"Bulky" vs "Muscular". The real definition.

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Replies

  • JoJo__Fit
    JoJo__Fit Posts: 258 Member
    Jenna Renee is my newest fitness motivator. She lifts heavy weights and is muscular!!!

    jenna.jpg

    jenna_renee_5.jpg

    jennajamie.jpg

    Muscular?????? From Where???? Ewwhh NO!!

    Jamie Eason YES!!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    In.

    I have bulky days. Today I'm feeling pretty bulky. Wah wah wah. I need chocolate.
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
    Whatever Jessica Biel is...I'll take two!
  • JoJo__Fit
    JoJo__Fit Posts: 258 Member
    1555505_423252987778394_1759159647_n_zpsddb62e6b.jpg
    1486618_418426398261053_762656842_n_zps4e73ba50.jpg
    ed7968e1-5989-4230-8d7b-b7026c83afe2_zps2b1cbaa1.jpg

    Now this is WOW!!
  • She_Hulk
    She_Hulk Posts: 277
    Jenna Renee is my newest fitness motivator. She lifts heavy weights and is muscular!!!

    jenna.jpg

    jenna_renee_5.jpg

    jennajamie.jpg


    Agree! Jamie Eason ROCKS!!!!
    Muscular?????? From Where???? Ewwhh NO!!

    Jamie Eason YES!!
  • RECowgill
    RECowgill Posts: 881 Member
    I like them all. Bulky, muscular, whatever. Beautiful women!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    1555505_423252987778394_1759159647_n_zpsddb62e6b.jpg
    1486618_418426398261053_762656842_n_zps4e73ba50.jpg
    ed7968e1-5989-4230-8d7b-b7026c83afe2_zps2b1cbaa1.jpg

    Now this is WOW!!
    Drool.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    Having to define bulky and muscular again.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    bump
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    Had to bump this. I think it would be helpful if when women post concerns about bulk,hugeness,muscleyness or whatever you want to call it the poster should show pics of what they are now or what they dont want to become. It would save a the rest of us from going at each other in the defense of lifting heavy. And thanks for answering the question i was going to ask.
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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    I wanted people here (especially females) to know what the difference is between "bulky" and "muscular" because for some reason, many think they are one in the same when they aren't. So first let's define the words:

    bulk·y (blk)
    adj. bulk·i·er, bulk·i·est
    1. Having considerable bulk; massive.
    2. Of large size for its weight: a bulky knit.
    3. Clumsy to manage; unwieldy.


    mus·cu·lar (msky-lr)
    adj.
    1. Of, relating to, or consisting of muscle: muscular contraction.
    2. Having well-developed muscles: a muscular build.
    3. Having or suggesting great forcefulness, especially at the expense of subtlety: muscular reasoning that does not bother with the finer points; muscular advocacy groups.



    bobrien.jpg

    This would be BULKY


    fitnessgirl1.jpg

    This (at least here on the forums by most members) would be MUSCULAR


    As you can see there is a definite difference. So when a female here says "she looks too bulky" and is referring to a "muscular" female, then the description is WRONG. What should be said is she is "too muscular" for my liking. Now of course "muscularity" is defined by how much definition and body fat you're carrying so you can be muscular and not so defined. Like this:

    BielBlue1.jpg
    BielWorkingOutJun2006368.jpg
    Just thought that needed to cleared up.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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    I'm sorry but I feel like that shot putter is very muscular, she is also bulky.
    She's "muscular" with a layer of fat covering the muscle which is defined as "bulky".
    I think the second girl is what I would call very defined, not muscular, I don't think she has a whole lot of muscle mass, just low bodyfat.
    She has a degree of muscularity not carried by the average female. One can be "defined" without muscularity. Lots of long distance runners are like this. Defined in the upper body, but carrying very little muscularity.
    Jessica biel I would say is muscular and I think she is quite defined too, not as much as the second girl but still very defined compared to the average person.
    But again more athletic and muscular compared to the average actress in Hollywood.
    I understand what you are trying to do though, many girls confuse muscle definition with being bulky. A lot of girls just don't want to have that much muscle definition. What they want is enough definition to avoid saggy skin but not so much that muscle striations begin to show through the skin.
    As mentioned one can have definition without much muscularity.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Nice post.
    Guess I am classed as muscular, although I have been told I am just very lean @ 12% bodyfat.
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  • LumberJacck
    LumberJacck Posts: 559 Member
    I'm not convinced that you can accurately define a word to be one thing or another, and relate it to a specific type of body shape.

    The exception to this are scientific words that most people never get to see, but they're out there, defining slight variations of one thing or another.
  • trojan_bb
    trojan_bb Posts: 699 Member
    I'm not convinced that you can accurately define a word to be one thing or another, and relate it to a specific type of body shape.

    The exception to this are scientific words that most people never get to see, but they're out there, defining slight variations of one thing or another.

    There are words which have specific meanings in the fitness world, developed over decades of use. People on MFP confuse them regularly.

    The OP was spot on.
  • LumberJacck
    LumberJacck Posts: 559 Member
    I'm not convinced that you can accurately define a word to be one thing or another, and relate it to a specific type of body shape.

