Lifting Weights CAN Make You Bulky!
FAQ: “Will lifting weights make me bulk up?” ANSWER: “Lifting weights CAN make you bulky!”This is every woman’s challenge. You want to work out and get lean and tone but you don’t want to bulk up right?
- Avoiding lifting weights all together is definitely not the solution. In fact, it is a great factor in leaning and toning. If you don’t lift weights, your muscle mass naturally atrophies over time. You also put yourself at many health risks and the risk of being a skinny-fat person if you neglect weight lifting in your workout routine.
- A common reason why bulking up is poorly paired with weight lifting in general, comes from body building training methods. Working with the right kind of plan is the solution since most amateurs follow body building patterns that lead to bulking up.
- I have the solution to weight lifting without bulking up!
Here are the factors in whether you buff up, or lean and tone your physique.
- Repetitions
- Sets
- Tempo
- Rest between sets
- Weight or load
- Nutritional intake
- Supplements
- Workout frequency
- Rest time in between workouts
The best way to bulk up is to train like a bodybuilder. Here is the formula: Heavy weights, 30-60 seconds rest in between sets, slow tempo, use machines instead of your own body weight, eat protein and forget about micronutrients and healthy fats, etc. We all know the guy with big arms and a fat stomach that works at your local supplements store. Just follow that guy and bulking up is what you are sure to do. Especially if you get that magic supplement. On a serious note, here is what I recommend to stay in the safe zone (lean and tone land):
- Lift weights that you can do at least 12 repetitions with on any given exercise.
- Avoid doing split training (Legs day, chest day, etc.) and instead do more full body workouts.
- Choose functional exercises and stay away from the supplement store guy.
- Get your diet on track with your goals and eat plenty of vegetables, meals every 2-3 hours, protein each meal, and watch your portion sizes.
- Choose a program that produces lean clients. If you train like a bodybuilder you will look like one. If you don’t, lifting weights is good for your goals.
TIP: Choose a trainer, or training program that is followed by someone who looks lean and tone if that is your goal. Chances are, the local meat head is not going to get you lean and tone.
- Lifting weights causes micro-damage to muscle tissue. This muscle tissue damage causes your body to respond by repairing the tissue. Split training with heavy weights and less than 10 repititions maximizes this hypertrophy (muscle bulking) process.
- The types of exercises always affect the outcome of your training program. Choose free weights, body weight, core and functional type exercises.
- Diet is a huge factor. Get the right tips from the right source. Don’t follow your boyfriends meal plan or workout regimen. This is a recipe for bulking up.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:26 am
This is a great article to convince individuals that weightlifting is very important to the overall look and feel of your body.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Convincing women to weight train is always tough. There seems to be a bias — especially among women — that the key to a great body is endless hours of cardio. The irony is that most women use the term “toned” to describe what they are after, but “toned” is really just another word for “shapely” and “firm” — which of course requires muscle. If more women spent half of their cardio time weight training, they’d likely find they have less body fat, a tighter body and great overall shape and definition.
Your article did a nice job of explaining why women should weight train.
I’d like to challenge (in a friendly way) a couple of the points in this article, though.
You say that lifting weights can make you bulky, but in general, even when women lift heavy in the strength and hypertrophy ranges you discuss (anywhere from 4-12 reps), they are rarely going to put on the large amounts of muscle that male bodybuilders do. Most women just don’t have the hormonal environment to add lots of muscle, regardless of their training style. There are exceptions, of course, such as female bodybuilders - but they are typically on anabolic steroids or have unusual endocrinogical markers.
Most women will never put on that kind of mass naturally. And even if they do add muscle easily, it will almost always result in them looking leaner, not fatter or bulkier. So I think the whole concern over “bulkiness” is overstated.
In fact, I’d argue that women typically don’t see the “toning” effects they are looking for because they lift TOO light and their rep ranges are too high to effectively build muscle and definition. The only way to add lean tissue is to progressively increase weight, which will require dropping rep ranges at some point during the training cycle.
If you look at most figure fitness models (people like Jen Cook, Jelena Abbou or Jamie Eason) you won’t find anything “bulky” about them. And all three admit that they frequently go heavy in the weight room.
Anyway, my point is that weight training is very individualized, and each woman will respond differently to rep ranges and weight. I’ve known some women with fantastic physiques that lift like male body builders, do moderate amounts of cardio and look extremely lean. Others, because they naturally put mass on easier, need to be more careful and cycle between high and low reps, or perform splits to avoid becoming too muscular in certain areas (like the legs.)
Your comment to avoid advice from the supplement guy was dead-on, btw. Run away as fast as you can.
Cheers!
matt