Women who put on muscle fast

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

I got really into weights and Les Mills BodyPump.. Was doing it a fair few times a week with heavy weights (no other women in the class were lifting what I was lifting & I wasn't taking anything apart from the odd protein shake here and there)

The long and short of it is I became 'bulky' my upper body, shoulders, back and arms was just horrible when I had clothes on

No, you didn't.

Show us the pics and measurements to prove it, because if that happened while you weren't gaining weight then you are a marvel of biology.

Why does she need to 'prove' anything? Her perception was that she started to look bulky doing those activities, and she changed her habits to avoid that. Her idea of bulky and yours may not be the same, but that doesn't mean that her perception of her own body is invalid or necessarily inaccurate.

Body image is an intensely personal thing, and what we perceive may not match others' perceptions of us, because their view is measured by a different fundamental scale to ours, produced by their own experiences. We all know someone who obsesses about some part of their appearance that we don't even notice. Just because their 'hooked' nose/'bulky' calves/'sticky-out' ears/ 'frizzy' hair doesn't bother our aesthetic sense, or measure up to our personal frame of reference for those things, does not mean that it isn't a real problem/issue and a source of self-consciousness to the person who owns the nose/ears/hair/calves/shoulders in question.

I got really into weights and Les Mills BodyPump.. Was doing it a fair few times a week with heavy weights (no other women in the class were lifting what I was lifting & I wasn't taking anything apart from the odd protein shake here and there)

The long and short of it is I became 'bulky' my upper body, shoulders, back and arms was just horrible when I had clothes on

No, you didn't.

Show us the pics and measurements to prove it, because if that happened while you weren't gaining weight then you are a marvel of biology.

Why does she need to 'prove' anything? Her perception was that she started to look bulky doing those activities, and she changed her habits to avoid that. Her idea of bulky and yours may not be the same, but that doesn't mean that her perception of her own body is invalid or necessarily inaccurate.

Body image is an intensely personal thing, and what we perceive may not match others' perceptions of us, because their view is measured by a different fundamental scale to ours, produced by their own experiences. We all know someone who obsesses about some part of their appearance that we don't even notice. Just because their 'hooked' nose/'bulky' calves/'sticky-out' ears/ 'frizzy' hair doesn't bother our aesthetic sense, or measure up to our personal frame of reference for those things, does not mean that it isn't a real problem/issue and a source of self-consciousness to the person who owns the nose/ears/hair/calves/shoulders in question.

People need to learn to love their bodies, regardless of whether or not they are working to make improvements. No amount of diet or exercise will make you happy if you can't find happiness with who you are *right now.*

I got really into weights and Les Mills BodyPump.. Was doing it a fair few times a week with heavy weights (no other women in the class were lifting what I was lifting & I wasn't taking anything apart from the odd protein shake here and there)

The long and short of it is I became 'bulky' my upper body, shoulders, back and arms was just horrible when I had clothes on

No, you didn't.

Show us the pics and measurements to prove it, because if that happened while you weren't gaining weight then you are a marvel of biology.

Why does she need to 'prove' anything? Her perception was that she started to look bulky doing those activities, and she changed her habits to avoid that. Her idea of bulky and yours may not be the same, but that doesn't mean that her perception of her own body is invalid or necessarily inaccurate.

Body image is an intensely personal thing, and what we perceive may not match others' perceptions of us, because their view is measured by a different fundamental scale to ours, produced by their own experiences. We all know someone who obsesses about some part of their appearance that we don't even notice. Just because their 'hooked' nose/'bulky' calves/'sticky-out' ears/ 'frizzy' hair doesn't bother our aesthetic sense, or measure up to our personal frame of reference for those things, does not mean that it isn't a real problem/issue and a source of self-consciousness to the person who owns the nose/ears/hair/calves/shoulders in question.

This isn't a body image issue. Post that in another thread. The discussion is centered on women who claim to put on muscle quickly and explanations of why that is simply not physically possible.

I suppose though, thinking about your argument, that all those anorexics who suffer from body dysmorphia should just be supported in their dysfunction because that's their perceptions and "body image is an intensely personal thing." Perhaps the reality of a person's body fat %, LBM %, etc. do have a legitimate place in these discussions?

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

pics?

why?

My argument, in response to a rather rude and dismissive demand for 'proof' that the woman quoted became bulky from lifting weights, was that body image is fundamentally about individual perception of one's own body. The woman who said she became bulky became so in her own view ie. she felt that the image she saw in the mirror - her body image - was too muscularly developed in a particular area for her own comfort. Her view and the reality of her body may not match up to the perception of 'bulk' held by the person who demanded proof, but that does not mean that her perception of her own body is necessarily invalid.

