Thin and lean or muscular and strong--which is better?

Carrie3B
Carrie3B Posts: 45 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi--I'm kind at a crossroads with my fitness and although I know it's a "personal preference", I was wondering your opinion. A little background--I started back to the gym last Dec and started going to bootcamp several times a week as well as other cardio/strength training classes. I also took up running and started increasing my miles (usually ran around 7-10 miles, 3 times a week). I decided to give up bootcamp and focus on the running for a few months. My weight got down but I felt like I had lost a lot of the muscle that I had built. Recently, I started weight training (heavier--or at least heavy for me) with a personal trainer and I love it. I can see more definition and I'm getting stronger.

My question/problem--I feel like the long distance running and weight training are kind of at odds with each other. Running tends to make me lean but no real muscle and weight lifting makes me strong but BIGGER. Note that I am only 5'2 and have always been petite--I don't love the idea of my legs and butt getting bigger. And believe me, they HAVE! I tried on some jeans that have always fit (even when I weighed 10 pounds more) and my legs were squeezed in them. I know it's muscle but I have always liked the leaner/thinner look.

Which do you think is better--lean or strong???

Thanks!! :-)
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Replies

  • Princess_Sameen
    Princess_Sameen Posts: 284 Member
    I love muscular and strong....but I handle great big horses...so being lean with no strength wouldnt work for me.
    Too be far you can do both do running three times a week and lifting twice. You can have the best of both worlds. My borther runs and does weights. I use to weight train and dance :)

    probably doesnt help lol :flowerforyou:
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member
    What do YOU think is better? It's your body.
  • yaddayaddayadda
    yaddayaddayadda Posts: 430 Member
    Can't one be both? Lean and muscular, I mean...
  • christinehetz80
    christinehetz80 Posts: 490 Member
    first of all........good for you for doing both so well! You look AMAZING! I do both. I am training for a half so I run 4 times a week and do stronglifts 3 times per week. I run and do weights on m,w,f so that when I have my "rest" day or yoga day I can recover fully. I don't lose scale weight as fast as I would like, but I am losing body fat so thats all good!!!!!!! For me I LOVE both...and don't want to give up one over the other...whatever my body decides to do to accommodate my activity is what it will do.
  • ThePhoenixRose
    ThePhoenixRose Posts: 1,978 Member
    I have always liked the leaner/thinner look.

    Think ya answered your own question there... Isn't that all that matters?
  • dandelion39
    dandelion39 Posts: 514 Member
    Both. You don't have to choose.
  • sailorsiren13
    sailorsiren13 Posts: 460
    I'm training for a half and reading "The New Rules of Lifting" why can't you do both? as soon as some of this weight drops off from lifting i'm sure my runs will improve.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Personally my aim is lean and strong. I don't want to be a weedy girl who can't carry her own suitcases. I need to be able to lift 5 stone of child for a start! But I don't want to look like some of the models I see out there with visible muscles. I guess my ultimate aim most days is to look as good as I can in a dress, but still able to out run any man I know.
  • pavingnewpaths
    pavingnewpaths Posts: 367 Member
    I know it's muscle but I have always liked the leaner/thinner look.
    I think that's your answer right there :)

    Personally I think it varies depending on the individual. Don't let others opinions alter your own choices.
  • jennifer52484
    jennifer52484 Posts: 888 Member
    I think you can be all four of those with a great diet and workout regimin.
    Thin - Low body weight
    Lean - Low body fat
    Muscular - Low body fat
    Strong - when you put all those together.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    Can't one be both? Lean and muscular, I mean...

    Yes. I think a lot of people around here don't understand the definition of lean. It just means the absence of fat. It has nothing to do with how big your muscles are. This chick is extremely lean
    melanie-derosa-bermuda-bodybuilder2.jpg
  • ryno0618
    ryno0618 Posts: 361
    Lean and muscular. The hardest to achieve, imo. I understand the crossroads... I am an avid runner but also into strength, it feels like competing goals and its difficult to do both to their full potential. But I believe it can be done and I'm out to prove it to myself, hope you can do the same! good luck!
  • sammniamii
    sammniamii Posts: 669 Member
    Both, I'm trying to still loose a good bit of weight, but I have started adding weight training because I REALLY enjoy feeling strong and powerful, plus now I have the ability to do some of the things I had to differ to my hubby who WAS stronger. (*note the was ;} )

    It all comes down to how you want to feel. If you have lost a good part of the weight you wanted to drop, then work on the ST/WT, with some cardo in the background. If you haven't, then maybe cardo first w/ less ST/WT.
  • michellelemorgan
    michellelemorgan Posts: 184 Member
    I think both together are best.
  • guapogringo
    guapogringo Posts: 201
    I personally like ladies who are thin and lean witth a tight core. It is all about what you want and what your body will allow. I could never be a power lifter with lots of bulk or mass. My joints couldnt take it anyway. To me i also feel better when i am lighter. I am also quicker. Either look would be great on you however. Cheers!
  • katemme
    katemme Posts: 191
    I run, my body is starting to burn fat for energy for it. I'd consider myself lean. I'm 5'3" 109# and about 14% body fat.
    I do some strength training about 2 times a week, and I'm fairly happy with my physique. I'd say I'm thin and lean. Since I'm a distance runner, strength really isn't too important to me.
    If I can lift 150 pounds, that just means I have to help people move couches and stuff, thats why I have a boyfriend, to do that stuff for me.
  • skinnylove00
    skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
    both; thin and lean to me is great but not being able to see visible muscle will be a WASTE of time for me. i like looking down on my arms and seeing muscle...and looking at my legs and seeing muscle....but all over i am a very lean person with muscular attributes.

