside from that, I use resistance bands for strength training and like my results enough. I want to improve, but I know it won't happen with just the bands. I did buy stronger resistances, so I can actually challenge myself more now, but it's not quite the same as free weights. This past week I've been doing tons of gardening, and been taking out 50lb bags of bad dirt / old roots / bulbs to the dumpster which has definitely worked my arms good.

Anyways, just wanted to throw in my .02 here. OP and all you other women taking the next step and doing weights look amazing and are an inspiration to me as well as many other women. Don't ever hold back!

My husband was the same way. I did it anyway. I found a bench, bar, and weights on craigslist for $25. I had a bar from walmart before that that was less than $30, and bought some weight plates there also, as I needed them. My first "bench presses" were done sans a bench on the floor. I made the squat rack in the pic there from the instructions on this blog: http://freckledlifter.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/diy-squat-rack/

The result so far? Welp, he hasn't kicked me out of bed yet, haha. He'll even spot me (I mean he doesn't want me to hurt myself), and he even *gasp* seems to be liking some of the changes in my body.

I want a weight set, or at least one of those adjustable bar bells you can put up to 100lbs on it. The whole myth of lifting heavy will make you bulky is exactly why my husband won't help me pay for a weight set / bench. It pisses me off. I have had an easier time convincing him to help me get breast implants than lift heavy weights. Not that we can afford those, but the point stands. Nothing I say will convince him that I won't look like a body builder on steroids if I lift weights.

Show him this thread.

Well, it's interesting to me, because I have shown him many of the females on this site as an example of what I want to look like - and he's response is basically he doesn't want me to become that defined. I love him, but he's not the most sensitive when it comes to me and my own aspirations with my body. The first time I flexed for a picture after reaching my goal weight and showed it to him, he actually said, "Ew." - and this was when I was even higher BF% than I am now. He's a great guy, really, I don't mean to make him sound like some awful pig-headed jerk. lol. He just wants me to be soft and squishy, but I do not want to be soft and squishy!

I try to tell him I'm not trying to become that defined necessarily, just stronger and a bit more trimmed down. I really just want to be stronger, honestly, but he doesn't get it. It's like talking to a brick wall with him. I would LOVE to look like Ashley Horner or any other among many beautiful fitness models, but I still care to be attractive to my husband, within reason, so I wouldn't go that far for his sake. It may seem stupid to some, but yeah, anyways... I just wish I could convince him that my lifting weights isn't an automatic ticket to being extremely muscular, which isn't even a bad thing in my opinion, but unless you're specifically going for that, it doesn't happen just from lifting weights.

Some people wanna be average, some wanna be athletic (note: there's a difference between athletic and bulky). I wanna be athletic, and I think all you guys posting your pictures are beautiful and looking at them is motivating me to get off my butt :]

My husband was the same way. I did it anyway. I found a bench, bar, and weights on craigslist for $25. I had a bar from walmart before that that was less than $30, and bought some weight plates there also, as I needed them. My first "bench presses" were done sans a bench on the floor. I made the squat rack in the pic there from the instructions on this blog: http://freckledlifter.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/diy-squat-rack/

The result so far? Welp, he hasn't kicked me out of bed yet, haha. He'll even spot me (I mean he doesn't want me to hurt myself), and he even *gasp* seems to be liking some of the changes in my body.

lol yeah I am planning to buy a set when I get the money and say eff it to whatever his reaction may be. I know the truth, damn it! lol And he likes the way I look now, even though I'm not as squishy anymore - which tells me he doesn't really know what he finds attractive! He shows me way more physical attention now than when I was bigger and had higher BF%. I notice, obviously... even when I quit working out and watching my diet for 3 months recently - I gained 10lbs, and I noticed the attention began to dwindle along with my muscle definition! So, there's that too. I will have my weights, one way or another. lol

No sweat! Definition is only a question of body fat percentage. You can increase your bone density, strengthen your muscles, forestall osteoporosis, and receive all of the other wonderful benefits of resistance training *without lowering your body fat*!!! Then you won't look defined.

Thank you. This is what I keep trying to tell the husband creature. lol and convince him to do weights with me, that'd be even better!

Bump! Darn. I need a better weight set! Great job y'all!

you all look amazing. Fit, strong, and healthy

<a href="http://s308.photobucket.com/user/BrookeAndizzle/media/photo_zps2a2129e8.jpg.html&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk345/BrookeAndizzle/photo_zps2a2129e8.jpg&quot; border="0" alt=" photo photo_zps2a2129e8.jpg"/></a>

Heavy Lifting

Ugh What am I doing wrong with Photos?

Ugh What am I doing wrong with Photos?

You can see what I did by quoting me.


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Heavy Lifting

or not.

Yep I am hopeless... haha thanks all who tried to help. I will stop trying!

How did I miss this thread yesterday . . . oh, work got in the way. *kitten*.

I lost my first 30 pounds or so by eating at a deficit and doing cardio. I ran. A lot. I went from a size 18 to a size 14 in about 8 months.

I hurt my foot last summer and had to come up with something else to keep me from going crazy(ier). Some of my awesome guy friends (and ladies) here convinced me to start lifting heavy.

I don't eat at much of a deficit anymore, if at all. I've only lost about 5 additional pounds since I started lifting but I've gone from a size 14 (last summer) to a size 10.

Here's a before pic and a some pics I've taken over the last couple months.









I still have a long way to go. Hopefully one day I'll find my f#cking abs and I'll be able to post a pic of that :happy:

WOW...what a great inspiration you are!

Bump - My hubby does not undertand why I want to start lifting.

Here is me about mid-way into losing weight. I was still very fluffy but willing to put on a bikini. I think I was somewhere close to 160, size 12.



Then, same swimsuit and 125 pounds and a size 6-8, lost weight dieting and doing only cardio. My bf% was in the mid-30s.



March, 2013, 129 pounds (4 pounds heavier than the photo above) and a size 4. My bf dropped to the low 20s, right around 22% here.



Now, late April 2013, 126 pounds, size 2-4, and bf% right around 19%.



And these last 2 were taken within a day of each other. The first one is flexing and trying to look all bulky (HA!) and the second is what I look like when I'm not flexing.





I'm 40 years old and I've had kids. My body looks better now than it has looked since I was a teen. I wasn't at all kind to my body in my 20s and 30s, but it bounced back with heavy lifting.

Wow!! You look absolutely fantastic! With your results, not sure how anyone can argue about lifting heavy making you look masculine...