I get bulky from weights...

I would add some yoga or some sort of stretching to your routine. My thighs were getting really bulky so I added some light yoga to my routine and it helped.

How?

Possibly because it lengthens muscles......

(ducks.....)

Can yoga really build muscle?

“People always ask me, ‘Don’t you lift weights?’” says yoga expert Rodney Yee. “I sort of giggle to myself and say, ‘Yes — I lift my own body weight!’”

When you do yoga poses, Yee explains, “You’re putting your body in positions and orientations that you ultimately have to support with your muscles. So you are lifting weights.”


Like many yogis, Yee doesn’t like focusing on how yoga can sculpt your physique. They want students to focus on yoga as a way of thinking, feeling and being, versus getting preoccupied with perfecting their outer appearance.

Still, when you look at Yee’s arms (the photos in this article show him in a few strength-building yoga poses) or those of his wife, Colleen Saidman (pictured above), you can’t help but want some of the yoga poses they’re having for breakfast.

The upshot is that you can increase muscle tone and definition — and even muscle size — with yoga. But because you're limited to “lifting” your own body weight, it may take a lot more skill, time and determination than it would with lifting weights.

“Yoga can be just as effective as weights when it comes to building a stronger, more impressive physique,” says Nicholas DiNubile, M.D. Yet experts agree that whether yoga can be your sole form of strength training depends on your goals.

Weights are best for building bulk

“If all you’re looking to do is build muscle, weight training is the more practical approach,” advises DiNubile. In fact, the American Council on Exercise defines strength training as “exercising with progressively heavier resistance for the purpose of strengthening the muscular skeletal system.”

Yet the key phrase here is progressively heavier resistance. Basically, your muscles and bones must be overloaded to keep developing. With traditional weight training, as your muscles adapt to the resistance and get stronger, that weight is no longer a challenge, and you have to add more weight to achieve the same results.

With weight training, theoretically you can continue to grow the size and strength of your muscles forever — as long as you continue to add weight.



There are several reasons yoga is a more balanced way to do strength training:

A regular yoga practice can reduce your risk of injury and condition your body to perform better at things you have to do every day: walk, sit, twist, bend, lift groceries .... A form of functional fitness, yoga moves your body in the ways it was designed to move to help ensure that it keeps functioning properly. For example, in yoga you use both large and small muscles and move in many directions (twisting, arcing, etc.), not just back and forth on a one-dimensional plane, as in the forward-back motion of a bicep curl.

Yoga tones muscles all over your body, in balance with each other. Weight training exercises typically isolate and flex one muscle or muscle group at a time.


Yoga relies on eccentric contraction, where the muscle stretches as it contracts, giving the muscles that sleek, elongated look while increasing flexibility in the muscles and joints. Weight training relies on the opposite physical principle of concentric muscle contraction, which means the muscle gets smaller as it contracts. Without proper stretching, the muscle fibers heal close together, giving the muscle that compact, bulging look.

Yoga increases muscle endurance because you typically hold any given pose for a period of time and repeat it several times during a yoga workout.

For good general fitness, do some of both.

I advise clients who are just trying to stay fit and healthy (not do body-building) to get a mix of both body-weight exercises and workouts using weights or resistance tools. Many studies have shown that the more variety in your workout routine, the faster you’ll see results.

Note that body-weight exercises also include good-ol’ pushups, squats and other calisthenics — any type of movement that requires you to hold or lift yourself up with your limbs.

While the most important thing is to find a form of exercise you love and can see yourself doing as a lifelong habit, I encourage my clients to continally try new and different forms of exercise. If you include many types of workout techniques, you’ll continue to test and push your body in different ways, and you'll keep growing as a fitness enthusiast and as an individual.



Which yoga poses are best for developing strength?


Yee explains that certain types of yoga poses build muscle tone in different ways.

“Challenging arm balances and inversion poses are very effective for building muscle strength,” he says, “because they flex groups of smaller muscles — not just the major muscles you work with a weight machine — to support the body’s weight during the pose.”

“Holding standing poses such as the Warrior Poses and Triangle Pose is great for strengthening the leg muscles.” he adds. “And in balance poses such as Tree Pose, one leg has to hold up your entire body. So you’re increasing your strength just by putting your weight on that leg.”

By holding the positions longer, doing more repetitions, and learning new yoga poses, you can make your yoga practice more or less challenging, just as you can with traditional body weight exercises like squats and lunges. Just don’t try to go straight to the advanced yoga videos and poses like arm balances to get on a fast-track to “cut” arms.

I can add a few articles from bb.com if you like.

Yeah, you look soooo bulky.

Wow, that's quite some wall of text.

You can progressively overload bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, sandbag, strongman, etc exercises and get stronger muscles. What of it? Yoga incorporates some pretty advanced bodyweight exercises that take people years to master and provide massive scope for progressive overload. What of it?

I'm not sure what the point of your response was here?

Wow, that's quite some wall of text.

You can progressively overload bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbbell, barbell, sandbag, strongman, etc exercises and get stronger muscles. What of it? Yoga incorporates some pretty advanced bodyweight exercises that take people years to master and provide massive scope for progressive overload. What of it?

I'm not sure what the point of your response was here?

That both work depending on your goals.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

I can't figure out her point.

Being able to hold tree pose or a head stand is mostly about flexibility and balance, not strength.

My point is functional fitness. I don't equate having a lot of muscle visible with being fit. Just my opinion.

If you have short limbs, small amounts of muscle gain will look larger. My limbs are long in relation to my body, I've never felt like gaining muscle makes them look bulkier. If anything they look thinner.

You are confusing being muscular with being inflexible.

They are mutually exclusive.

Uh, no.

Weightlifters are some of the most flexible athletes. Also, have you never seen a gymnast? Srsly.

You are agreeing with what I wrote, but you are disagreeing with me?

I don't get it.....

You didn't say what you meant, then.

If you say two things are mutually exclusive, it means they can't exist at the same time. You said it's not possible to be inflexible and muscular at the same time. That doesn't make any sense, so I assumed based on context that you meant you couldn't be flexible and muscular at the same time, which is a popular misconception.

How about:

Being muscular and being flexible aren't mutually exclusive.......

.....I'm sure that makes you happier!

i wish this thread would just die already.

I just hope the OP knows that if something isn't working for her to do what is best for her. Everyone can say that women don't get bulky by lifting I know that not to be the case and from what the OP said so does she. Do what it best for you and forget the ones who think they know how your body works because that is the "norm".

Show me a photo of what you think is "bulky"

I love lifting. Heavy and Low reps.
Dropping body fat percentages and pant sizes.

After a good season, my jeans are tight for 2 days. As my muscles repair, and hold water.
This is normal.

It is not mass.