The truth about women and getting bulky

I don’t want to lift weights because I get bulky… said the majority of women who come to the gym. Let’s be realistic, nobody became a bodybuilder by accident. The genetically gifted aside, science tells us that it’s actually pretty tough to put muscle on.

 

In this post we explain:

⊕ Why you feel like you’re getting bigger

⊕ Tips to get the most from your training

 

Prior to investing heavily in my own education about training & nutrition, I had been training for almost 10 years doing predominately weights, my friends joked I still shopped in the kids section, sad face. So the chance of you getting massive overnight is probably zero. 

 

“Nobody became a bodybuilder by accident”

 

The majority of new female clients that come into the gym tell us they don’t want to lift weights because they put muscle on quickly and are worried about getting bulky. Even if you don’t believe us and you don’t take anything else away from this post. I bet you $100 that J-Lo squats and squats big and she looks great.  Argument over.

 

I did one session and now my jeans won’t fit me…

 

There a couple of reasons you might feel like this, the first has to do with water retention. For every gram of carbohydrate consumed your body can store an additional 3 grams of water (roughly).

Consider this, you are training hard in the gym, which means you are hungrier. Are you just eating chicken & salad? No because that’s boring & probably means you don’t have a life. So let’s be realistic, there is a good chance a chunk of your food intake is carbs. 

When you start training your muscles are craving nutrients, they pull these nutrients into the muscle along with some of  that water we spoke about before. Are we saying you should eat zero carbs to avoid this? Definitely not, that will turn you into a zombie, you just need to understand what is happening to your body. Besides this effect is relatively small, some women might notice this, so we thought we would give you the heads up. 

Secondly when you are training, your muscles need more blood to work, blood is pumped from other parts of the body into the muscle. More blood equals bigger muscles, this is referred to as the “pump” or “getting swole” among other names, this is temporary! and only lasts an hour or so don’t freak out. 

 

Do you have bigger biceps than your boyfriend?

Take a second to check out your body. Do you currently have a significant amount of muscle mass? No, then there is a pretty good chance that you don’t build muscle easily. Why? Building muscle is pretty tough for the body to do, however it is “relatively” easy to maintain. So if you did put muscle on easily there is a pretty good chance you would still have it. 

 

I only want to lift light weights for high reps so I don’t get bulky 

 

Lifting lighter (sub-maximal) weight with high volume is typically how body builders train, yet most women think they should be training this way. 

Getting bulky (putting on heaps of muscle mass) requires a lot more than just training. In addition to tough intelligent programming, you need a calorie surplus (think Christmas Day), optimal hormone levels, great sleep & potentially a large bill from your local pharmacy.

 

The Ballistic Verdict:

 

In our experience the fear of getting bulky is actually just a misunderstanding about very short term effects of weight training. In reality weight training has extensive benefits for women:

⊕ Lose more body fat

⊕ Look better naked

⊕ Decreased risk of injury

⊕ Decreased risk of osteoporosis

⊕ Be stronger

⊕ & just generally feel better 

Stop fluffing around with the good girl, bad girl machine and base the majority of your session around movements which work multiple muscles: 

 

“Think Squats, Deadlifts, Pulls, Presses, Lunges & Sled work”

 

Your body will thank you for it.