I get terribly fed up with being told women don't bulk up, or women don't look like body builders without steroids. I put on muscle very easily, and although I don't end up looking like a body builder when I do heavy weights, I certainly get rather manish in the arms and legs. When I rowed a lot I had very big arm and thigh muscles, and was certainly not on steroids. I didn't even eat much protein by most people's standards (being vegetarian).

So are there any other women on here like me, who actually do get big muscles doing weights, and don't really want them?

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

pics?

why?

Because they want to examine your pics and then tell you why you're wrong and then lecture you on weights, body fat %, muscle definition, heavy lifting vs. baby pink dumbbells, and throw in a bunch of sarcastic digs so they can show that they're part of the cool kids' club. Ad nauseam.

Yea. So sorry, that people who have been through this process are attempting to illustrate a point. Go find someone who will give you a hug, pat your head, and tell you "wow, you're so bulky!" It's all about the teddy bears and rainbows for some, actual progress for others.

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

pics?

why?

Because they want to examine your pics and then tell you why you're wrong and then lecture you on weights, body fat %, muscle definition, heavy lifting vs. baby pink dumbbells, and throw in a bunch of sarcastic digs so they can show that they're part of the cool kids' club. Ad nauseam.

Yea. So sorry, that people who have been through this process are attempting to illustrate a point. Go find someone who will give you a hug, pat your head, and tell you "wow, you're so bulky!" It's all about the teddy bears and rainbows for some, actual progress for others.

LMAO!!!!

Sweetie, you've been here since March and you already have over 4000 posts. You seriously need to find something better to do with your time.

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

pics?

why?

Because they want to examine your pics and then tell you why you're wrong and then lecture you on weights, body fat %, muscle definition, heavy lifting vs. baby pink dumbbells, and throw in a bunch of sarcastic digs so they can show that they're part of the cool kids' club. Ad nauseam.

Yea. So sorry, that people who have been through this process are attempting to illustrate a point. Go find someone who will give you a hug, pat your head, and tell you "wow, you're so bulky!" It's all about the teddy bears and rainbows for some, actual progress for others.

LMAO!!!!

Sweetie, you've been here since March and you already have over 4000 posts. You seriously need to find something better to do with your time.

When you have no better reply, just fling offtopic insults. Seems about right. He's giving good advice and explaining objective reality, while you're just tossing pointless insults and digs that help no one.

I wish I had this "problem". My legs are always kind of man muscular, but damn can I get some upper body to match?

pics?

why?

Because they want to examine your pics and then tell you why you're wrong and then lecture you on weights, body fat %, muscle definition, heavy lifting vs. baby pink dumbbells, and throw in a bunch of sarcastic digs so they can show that they're part of the cool kids' club. Ad nauseam.

Yea. So sorry, that people who have been through this process are attempting to illustrate a point. Go find someone who will give you a hug, pat your head, and tell you "wow, you're so bulky!" It's all about the teddy bears and rainbows for some, actual progress for others.

LMAO!!!!

Sweetie, you've been here since March and you already have over 4000 posts. You seriously need to find something better to do with your time.

When you have no better reply, just fling offtopic insults. Seems about right. He's giving good advice and explaining objective reality, while you're just tossing pointless insults and digs that help no one.

Does strength training make you look like this?
Boy, where do I start with this one. I can’t tell you how many female clients have come to me worried that strength training was going to make them bulky. I hear this at least a couple times a month. Why is this such a big issue for women? Is it a legitimate concern?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (2011) women that participate in high volume and high intensity exercise can experience significant increases in hypertrophy. Furthermore, Kell (2011) states that adult men and women respond to resistance training in very similar fashions across the board. Meaning pound for pound, women do gain as much muscle mass as men when you look at the percent of muscle mass gained. Uh oh! This is exactly what most women are trying to avoid. It’s not looking good so far. Maybe you women are on to something. Or maybe not…

To build muscle 3 things must be present:

A positive net protein balance. Without this, your efforts in the gym may actually be catabolic (muscle wasting). This would certainly keep women from hulking out. This is also why so many people buy protein shakes. (I’m guilty!)
Intense and heavy lifting. This is what stimulates your body to make a change. To do this, you’re going to need to perform at least one set on any exercise that is exhaustive and between 1-12 repetitions. The resistance needed for this is going to be different for everybody and may not really be considered “significant” amounts of resistance for some people, in particular women and beginning lifters. For example, using 100lb dumbbells for a dumbbell bench press would put me in this arena. For my wife to get the same results, she would likely use about 20lb dumbbells. Not a very significant amount for me, but definitely significant enough for her.
The infamous testosterone! The presence of testosterone increases our ability to use the ingested protein and the more testosterone a person has the more protein they can ingest (because it will get used) and that’s a great recipe for making bigger muscles. We all know that men have more testosterone than women. In fact men have 10-15 times the amount (Tipton, 2001), thus men have a greater ability to gain muscle…oh sorry…”hulk-out”. But does this mean it’s impossible for women to get bulky?
The difference in testosterone levels seems to explain the majority of muscular differences between men and women. There are also a couple other major differences that affect muscle mass between men and women that are often forgotten or overlooked. For instance women typically have a greater percentage of type I (slow-twitch) muscle fibers than men which are smaller than type II (fast-twitch fibers) (Tipton, 2001). Also, there is some evidence that female hormones may actually inhibit muscle protein synthesis (Tipton, 2001). Even so, the fact remains that women still have some testosterone and thus an ability to gain at least some muscle. But they should be thankful for that! Why? Keep reading and find out…

