I don't like it on a guy or girl. Being toned and having muscles is fine, but too much is not ok. As is too much fat or too much bone.

Everybody has a diffrent body type they want,what people dont relize around here is thats ok. Im not intereted in the muscular toned look,thats not what I want. It almost seems like right now at least around here its not ok to say that. Im not veryinterested in weight lifting. For one I lift heavy crap all day at work and do not wish to do it on my off time. I get a little sick of hearing that any woman that does not want to lift is scared she will get bulky,or are weak. I know exactly what will happen if I start lifting heavy,I have many lovely woman on my friends list that do. I just dont want that for me,and thats ok. As for the excessive woman body builders I dont get it,but I dont need to. Obviously thats what they want,thats the body they have worked hard for. I may not understand their goals at all,but if they are happy then more power to them.

I don't like it on a guy or girl. Being toned and having muscles is fine, but too much is not ok. As is too much fat or too much bone.

Yeah I have to add that on most men, I find excessive muscle offputting also( except maybe Brett's arm muscle pic) . I do prefer the lumberjack look though. Nothing wrong with a beer belly to me.

exactly! :drinker:

I don't like it on a guy or girl. Being toned and having muscles is fine, but too much is not ok. As is too much fat or too much bone.

Yeah I have to add that on most men, I find excessive muscle offputting also( except maybe Brett's arm muscle pic) . I do prefer the lumberjack look though. Nothing wrong with a beer belly to me.

:embarassed: :blushing: :embarassed: :blushing:

(I keep thinking she can't possibly mean me.. I'll never get used to this.)

Mandy thank you so much.

I think most people agree that the professional female body builder, the ones who REALLY take it to the extreme of having as much muscle as they possibly can.. well that's a look that's not very popular. Good for them and more power to them. But most people don't find it attractive on a woman.

But that's such an extreme! You see the pic of the woman above. I don't think there's a woman on this site that even approaches that. And the worst part is there's this awful notion among women that if they so much as pick up a barbell that's what they'll look like. It's nonsense. You don't see it from men. We know it takes a lot of hard work, effort, dedication, time and honestly steroids to have a competitive level physique.

A woman lifting, no matter how heavy, has no fear of looking like a professional body builder unless they are REALLY trying for that. Your average woman who lifts just gets an amazing body, the kind that most women would say "I want to look like that!" That's why it's so encouraged around here. Cardio all the time will take off both fat and muscle. You won't necessarily get the flat stomach or tight *kitten* you're trying for. A lot of times you need strength training to get those results.

So we have this crazy mix of women who are trying to look good but have fears about what lifting will do to their bodies. Couple that with women who have been lifting and seeing results and are getting sick of hearing "Eww! Girls with muscles, yuck!" and you have all the conflict you need.

Really though, from everything I learn and read here, women just need to hate on each other. It's a pity and a shame but it seems to be an undeniable fact. Why else would some women go into success threads and tell other women they don't like their body or they looked better before? I know why, it's one sub-set of the female population, they're vindictive and cruel and really the ones they hate so much are themselves. But they love to play the victim and hide behind their "opinions".

Anymore I think this site is great, until you hit your goals. Then it's all sniping and pettiness.

I don't like it on a guy or girl. Being toned and having muscles is fine, but too much is not ok. As is too much fat or too much bone.

Yeah I have to add that on most men, I find excessive muscle offputting also( except maybe Brett's arm muscle pic) . I do prefer the lumberjack look though. Nothing wrong with a beer belly to me.

:embarassed: :blushing: :embarassed: :blushing:

(I keep thinking she can't possibly mean me.. I'll never get used to this.)

Mandy thank you so much.

I think most people agree that the professional female body builder, the ones who REALLY take it to the extreme of having as much muscle as they possibly can.. well that's a look that's not very popular. Good for them and more power to them. But most people don't find it attractive on a woman.

But that's such an extreme! You see the pic of the woman above. I don't think there's a woman on this site that even approaches that. And the worst part is there's this awful notion among women that if they so much as pick up a barbell that's what they'll look like. It's nonsense. You don't see it from men. We know it takes a lot of hard work, effort, dedication, time and honestly steroids to have a competitive level physique.

