Can Women Get Bulky?

How many of us are training like an Olympic athlete?

Of course women *can* get large muscles, but it doesn't happen overnight, nor does it happen accidentally.

I bulk up very quickly and very easily. Right now, my calves are larger than my 18-year-old son's simply by walking 5-7 miles every day (with zero excess flesh, I should add). Just as in all things, it's a matter of body type. If I want to look lean, I have to be very careful with the type of exercise I do - no weight lifting at all - and even then, I'm bulkier than my counterparts.

As in all things, there is no "absolute" on what anyone can or cannot do. Every person is an individual, and with that comes individual results.

The main difference between athletes and women on here, is not just the amount of training, but also the amount of food. Athletes no doubt have to eat a lot of food/calories to fuel their bodies and give them enough energy to do what they do. Most women on here are on a deficit. It is near impossible (very hard) for anyone, especially women, to gain muscle while on a deficit.

If women trained like an athlete for a good number of years, and ate sufficient food while having some sort of resistance training then yes I'm sure some may get more bulky than they wish. However, how often will that happen? Most people here just want to lose fat, and look toned (a little definition) so they needn't worry about bulking up.

I think if women get "bulky" it's because they are eating loads more than the average Jane and lifting heavy for a few hours daily.

I'm lifting pretty heavy (for me) and I've yet to "bulk" up. If anything I've filled out in places that needed to be filled out and slimmed the areas down that were problems. Maybe I'm different because I've always been not that strong or muscular so I was happy when I started to see my body change from weakling to fit.

Of course it doesn't happen overnight, however there are many many people claiming on here that no matter how hard a woman trains she won't bulk up.

It's less to do with training and more to do with eating tbh. Obviously you need to train hard, but a lot of people don't realise how much food plays a part in muscle building.
I've done a "bulk" before purposefully. Before that I had little muscle definition (only a bit in biceps/shoulders) although I lifted heavy for over a year. Now I put on muscle easily, I think, and yet I didn't actually start gaining any until I was eating to bulk up (3,000 calories a day +)

You basically need to eat like 3-4x what people on MFP eat to get that way, and it mostly has to be chicken. I read that J Cutler orders pounds and pounds of chicken to last him each week. We're talking 4 oz chicken for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, plus veggies, some carbs and protein drinks.

I think we are all safe

You do not need to eat chicken to get bulky. There are professional athletes, including body builders who are vegans--eating dead birds is a personal preference, not a necessity.

Plus, we have to accept the body type that we have. People get a "goal body" in their head - which are often heavily photoshopped - and are disappointed if they don't match up.

I have a significant amount of muscle on my legs. It's also were my body likes to hold onto fat. If my goal was to have legs like a Victoria's Secrets model with a thigh gap, the only way to achieve that would be complete bed rest so my muscles atrophied. Not an option.

Personally, I'd rather my meaty legs (which, in my opinion, look pretty damn hot in a pair of high heels, despite being meaty) that are strong and muscular than non-bulky sticks.

Also, like others have said, Olympic athletes have bodies that are specific to their sport. Similarly, a Quarter Horse - which does sprints - is a stockier built horse than an Arabian, which do endurance running. Both are smaller than draft horses like Clydesdales.

I've gone through a lot of posts on here and although most people are here to lose weight and diet, there are plenty of people here for other reasons. There are also a lot of ex-athletes on here who've gotten soft and want to tone again or perhaps even become skinnier (less bulky) than they once were.

If you already had large muscles in the past (and many ex-athletes actually still have large muscles under the fat), you actually have a much easier time of putting muscle on again, yet over and over again people are cajoled to lift weights and nearly every time they or someone else expresses concern they are shot down.

I have doubt. I don't like absolutes or advice given out indiscriminately. There are exceptions to nearly every rule and there are plenty of past experts who've been proven wrong before. So, I am playing Devil's Advocate a bit here.

You will also notice that the advice is given to people eating at a deficit - these women are not - so I am not sure what you are really trying to achieve here.

I looked at the photos again. The only three that jumped out at me as "I don't want to be that big" were the body builder (who was flexing and had very low body fat, so she probably looks a world different under normal circumstances), and the first weightlifter and the hammer throw who look bulky due to higher body fat plus a lot of muscle. Everyone else looks normal, healthy and beautiful. And it's not like I'm EVER going to be body building or lifting to Olympic standards.

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen a woman on here who says, "I'm too bulky... I put on muscle too easily" who actually showed a photo of what that meant to her. Which makes me wonder what they consider bulky... is it not measuring up to a doctored photo in a magazine? Being bigger than Jennifer Aniston?