There are a great number of articles written on the web that discuss how women cannot get bulky because they lack the testosterone levels of men. Big revelation there! It’s obvious that men generally have more muscle mass than women and as I previously discussed, this is directly correlated to higher testosterone levels, but I think they are missing the point. The fact is women CAN get bigger muscles! BUT…does that mean they can get bulky? Well, that’s a matter of opinion. For example, if a woman gains 5lbs of muscle does that mean she’s gotten bulky? For some yes, for others no. There’s more to the story than just muscular hypertrophy (gaining muscle size) though. In most cases women who’ve gained muscle mass have also lost fat and actually gotten smaller but since they have more muscle definition and can actually see their muscles they feel like they’ve gotten bulky. Even the slightest bit of muscle definition can make a woman feel like she’s becoming “man-like”.


Maggie Diubaldo: Sexy or bulky?
A question I often ask myself is why do women even worry about this? If strength training truly makes you bulky, then get over it! That’s who you are! Why should it matter right? Well, you might be asking yourself that question if you are a male, but if you’re a female you’re probably thinking something along these lines, “Duh! Nobody wants to look like a hulked out freak!” Probably true for most women, but I’m sure there are a lot of female bodybuilders that would disagree, especially the ones that are drug-free, and wouldn’t consider themselves “freaks”. There are many women that would be considered feminine and sexy that perform a lot of strength training. Not only that, they push themselves very hard in order to gain a more sexy physique! Would you consider Maggie Diubaldo a manly hulk or a sexy fitness model? Keep in mind, she does a lot of strength training!

Personally, I do believe many women simply think they are getting bulky when really they are not. I’ve seen this many times in my personal training career. I once had a female client tell me she could no longer use the Stairmaster® Stepmill because she was developing thunder thighs…after only 2 weeks! That’s pretty darn close to impossible. I also often meet with women about starting a strength training program and the first thing out of their mouth is, “I don’t want to get bulky”. To which I typically respond by asking them if they are taking steroids. When they respond with “no”, I then tell them to stop worrying about it. But then I realize that sounds mean so I ask this follow up question, “Does the thought of getting bulky outweigh the plethora of benefits to be had from strength training?” Truly the answer is no! Becoming a she-hulk really should be the last of your worries ladies. However, overcoming a woman’s fear of becoming an Amazon-woman is almost impossible. I wish there were some magic words to make those fears go away but I digress; all I or anybody else can do is educate women about the many health benefits that can be derived from strength training.

If you are the type that is worried strength training will turn you into a “man” then here are my suggestions:

Only perform 2 full body circuits per week
Perform just 1 exercise per body part or perform 10-12 exercises that work several muscles at once
Keep your repetitions between 15-20
USE ENOUGH RESISTANCE TO CAUSE MUSCLE EXHAUSTION (hey, you still want some benefit, right? There are just some things you can’t avoid.)
Keep your calorie intake at or below your basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Just to be sure – check daily for facial hair such as a beard or mustache as this is a sure sign you’re becoming a man.
Follow these guidelines and it will pretty much be impossible for you to gain a significant amount of muscle mass.

Also, remember this: strength training is the best exercise anyone can do to improve health; particularly long term health. That’s right! Even better than aerobic exercise. Aerobic training (aka cardio) is good but not near as good for you as strength training.

So ladies, do yourself a favor and stop worrying about becoming a mastodon and get out there and pump some iron. Your health depends on it.



References

ACSM. (2011). Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: Guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(7), 1334-1359.

Kell, R. T. (2011). The influence of periodized resistance training on strength changes in men and women. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(3), 735-744.

Tipton, K. D. (2001). Gender differences in protein metabolism. Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 4(6), 493-498.

Merely trying to add another perspective to the discussion, and responding a specific part of a specific post, not the whole thread. If you don't want to acknowledge that a woman may feel herself to be too 'bulky' despite the scientific difficulties in that matching up to your view of that term, please, continue on in blissful ignorance.