Bulky Muscles and Women :The Truth

justsomebloke

Ok there is another site I randomly post on every so often and today I came across a great thread started by one of the female trainers, now usualy I wouldn't post a thread started on another forum on boards but in this case I am going to (mod permitting) as I think it will help elevate some of the misconceptions women have about weight training, anyway the thread was started by a poster called Theleip and the full thread can be found here
http://training.fitness.com/articles-fitness-health/bulky-muscles-women-truth-21918.html

theleip wrote:

Women are real quick to point the finger at heavy weights and say “you made me bulky!” Well I hate to be the one to break it to you ladies but it’s not the weights fault, or how heavy they are. First though lets look at what women (and men) think bulky is.

The First is steroids ladies. This just cannot be done naturally; male hormone injections are at play here. The next is years of work over a higher body fat percentage. The last is years of work with a very low body fat percentage.

See in order to see abs, arms and legs true definition you must be at a low body fat level. Women by nature carry a higher body fat level then men. Women should not maintain to low of body fat levels as it can cause fertility and menstrual problems just to name a few. At a constant maintenance level women should not go below 16% body fat. Now you may have heard that 22% is the limit, but that is just isn’t true. Women can carry a much lower body fat level than that in a safe and healthy manner. If you don’t want veined muscles, well maintain a higher level of body fat. It’s as simple as that.

Now back to the topic of those pesky bulky muscles and what your routine and diet have to do with it. When women complain of bulky muscles there are usually three main culprits at play here. Stretching, Diet and Body Fat levels. I will explain each one in detail.

Stretching: If I conducted an actual poll at least 80% of the women I talk to want the body of a dancer. Long, lean and very good “tone”. If I told you what those dancers did to get those bodies and what you would have to do to get them your response to me would be see you later, don’t have the time. Just like their talents are achieved over time, the same goes for their bodies. It also doesn’t hurt that their genetics and height play a nice role. Still this doesn’t mean that a 5’3 35 year old woman can’t have long lean muscle. This doesn’t mean your posture can’t be so perfect that it gives you the illusion of extra height. If you haven’t gathered by now and from this selections title the key lies in stretching. Ever heard this “stair climbers make my calf’s bulky!”…”I have been working out for 3 weeks and my thighs are bigger!” Well I hear it all the time. Mostly it is because these woman ignore stretching. Surrounding your muscle tissues is Fascia. There are different functions and layers but two such functions are flexibility and movement. Doing the proper amount of post workout stretching and incorporating a daily stretching regime will cause less injury, relieve stress and yes elongate your muscles.

Diet: One simple point I have to make. To gain muscle you need a surplus of calories. This means you have to eat more than your body needs for energy in a day. That is what it takes to gain fat and if lifting to gain muscle. Sometimes women start lifting to try and spot reduce problem areas but they don’t do anything about their diet. In some cases they are eating over their calories anyway (which is what most likely caused the fat gain) and think lifting will help them spot reduce those problem areas. Well one you cannot spot reduce, fat is fat and it comes off where it decides it wants to. If you want smaller flatter abs and then start doing a bunch of ab work while being in a surplus then you will just make your abs bigger. Two, if losing fat is your goal you need to be in a caloric deficit and eating good carbs, lean protein and healthy fats. The less processed food you take in, the better your results.

Body Fat Levels: If you don’t want veins, then don’t get to low of body fat. If you want some muscle but don’t want them bulky and undefined then get a lower body fat %. Tailoring a look a lot of times comes with what body fat % you have. This is most true for arms and stomach definition. If you want defined arms (for most people that is one of the last to leave spots next to the abs) you have to get that body fat low. To do that you need to have that diet in check. It needs to be clean and pretty dead on if you aren’t in the genetically gifted category already.
I could babble on and on, but the short of it is this ladies…Don’t be afraid of lifting, but lift smart and eat right. Know why you are doing what you are doing, get a trainer if not sure, but a good one!
-Leigh Peele

Shrimp

Good read, thanks for the post.