Cardio? The key to a perfect body?

<~~minimal cardio, heavy weights. Do whatever makes you happiest. Eat a moderate deficit, get a good amount of protein. Have patience and put your heart into it.

Don't be scared of using weights if you want to try it. You would have to lift significant amounts over a period of time and eat pretty big to get bulky. If you are not keen on weights you can stick to body weight exercises which are just as effective. Cardio will lean you out and it will not make you flabby and skinny. I would take to the outside walking or running trails, hills, bleachers to shake you your routine.

well first I must say that I have far from a perfect body, but that being said, I believe in weight lifting whole-heartedly. it is imperative for women. it strengthens your bones and helps keep you fit. cardio is more for your heart. add in some resistance and strength training - I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference it can make! i lift HEAVY and I love it. i am not bulky because i am a woman and women do not make enough testosterone on their own to get HUGE like men. give it a go and see what happens.

These pics are all of the same woman. Is her body on the right the kind of body you're looking for? If so, she got that way by weightlifting.

The picture on the left is of her at her goal weight, on the right, after body recomposition with weight. Note that she weighs more on the right than she does on the left, even though she looks smaller on the right.

Sorry, you gotta lift weights. No way around it.

These pics are all of the same woman. Is her body on the right the kind of body you're looking for? If so, she got that way by weightlifting.

The picture on the left is of her at her goal weight, on the right, after body recomposition with weight. Note that she weighs more on the right than she does on the left, even though she looks smaller on the right.

Sorry, you gotta lift weights. No way around it.

I love how she weighs more in the last picture.

I think she looks bulky. It's all about personal taste at the end of the day.

I believe you mean muscular. A "bulky" person usually doesn't display much muscle definition. Think offensive lineman here.

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I disagree, I think she is muscular AND has quite a bit of fat. It's not a 'cut' look. But she is beautiful too. Beautiful and bulky!

Maybe "bulky" for a bodybuilding competition, but FAR from "bulky" athletes. Again look at offensive linemen or even some female powerlifters and shotputters. I'll refer you to a thread a made a few months ago on this.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/511229--bulky-vs-muscular-the-real-definition?hl=bulky+vs+muscular&page=1


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why not a mix of both? Adding in interval training done for 20-30 minutes max 2 days a week has helped me a ton with increasing my regular lifts by increasing my vo2 max throughout. Over half way through training i would be sweating and breathing heavily and made final lifts suck. after adding in the interval training i have no such problem anymore. Balance is key

I think she looks bulky. It's all about personal taste at the end of the day.

I believe you mean muscular. A "bulky" person usually doesn't display much muscle definition. Think offensive lineman here.

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I disagree, I think she is muscular AND has quite a bit of fat. It's not a 'cut' look. But she is beautiful too. Beautiful and bulky!

Maybe "bulky" for a bodybuilding competition, but FAR from "bulky" athletes. Again look at offensive linemen or even some female powerlifters and shotputters. I'll refer you to a thread a made a few months ago on this.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/511229--bulky-vs-muscular-the-real-definition?hl=bulky+vs+muscular&page=1


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Thanks for the link to the thread, unfortunately the piccies aren't there, but I've seen some of them on Leigh's site I think.

I did a search and I couldn't find a technical weight class or body fat percentage of your athletic 'bulky' term, so I guess that means it's your subjective idea of the term.

I'm using the word bulky in the way it is defined in the dictionary
Quote (of a person) heavily built.
"a bulky, overcoat-clad figure"
synonyms: heavily built, stocky, thickset, sturdy, sturdily built, well built, burly, strapping, brawny, muscular, solid, heavy, hefty, meaty; More

I have a different benchmark, personally, I'm grew up in 70s 80s England (and California) where everyone had 24 inch waists! We were all slim, and it was really unusual to see anyone even slightly overweight.

In my eyes, the above athlete looks heavy to me, and way thicker than the normal athlete that keeps the muscle and weight lower for speed and agility purposes. She's got it perfect for whatever those Crossfitters do I imagine, considering she's the winner.

Why am I being so pedantic? Because when a woman says she would like to lift but doesn't want to bulk up, this look is exactly what she is talking about. I'm not alone in wanting curves (10 inches between waist and hips), feminine neck and shoulders, arms that are strong but not male looking, and thighs that fit in jeans. That's why I love Bret Contraras, he gets the female body building thing so well.

Try the Tone it up girls on YT

I have noticed that when people ask for cardio advice on here alot of people belittle cardio and insist that you have to lift to get a great, lean bod. I can only tell you my experience. Three days a week I swim, do acquagym and have been on MFP for over a year. I've lost 20lbs and have gotten alot leaner--no flab, and like the way I look. Now all you lifters out there hang on, because I have nothing against lifting, or the results it gives, but you have to remember that not everyone can ( I have AO, plus wrist issues), or wants to lift, and that's OK. Yes, in my opinion you can get lean with "just" cardio, and the swimmers at my pool sure look lean and healthy. Wishing you the best.

Swimming provides resistance. I would guarantee that a swimmer's upper body strength is probably much better than say a long distance runner. So you are doing resistance training.

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Thankyou---you should see my shoulders. However I do acquagym also and that's resistance. For being 59 yrs old, and considering the OA, I'm doing pretty well

---

but there's always room to get better.

