Women and Weights: Bulky? No. Manly? No. Beautiful. Yes!

When many women are asked about starting a weight training program oftentimes their response is something like “I don’t want to get bulky,” or “I don’t want to look manly.” Although people within the health and fitness realm understand that these are just myths and have been spreading the word for years, somehow many ladies have not received the memo. So I am going to say this loud and clear: YOU WILL NOT GET MANLY OR BULKY FROM LIFTING WEIGHTS ALONE!!!! For some reason when they think of lifting weights they automatically think that they are going to look like Ms. Olympia or some other female bodybuilder. Many women do not understand what it takes to reach that level of muscularity or size. The food consumed, the weight lifted, the supplements taken…everything plays a part in actually bulking up. And, please know, that when I say bulking up, what I mean is adding lean muscle mass. Below are some reasons why the average woman will not get manly or bulky just because they start a weight lifting regimen. 1.) Women do not naturally produce enough testosterone in order to put on the mass that a man does, nor does their testosterone cause them to have man like features. 2.) Women do not generally lift heavy enough to create an abundance of muscle mass. You have to consistently lift heavy in order to break the muscle down for it to build up bigger, this is known as hypertrophy. 3.) Women do not generally eat enough in order to gain the mass that they would deem manly or bulky. In order to really bulk up a woman needs to eat roughly 1-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight, not to mention the healthy carbohydrates and fats they need to consume. On average, a normal, every day woman consumes about .3 grams per pound of body weight. 4.) Some women do not get that big naturally. To get as big as some women do I’ll not tiptoe around the elephant in the room. Some women do take performance enhancing drugs. Those drugs are also the chemicals that cause a woman’s face to take on masculine-like qualities. 5.) Most women don’t know what kind of body type they have. Do they burn fat easily? Do they build muscle easily? Do they gain weight easily? Is it hard for them to put on muscle or weight in general? So there you have it. Lifting weights will not make you manly or bulky. As I have stated, so much more goes into it than that. But let me close with this, for all of you ladies out there that lift light weights over and over again hoping to build long lean muscle, you’re wasting your time. Going light for high reps doesn’t give you that triathlon athlete look. It only creates endurance within the muscle. So if you have big arms and just lift light to try and lean them out, you’re outta luck. You’re still going to have big arms, they’ll just be able to lift the weights several times without getting tired. Lifting weights, and lifting heavier than you’re used to, can actually burn many more calories than steady state cardio! Give weights a try. Impress yourself with your strength. Do what you never thought you could!