Scary girl muscles - Olympic edition!

Thanks for this thread!! This is a really good message to all us ladies and makes me want to go get my 'lift on'

IMO this lady is too bulky (OMG, I hope she's not someone who might read that!). This is the perfect example of looking good in clothes, but not looking good without them (in the tight gym clothings). I am fully aware that "good" is an opinion, but I often get slammed by MFP members when I say I don't want to lift heavy because I don't want to get bulky. They tell me women can't get bulky because I guess they wrongly assume I'm thinking I'd look like Arnold if I lifted heavy. I'm afraid I'll look like this bulky women above. Kudos to her for putting in the work, but that's not a look I'd ever want for me.

First, I disagree that she is "too bulky" but we are all entitled to our own opinion. Second, she probably eats a LOT. You won't ever look like that unless you are eating above maintenance AND lifting heavy.

I understand that. But it's been suggested to me more than once that I eat more and lift heavy now that I've met weight loss goal. And that it will not make me bulky because women can't get bulky. Then I get the usual sarcasm and outright insults about skinny fat and not looking good naked, yadda, yadda, yadda when I disagree. Well, obviously women can get bulky and it doesn't look good to me.

What many females DON'T realize is that MUSCULARITY doesn't show unless body fat levels are low enough. You add on 5%-8% on the the women with defined physiques and they would look like regular women.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Only semi-on topic here, but how excited are we about women's Olympic boxing this summer?!

HELLS YES.

IMO this lady is too bulky (OMG, I hope she's not someone who might read that!). This is the perfect example of looking good in clothes, but not looking good without them (in the tight gym clothings). I am fully aware that "good" is an opinion, but I often get slammed by MFP members when I say I don't want to lift heavy because I don't want to get bulky. They tell me women can't get bulky because I guess they wrongly assume I'm thinking I'd look like Arnold if I lifted heavy. I'm afraid I'll look like this bulky women above. Kudos to her for putting in the work, but that's not a look I'd ever want for me.

You won't get like that through strength training.
While I wouldn't say she's too bulky, I do agree that she has more muscle than most women would want. Yet, she is an athlete, this is what she does all the time. She no doubt eats loads, along with a strict training program to end up like that. I will guarantee you now that you will not get like that in a deficit, and even in maintenance chances would be slim. You have to eat at a surplus to build muscle, just like you do to gain fat. Sure, as a beginner and / or obese person you can gain a little in a deficit but it doesn't even come close to that level.

Take a look at my pics.
- All the pictures with a face (apart from green/blue top one) are from when I was on a deficit, or just come into maintenance. I was lifting heavy for ages before that. I don't look anywhere near bulky.
- Green / blue top one is about 3 months into "bulking" - ~3000 calories a day alongside my lifting routine, to specifically gain muscle.
- Bicep flexing one is at the end of bulking. 6 months of eating at ~3000 cals a day, and still not as big as the woman your describing. Even if you think that's too big, I would never have got like that without eating at a surplus AND I'm flexing to show the muscle, AND there's extra fat there too. Fat gives the bulky look a lot more than you would think and when you have extra muscle already there, can make it look like you have about twice as much extra than you actually do.

Seriously, don't worry about bulking up. In short, women can naturally bulk up to that extent you mentioned yes, but it's a lot harder than you imagine, and doesn't happen overnight
Strength training will give you so many benefits, to health, weight loss and your body.

IMO this lady is too bulky (OMG, I hope she's not someone who might read that!). This is the perfect example of looking good in clothes, but not looking good without them (in the tight gym clothings). I am fully aware that "good" is an opinion, but I often get slammed by MFP members when I say I don't want to lift heavy because I don't want to get bulky. They tell me women can't get bulky because I guess they wrongly assume I'm thinking I'd look like Arnold if I lifted heavy. I'm afraid I'll look like this bulky women above. Kudos to her for putting in the work, but that's not a look I'd ever want for me.

First, I disagree that she is "too bulky" but we are all entitled to our own opinion. Second, she probably eats a LOT. You won't ever look like that unless you are eating above maintenance AND lifting heavy.

I understand that. But it's been suggested to me more than once that I eat more and lift heavy now that I've met weight loss goal. And that it will not make me bulky because women can't get bulky. Then I get the usual sarcasm and outright insults about skinny fat and not looking good naked, yadda, yadda, yadda when I disagree. Well, obviously women can get bulky and it doesn't look good to me.

Point being you can only get "bulky" from eating A LOT of food and doing really heavy weight lifting. You go to the gym, lift some weights, eat your normal maintenance calories and you're not going to get bulky.

By the way, despite her amazing achievements and fabulous physique Zoe was labelled the "fat cow of weightlifting", probably by reporters with a beer gut rushing out a story to get to McDonald's for lunch. Makes me ashamed to be a member of the press

OMG seriously!? That's just crazy!
She's nowhere near fat, and looks great! Even if she was overweight, she's not training to be a supermodel, she's training within weightlifting, so it's none of their damn business!!! :explode:

sheesh

Meet Zoe Smith, Team GB's 17-year old Olympic weightlifting hopeful.



Zoe currently lifts in the 63kg category but has her sights set on 58kg - like many of us she's hoping to shed body fat while not losing muscle, but for her it's a little more important!

Her top weight for the snatch is 86kg (190lbs) and for the clean-and-jerk 110kg (253lb), lifts few of us can even imagine.

Look at those scary girl muscles. I somehow suspect she's not all that bothered about getting a gap between her thighs either.

Just a flattering pose? Here she is in action.

LOVE IT!! Muscles are so sexy on a woman.

And of course if you are female you must look like a stick or you are considered fat. That's just sad. And scary for the young girls trying to grow up in this society. (*sigh*)

Thanks to the OP for this thread...while I don't lift like these women do and don't have the desire or discipline to get to where they are...I love that they are just more examples of strong beautiful women.

And to the posters saying they don't find it attractive and wouldn't want to get "bulky" like that...that's great don't worry, you're not going to look like that unless you purposely WORK FOR IT. These are not women who go lift light weights at the gym once or twice a week. These are professionals and this is clearly a thread CELEBRATING these women. You don't have to like how they look, you also don't have to choose to look like them. See how nicely that works? So why post the negativity here...please please please go find somewhere else to post your criticism.

/end rant