Why am I being so pedantic? Because when a woman says she would like to lift but doesn't want to bulk up, this look is exactly what she is talking about. I'm not alone in wanting curves (10 inches between waist and hips), feminine neck and shoulders, arms that are strong but not male looking, and thighs that fit in jeans. That's why I love Bret Contraras, he gets the female body building thing so well.

Lol! 10 inches between waist and hips? Whether that is even possible is determined by genetics - torso length. The "cinched" waist occurs between your bottom rib and the top of your hip bones. The lanky runway models you see generally have long torsos - 8 inches between those bones. So it is possible they could have quite a bit of difference in waist and hip sizes and look "curvy" - they have the space to make that gradual "cinching" in. I have a short torso - 2 to 3 inches between those bones. I could NEVER get 10 inches difference in measurements between waist and hips because I only have 2 inches length (top to bottom) for the "cinch" to occur - that would look really freaky if I pulled it off! ><

Google torso lengths and see the difference. I am not knocking your goal, but being realistic about what is achievable given your body type will save some disappointment and frustration! Check your length before setting your heart on it

I suppose I've been lucky then, because I actually have 13 inches at the moment, 24 inch waist and 37 inch hips.!
I got the waist down from about 30 inches by deficit and lowering body fat, and added an inch on the butt from weight lifting.

I thought 10 was about normal. 12 is technically hourglass. I'm 5'7".

Edited to add: out of curiosity I just measured the distance between the bottom rib and the hip bone. 4 inches.

Ah, I see what has happened. I meant 10 inches between the measurements of the waist and hips. Wow that would look weird having a body that long! Haha!

Sorry, you gotta lift weights. No way around it.

You CAN acheive this without weights.
I used to look similar to inbetween pics 2 and 3 a few years ago....and i didn't lift any weights at all!
I did a 1 hour Step Class, 20-30 mins running on the Treadmill and 30 mins on the Rowing machine (5 times a week).
2 hours a day in the gym is a bit too much exercise for me now (gotten lazy in my old age ),...but it can be done without weights.

If you did your diet without losing muscle mass. Sadly that's not what happens to the majority in diets.

So they end up at goal with in pic 1 having lost a decent amount of what could have been there in pic 3 if diet/exercise had been done right - as you appear to have done it.

Your total body workout routine, like those swimming with lower body cardio, and perhaps a reasonable deficit the whole time, probably put you in a state where you didn't have to make up for what was lost.

Then again, even before diet, some start with more muscle mass because of recreation done, work, genetics, ect. Which just helps the end-game a lot.

So perhaps a caveat is in order. If you are doing full body muscle using cardio at the start of a reasonable diet with decent amount of protein and already have muscle mass, you can probably get by with no lifting.
If you have dieted on and off going fad extreme each time, and/or you weren't that physical ever, you better do some lifting during the diet to help build back what was lost.

I think she looks bulky. It's all about personal taste at the end of the day.

I believe you mean muscular. A "bulky" person usually doesn't display much muscle definition. Think offensive lineman here.

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I disagree, I think she is muscular AND has quite a bit of fat. It's not a 'cut' look. But she is beautiful too. Beautiful and bulky!

Maybe "bulky" for a bodybuilding competition, but FAR from "bulky" athletes. Again look at offensive linemen or even some female powerlifters and shotputters. I'll refer you to a thread a made a few months ago on this.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/511229--bulky-vs-muscular-the-real-definition?hl=bulky+vs+muscular&page=1


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Thanks for the link to the thread, unfortunately the piccies aren't there, but I've seen some of them on Leigh's site I think.

I did a search and I couldn't find a technical weight class or body fat percentage of your athletic 'bulky' term, so I guess that means it's your subjective idea of the term.

I'm using the word bulky in the way it is defined in the dictionary
Quote (of a person) heavily built.
"a bulky, overcoat-clad figure"
synonyms: heavily built, stocky, thickset, sturdy, sturdily built, well built, burly, strapping, brawny, muscular, solid, heavy, hefty, meaty; More

I have a different benchmark, personally, I'm grew up in 70s 80s England (and California) where everyone had 24 inch waists! We were all slim, and it was really unusual to see anyone even slightly overweight.

In my eyes, the above athlete looks heavy to me, and way thicker than the normal athlete that keeps the muscle and weight lower for speed and agility purposes. She's got it perfect for whatever those Crossfitters do I imagine, considering she's the winner.

Why am I being so pedantic? Because when a woman says she would like to lift but doesn't want to bulk up, this look is exactly what she is talking about. I'm not alone in wanting curves (10 inches between waist and hips), feminine neck and shoulders, arms that are strong but not male looking, and thighs that fit in jeans. That's why I love Bret Contraras, he gets the female body building thing so well.

Here's the pics:



This would be BULKY




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:



Just thought that needed to cleared up.

And as I've shown with Jessica Biel, it's more about how much bodyfat you have over that muscle so one doesn't look to "muscular".

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Too much pedantic arguing over semantics. That athletic crossfitter is a lovely woman, but she absolutely is "bulky" or "slightly manly" or "too muscular" or however else anyone with that aesthetic wants to describe it.

Doesn't make it bad or good, it's just a preference.

I DEFINITELY want Camille's body!! Sigh...:sad:

I'd be happy with this! Keeping on with my lifting!