    The exception to this are scientific words that most people never get to see, but they're out there, defining slight variations of one thing or another.

    There are words which have specific meanings in the fitness world, developed over decades of use. People on MFP confuse them regularly.

    The OP was spot on.

    So there is "Bulky" and "Muscular", what are the other names that the fitness world has defined?
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    I'm not convinced that you can accurately define a word to be one thing or another, and relate it to a specific type of body shape.

    The exception to this are scientific words that most people never get to see, but they're out there, defining slight variations of one thing or another.

    There are words which have specific meanings in the fitness world, developed over decades of use. People on MFP confuse them regularly.

    The OP was spot on.

    So there is "Bulky" and "Muscular", what are the other names that the fitness world has defined?
    There is "ripped", "shredded", "jacked", "juiced", "cut", "natty", "freaky" to name a few.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Just wanted to add, anyone afraid of getting 'bulky' should be watching the womens weightlifting commonwealth final. Tiny wee awesome women! :smile:
  • robinhuber165
    robinhuber165 Posts: 3
    No one has the authority to say what is and isn't objectively bulky. It's not a scientific term. We should each use the term as we see fit.

    I personally get a little bulky when I lift. I look more toned, but suddenly my legs won't fit into my pants, and my sleeves get tight. I look strong, but less feminine.The reason is that contrary to what some people will have you think, lifting weights and eating a clean diet doesn't in itself lead to fat loss (especially if you are not medically overweight to begin with and have been eating clean forever). If you are not losing fat but are gaining some muscle, yes you WILL be relatively more bulky than before. The good news is that you won't mind too much, because you'll be so much more toned. Even without fat loss, deadlifts do a fast number on the cellulite on the back of my thighs, for example (Honestly I think it all but disappeared in 2 weeks). And I never thought I'd say that I'm happier with my bigger, more toned thighs, than I was with my (already big) jiggly thighs. And here's the best part: If you are diligent in cutting some calories along with eating right, you CAN lose fat. And when the fat comes off your *bulky* body, you will look AMAZING. I am now in the slightly bulky, toned phase and trying to lose about 10 pounds of fat (going from 130 to 120). It's not easy. I did this before a couple years ago though, and trust me it is worth the trouble.
  • trojan_bb
    trojan_bb Posts: 699 Member
    ^^^^

    No, it's important to NOT use the words as we each see fit in order to EXACTLY avoid making a post like yours. Toned, bulky, no fat loss but cellulite gone....lol. Disaster.
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I really hate these posts. They completely ignore women with high muscle mass and reasonable BF. My favorite body I know in RL belongs to a woman with sub 20% BF who weighs 155-160 and is 5'5". She is bulky. She has high lean mass. She is big. It is not a bad thing.

    Strongwoman Alanna Casey, is in my opinion, bulky and awesome. I'm sick of fitness models being the only acceptable muscular women on this forum. Check out Belle of the Bar on FB if you are a woman, join it and you will see a lot of female powerlifters who are BIG and not fat--in fact, bulky.
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    P.S. Also kind of irritates me that you are implying that the body builder is somehow superior to the shot put athlete. The shot put athlete could probably kick the body builder's *kitten*.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    P.S. Also kind of irritates me that you are implying that the body builder is somehow superior to the shot put athlete. The shot put athlete could probably kick the body builder's *kitten*.
    Where's the implication? It was just a description of bodies and NOT a comparison to athletic ability, talent or skill.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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  • robinhuber165
    robinhuber165 Posts: 3
    trojan_bb: are you trying to communicate something useful, or are you just randomly lashing out at a stranger? pretty sad.
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    Hey ninerbuff or anyone else that can answer this. I understand the difference between bulky,muscular and fit, i understand that you can not build muscle eating a deficit. Whats confusing me is before i lost weight i could not see muscle definition,after the fat left i could obviously see the muscle, 6 months later with continued deficit or mainetance diet and continued progressive lifting the muscles are bigger, there are traps and lats now , i have a hard time shaving my armpit even , theres bulging muscles on my thighs. Im still very slowly losing weight, ive only got about 5 more lbs to lose. So whats going on. Also it makes it sound like every body whos fat just has this ripped body underneath the fat and as long as they preserve as much of it as possible ,lifting while losing it will be unveiled, i just dont get it. Sorry this is so long but i have another question, young guys and some girls for that matter look ripped have they done a bulk and cut or were they just never fat so all they had to do was lift and eat? And like my favorite look is erin sterns body,she is muscular,athletic strong etc. Does she bulk and cut or was she just building all that muscle lifting heavy and eating . Thank you
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    Anybody?
  • rogerOb1
    rogerOb1 Posts: 318 Member
    I'm not convinced that you can accurately define a word to be one thing or another, and relate it to a specific type of body shape.

    The exception to this are scientific words that most people never get to see, but they're out there, defining slight variations of one thing or another.

    There are words which have specific meanings in the fitness world, developed over decades of use. People on MFP confuse them regularly.

    The OP was spot on.

    So there is "Bulky" and "Muscular", what are the other names that the fitness world has defined?
    There is "ripped", "shredded", "jacked", "juiced", "cut", "natty", "freaky" to name a few.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    ROFL

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