    both is good, leaning toward the muscular side rather than thin side.
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
    I'm guessing I'm more lean than muscular - 5'6, 122 lbs., 19% body fat. I'd LOVE to be more muscular but genetically, I can only go so far but I do lift weights and that's helped to make me not look so wiry, lol.
  • emtron500
    emtron500 Posts: 102 Member
    I have serious doubts about people saying that both is possible. Heavy long distance running training will make it extremely difficult to make/maintain serious muscle gains. Strength isn't necessarily linked to the size of the muscle, though. I would recommend the book The 4 Hour Body, as he goes into great detail about the different types of muscle growth and how to achieve both - specifically read the chapters called Occam's Protocol (how to get a very muscular appearance, basically) and Effortless Superhuman (how to make huge strength gains without screwing up your athletic training or bulking up). As far as what kind of fit appearance you want - totally up to you! I think both look great.
  • Tat2dDom624
    Tat2dDom624 Posts: 1,226 Member
    I'd rather be lean AND strong. Preferably the physique of a fighter.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I like muscles and would be sad if I lost any.

    But "Other people's opinion of you is none of your business". Do what you want. Not what we want.
  • christiandm2012
    christiandm2012 Posts: 1
    I do more cardio in the summer and concentrate on getting strong during the winter when I can consume more calories and good fats to help build the muscle. As a man I want to be lean but muscular.
  • RaeannePemberton
    RaeannePemberton Posts: 382 Member
    It's true. running is NOT going to get you the same results as lifting heavy.

    look at a sprinter vs. a distance runner. totally built differently. totally different machines.

    lifting is going to build you more like a sprinter, fast-twitch type muscles.... distance running works slow twitch and when you get up in mileage you will not be building muscle but can actually break down muscle fibers depending on how you fuel your runs.

    i have done the gamut myself. recently i have started doing crossfit which is a nice mix. look up elisabeth akinwale, or annie thorsidottir.... those are my "go to" body types. that's the body i'm after. :)

    crossfit isn't for everyone... but i do like their motto "outlift a lifter and out run a runner" ;->
  • ctooch99
    ctooch99 Posts: 459 Member
    Well, speaking as a guy, I like women with a little bit of "meat" on them. I think fitness is the sum of many variables - cholesterol, blood numbers, body fat percentage, activity level, cardio health etc. - not just appearance.

    I do believe that women can be ultra fit and strong while still retaining some of their curves and femininity. I think when someone gets so lean that you can see their muscle striations and veins, it's impressive but not necessarily attractive (at least not to me anyway).

    I think the female body has beautiful natural curves and lines and I think retaining some of that smoothness is highly attractive.

    Don't flame me ultra fit ladies!!! Just my opinion...
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    Here's my take on it.

    Thin and lean can be graceful and classic - but lends itself more to a damsel in distress than a woman who can take care of herself. most people hear thin and lean and think ballerina, but dancers are some of the strongest women out there. Take a good look at their bodies when they arent covered in makeup and costumes on stage, they have real, strong, beautiful muscles everywhere.

    Getting strong and building up a bit of muscle will make you feel less like you need protection from everything, stronger in your own skin when you strut down the sidewalk, more confident in who you are when you walk proudly into a room, or when you can dance low low low at the club ;) You feel like you can handle more, because you are constantly putting more on your shoulders and proving to yourself that you can handle it, over and over and over.

    The confidence and glow that comes with being strong and having beautiful girl muscles and being able to take care of myself in any situation (to me) far outweighs that of being a classically weaker sex, as soft and beautiful as they may be, inspiring others to protect them as though they were a baby bird.

    Im no baby bird.

    Im a bird of prey.
  • missym357
    missym357 Posts: 210 Member
    I understand your crossroads and have had to evaluate my goals at a similar point. The conclusion that I have come to is to do the things that I love and let the chips fall where they may. I love dance- it makes me happy and so that is what I focus on. I do lift weights, but it is not my focus, it is simply to hold on to any muscle that I can, so that I can be strong and have definition. So yes, it is a mix of all of the above. I do not have much desire to put a lot of effort into building up my muscles though- especially right now, during the summer because I don't have a lot of time. So I focus on what I love and don't worry about the rest.

    If you love running, then go for it! Lifting a few times a week would help preserve some muscle which can't be a bad thing and you can have the best of both worlds.
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
    Honestly OP, I have nothing to say except for this; you....look....amazing. Truly, you do, and however you achieved the body you currently have you should be proud, I for one am extremely envious.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,042 Member
    I run, my body is starting to burn fat for energy for it. I'd consider myself lean. I'm 5'3" 109# and about 14% body fat.
    14% is the body fat of an ELITE female athlete. Honestly I look at your physique and guess you around 21% body fat. Females usually have 6 packs at 16%-18% body fat. So whatever method you're using, it's probably not accurate.

    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
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
    I with you Carrie! I'm trying to get definition in my arms and legs while training for my half.
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
    I run, my body is starting to burn fat for energy for it. I'd consider myself lean. I'm 5'3" 109# and about 14% body fat.
    14% is the body fat of an ELITE female athlete. Honestly I look at your physique and guess you around 21% body fat. Females usually have 6 packs at 16%-18% body fat. So whatever method you're using, it's probably not accurate.

    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

    Instead of "guessing" by eyeballing you could just read her profile to see she checks in at 15%. Can you really eyeball BF%?
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