A woman lifting, no matter how heavy, has no fear of looking like a professional body builder unless they are REALLY trying for that. Your average woman who lifts just gets an amazing body, the kind that most women would say "I want to look like that!" That's why it's so encouraged around here. Cardio all the time will take off both fat and muscle. You won't necessarily get the flat stomach or tight *kitten* you're trying for. A lot of times you need strength training to get those results.

So we have this crazy mix of women who are trying to look good but have fears about what lifting will do to their bodies. Couple that with women who have been lifting and seeing results and are getting sick of hearing "Eww! Girls with muscles, yuck!" and you have all the conflict you need.

Really though, from everything I learn and read here, women just need to hate on each other. It's a pity and a shame but it seems to be an undeniable fact. Why else would some women go into success threads and tell other women they don't like their body or they looked better before? I know why, it's one sub-set of the female population, they're vindictive and cruel and really the ones they hate so much are themselves. But they love to play the victim and hide behind their "opinions".

Anymore I think this site is great, until you hit your goals. Then it's all sniping and pettiness.

:drinker:

I love cardio so I do that much more often. However, I know that I am in need of some weight/strength training so I am starting a program tonight that focuses on that exact thing. I will probably have to throw in some cardio too. For me, it's less about the end result and more about not liking the pain or discomfort associated with weight lifting. We'll see if I come to love it the more I do it.

I HATE that women are so mean to one another. I feel like I'm ultra sensitive to this now, for whatever reason. I look back at myself as a teen and shudder at some of the things I thought or just went along with. Well, I can't even say that, go back to about age 6. I remember a friend and I being so mean to another little girl. Her mom did a great job teaching us a lesson in why that was mean. I don't limit this to just women-women bashing, but really on ridiculing anyone who is different than you or the "norm". However, women are just mean and I wish it would stop!

Here is an interesting thought. Do you think body building to that extreme could be a form of body dysmorphic disorder? Almost like a " I am not big enough I need to work out harder and get bigger" I mean if you think about it you can take it to the extreme to where it isn't healthy i.e. taking steroids and severely restricting your diet. I could see someone getting so into body building that they are obsessed with it to the point it affects their everyday life and they start doing things that are bad for them to get the body they want, kind of like an anorexic would. So I could see someone with an obsession with body building having a body dysmorphic disorder, weird to think about that definition going the other way

Yes, to an extent, but I could say something similar about any professional sport. Playing in the NFL is said to be like being in a car wreck once per week. Guys are on so many anti-inflammatories that they have to be careful not to damage their livers. It's not exactly a healthy way to live.

Even in the non-sporting world, people sacrifice certain things to get what they want, health is only one of them.

Here is an interesting thought. Do you think body building to that extreme could be a form of body dysmorphic disorder? Almost like a " I am not big enough I need to work out harder and get bigger" I mean if you think about it you can take it to the extreme to where it isn't healthy i.e. taking steroids and severely restricting your diet. I could see someone getting so into body building that they are obsessed with it to the point it affects their everyday life and they start doing things that are bad for them to get the body they want, kind of like an anorexic would. So I could see someone with an obsession with body building having a body dysmorphic disorder, weird to think about that definition going the other way

Yes, to an extent, but I could say something similar about any professional sport. Playing in the NFL is said to be like being in a car wreck once per week. Guys are on so many anti-inflammatories that they have to be careful not to damage their livers. It's not exactly a healthy way to live.

Even in the non-sporting world, people sacrifice certain things to get what they want, health is only one of them.

I would agree with that, I work at a spine institute and we deal with a lot of professional athletes including football players and man some of those guys are messed up! It just seems like when you talk about body dysmorphia your mind immediately goes to anorexia and bulemia when that definition can be expanded to cover so much more.

http://www.nsca-lift.org/HotTopic/download/Muscle_Dysmorphia.pdf

I personally think it's disgusting when taken too far. There is nothing masculine about being toned. But being ripped to the point where you no long have breast tissue is....

I think I'd rather stay at 400 lbs for the rest of my life than look like that. She looks like a monster, in my opinion.