Weight training without adding bulk

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  • chris1816
    chris1816 Posts: 715 Member
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    You don't add bulk on calorie deficit.

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

    Exactly! So tired of reading how people gain all this muscle while eating at a deficit and lifting light weight.

    Actually, it is possible for obese people or even those with quite a bit of excess body fat, eating below BMR to increase lean mass while also reducing body fat %.

    This is even more so if you are a beginning or intermediate lifter.

    It is documented in medical studies, just lazy to go back and find my sources ( I never bookmarked them)
    That's correct.............lean mass, but bulk is a combination of fat and muscle. You don't bulk on calorie deficit.

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

    Bulk, even by those who bodybuild by profession; is an often misused term.

    In this case, the OP referred to bulk directly in relation to muscle mass aka lean mass. For the purpose of her understanding, I answered in relation to her question. In reference to bulking/cutting, these refer to gaining muscle mass while also gaining some fat, or reducing fat % while retaining as much muscle mass as possible. The general rule is that the two physically CANNOT occur at the same time.

    The OP is presenting one of the few cases where this can be an exception. She is apparently eating at a caloric deficit and increasing her lean mass, thus looking "bulkier".
  • McBully4
    McBully4 Posts: 1,270 Member
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    It is documented in medical studies, just lazy to go back and find my sources ( I never bookmarked them)

    I'm going to try this with my professors and see if it flys

    Oh! Your professors! Heavens, are they officiating internet arguments on the side for you? Are they checking your posts on MFP for proper citation?

    Fine, sunshine, just for you...I interrupted my glorious post-workout-sitting-around-in-my-undies-working-from-home-time.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/009/ae906e/ae906e11.htm

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/bodybuildingfaq/f/losefatgainmass.htm

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10846043

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8002507

    Would you like me to harness the powers of the internets to find more for you or may I go back go f*cking off?

    Not in MLA format i refuse to even look at it.
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    Just stay at a calorie deficit and you won't build muscle. Don't add extra protien, just eat enough to retain what you have. I wish I had you problem. I'm also 5'2" and weigh 115, but have raised my calories and protien because I want as much muscle as I can get. Maybe you could do more cardio too.
  • ishtar13
    ishtar13 Posts: 528 Member
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    Actually, it is possible for obese people or even those with quite a bit of excess body fat, eating below BMR to increase lean mass while also reducing body fat %.

    This is even more so if you are a beginning or intermediate lifter.

    It is documented in medical studies, just lazy to go back and find my sources ( I never bookmarked them)


    At 5'2" and 126 lbs, it's not likely that she's obese, although as a former gymnast, she likely does have a good amount of dormant muscle.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    It really is a matter of body fat percentage, and your own definition of words like lean and bulky.

    When bodybuilders use those words, bulky means someone with a good amount of muscle and higher body fat, and lean is someone with very little body fat with visible muscle.

    Many women think of bulky as that very low body fat, ripped, muscular look, and think of lean as slender and sleek.

    So, in the words from Cool Hand Luke, what we have here is failure to communicate. :laugh:

    So... get to your ideal BF% before worrying about how ginormous your muscles are. I have kind of meaty arms and legs, but the more I've lifted, the smaller both got. I also accept that I'm just not built like a Victoria's Secrets model, and I'm never, ever going to look like that, but I can still love my body for what it is, and what it's capable of.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,704 Member
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    You don't add bulk on calorie deficit.

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

    Exactly! So tired of reading how people gain all this muscle while eating at a deficit and lifting light weight.

    Actually, it is possible for obese people or even those with quite a bit of excess body fat, eating below BMR to increase lean mass while also reducing body fat %.

    This is even more so if you are a beginning or intermediate lifter.

    It is documented in medical studies, just lazy to go back and find my sources ( I never bookmarked them)
    That's correct.............lean mass, but bulk is a combination of fat and muscle. You don't bulk on calorie deficit.

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

    Bulk, even by those who bodybuild by profession; is an often misused term.

    In this case, the OP referred to bulk directly in relation to muscle mass aka lean mass. For the purpose of her understanding, I answered in relation to her question. In reference to bulking/cutting, these refer to gaining muscle mass while also gaining some fat, or reducing fat % while retaining as much muscle mass as possible. The general rule is that the two physically CANNOT occur at the same time.

    The OP is presenting one of the few cases where this can be an exception. She is apparently eating at a caloric deficit and increasing her lean mass, thus looking "bulkier".
    She may be a candidate for muscle gain if she's a returning athlete after a long layoff, but even then in calorie deficit the gain would be minimal. If there is any gain, then she may appear to "bulk" up, but more than likely it's water and glycogen refilling cells.
    I would say that until body fat is reduced, it would be hard to assess if she did gain muscle. Again not saying it's not possible,but it's rare and there are only a few exceptional people who may be able to do it.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • malins2
    malins2 Posts: 154 Member
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    There are only 2 ways to be bulky: lots of muscle or lots of fat. Yes, a person can have a big skeleton, but small muscles and low body fat on a big skeleton isn't bulky. And for most of us (myself included), being bulky has way more to do with how much fat we have than how much muscle we have.

    Unless a person has some weird condition (necessary disclaimer since I suppose anything is possible), they won't hold on to muscle for no reason, and they won't gain muscle without work. The body tries to be efficient, and it will shed excess muscle as soon as it thinks it can get away with it. I think people just really understimate how much of their size comes from fat.

    this ^^^^
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    For now continue doing what you do. After the fat is gone, you can re evaluate. You might not be as muscular as you think.
  • MoveTheMountain
    MoveTheMountain Posts: 764
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    It is documented in medical studies, just lazy to go back and find my sources ( I never bookmarked them)

    I'm going to try this with my professors and see if it flys

    Oh! Your professors! Heavens, are they officiating internet arguments on the side for you? Are they checking your posts on MFP for proper citation?

    Fine, sunshine, just for you...I interrupted my glorious post-workout-sitting-around-in-my-undies-working-from-home-time.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/009/ae906e/ae906e11.htm

    http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/bodybuildingfaq/f/losefatgainmass.htm

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10846043

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8002507

    Would you like me to harness the powers of the internets to find more for you or may I go back go f*cking off?

    Not in MLA format i refuse to even look at it.

    I though MLA was dead, and everything was APA these days...
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    You don't add bulk on calorie deficit.

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

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