Lifting heavy and "bulk"

[mini-natty]

Xtrain features a User's Guide which addresses this issue. Here is a short quote taken from it:

"Men have known the benefits of heavy lifting for decades, but some woman shy away from lifting weights. When they do head over to the weight rack, they lift weights that aren't heavy enough to challenge their muscles. The reason? Some fear it will make them bulky and destroy their feminine shape".

I was curious as to who still believes this method of training "bulks" them up and therefor avoids moderate-heavy lifting? No judgement or criticism here on my part. Everyone is entitled to an honest opinion. I believe this is an interesting topic avail for discussion.

I can say from my own personal experience, lifting heavier, challenging weights has defined my physique with no "bulk". I appear leaner, toned, stronger, with nicely shaped muscles (which I work very hard to get!). I'm pear-shape, and in my quest to lean-out my lower-half, I've encountered a slew of articles/info as to whether lifting heavy for the lower body will increase (bulk) thigh size. I can positively say this is simply not accurate in my case. If anything, my thigh and glutes have decreased in size, leaving sculpted muscles in my quads and hamstrings. The proof is in the pudding as I've had to buy all new (smaller!) sized pants. I'm amazed at how pants that fit me 10 yrs ago are now loose in the thigh & butt area. What surprises me the most is that I practically weigh the same! Moderate-heavy weight lifting in addition with a healthy, clean, portion controlled, eating lifestyle (I don't use the word diet) has pretty much transformed my body. So thank you Cathe, for making me a firm believer in your heavy lifting philosophy.

Happy New Year everyone

Natasha

 

[UNLVCrjChick]

In my experience, the heavier I lift for lower body, the more I bulk up. I also hold most of my weight in my lower body so I tend to shy away from heavy lifting workouts for the legs and instead do more plyo training.

 

[Cafelattee]

As another pear shape and 5'3' heavy weights slim me down also. I weight more but keep the same size pants I had when I ran every freaking day LOL

I now do 3 days of heavy weights full body, a day of HITT, a day of interval cardio of sometype. I've 43 and have a nice tight body with curves in the right place.

Weight lifting is the fountain of youth for me.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Hello,

I do believe in the benefit of lifting moderate to heavy . I do carry a fair load of my weight on my thigh too. I can honestly state this did NOT put me off the heavy load. My thigh have not gained sizes.They have instead gained strength and definition. I can fairly state I have gotten rid of "saddle bags" plyos have helped me to "chisel" my legs.
My inner thigh are sculpted and lean the of skin surface of thigh has tremendously benefited from heavy load. I am actually looking forward to using a squat rack for STS meso 3.

Women tend to speed up plyos move instead executing it slowly, again to avoid the bulk....this compromise the form. This is a no no no no.
To conclude I have managed to shift 3-4inches of my hips....

Same here...pants are loose...in my case this process has been on for years. I smiled getting smaller each year but lifting moderate to heavy .
I am not afraid to lift heavy. I aim to train smart, safe and efficient.
Happy New year ladies,

 

[cokonkel]

I'm short (5'2") and also tend toward a pear/bigger thighs and butt shape when I'm out of shape. I have to say heavy leg work has worked wonders for me, too. It may not work for everybody, but it's been great to me. With enough cardio (especially Hiit to really get the fat out of there!), plyometrics and decent diet I've really managed to finally be happy with my lower half! Took me until I was almost 40 to get there, but there you have it .

 

[melagras]

My thighs bulk up quick when using heavy weights. I have also noticed my shoulders have really increased in size.

 

[RapidBreath]

I get big when I lift heavy. I'm short, naturally strong, and its probably genetic. People are always saying how rare it is for women to bulk up, that we are so rare. But, its a result of my PCOS. PCOS symptoms are a result of insulin behaving like testosterone. Well. Guess what else testosterone does? It bulks. It does many good things also. In my family, the males are naturally very strong, and they bulk up easily. My father was huge when he came home from his tour in Vietnam. They couldn't find a shirt that would fit him because his arms were so darn big. They had to buy them special order. Well, I get big too. I try to stick to body weight exercises. But, keep in mind that since I am overweight, that if you added the weights that Cathe is lifting to her actual body weight, I'm still lifting heavy I do best with a combination of yoga, running/walking, step, kick box, and step/ckts. I love interval training with my runs, but for some reason it doesn't help me to do a lot of plyos (you would think that was the same thing.) I don't know why. Thats just the way it is.

What I have learned over the years is: I must pay attention to what I eat, what my weight is, and how my body is responding to my workouts. I can't just go on automatic pilot. My body is challenging. I have at times put on 13 pounds of muscle in a day, and at other times put on 35 pounds of fat in a month. If I eat off plan, I put on weight. (Which I did over the past year, I have to get back in the swing of things.) The frustrating thing is that I don't lose more than 3 pounds in a month (typically). So, it could take me nearly a year to lose 36 pounds. Thats why when people want to enjoy foods that are going to cause me weight gain, I just hang out and drink an iced tea instead of eating. One meal could cost me 5 pounds, thats nearly two months to work it off! The most important part is just to listen to your body and respect it. Don't worry about what anybody else is doing with their rotation, their diet, their life.

 

[TRSTACIE]

I have no problems at all with lifting heavy. In fact, I actually prefer high weight low rep workouts over low weight high rep ones. I haven't had any bulking up but that might because when I am in slim down mode, I try to up my protein intake and lower my carb intake.

 

[kariev]

If I lift heavy for my upper body I bulk. I'm naturally broad so lifting heavy makes it worse. I do best with higher rep or Bodyweight only for my upper body. Lower body I can lift heavy without any issues. I think it comes down to genetics in the end. My body fat is low so it's not body fat giving me the increase size when lifting heavy.

 

[cokonkel]

That totally makes sense about genetics and hormones influencing how people respond to heavy lifting. Myself, I have a really really hard time putting on muscle and as soon as I stop working out, I get all squishy. My sister on the other hand, has always retained muscle easily whether she works out or not! I could see her potentially having problems with bulking if she lifted heavy. For me and lots of (maybe most?) women, it's not an issue but it sure can be for others. It definitely comes down to doing what works best for you. We all know our own bodies best!

 

[momto4]

I gain muscle easily, and I love lifting heavy weight. High rep low weight is probably my least favorite type of work out. I've noticed that since lifting heavy, I weight a little bit more, but my measurements are smaller. The other thing that I've noticed, is I don't have to worry about my calorie intake. My running friends are always amazed that I can eat as much food as I can and not gain weight. One of the girls in my group is the same height and size as me but I weight 20 (yes 20) pounds more than her. She's always fighting weight gain and keep trying to tell her she needs to start lifting heavy weights, as opposed to the light weights she uses now.

 

[Stebby]

Another heavy lifter here (for more than 30 years). I am convinced, looking at my relatives who don't weight train, that weight lifting has kept my hips & thighs slimmer, and my posture better, than they would have been otherwise. I think I also would have been 20-25 lbs lighter in scale weight, but squishier and larger, and with more aches/pains/injuries. I am happy with the way I have "developed" into my 50s.

Stebby

 

[mom418]

I was avoiding lifting heavy without realizing it. I just recently tried to do my 1 rep max. It wasn't in the best of conditions, a little tired bc it was at night.
However, according to the calculator I should be lifting at least 100# on a regular basis. Or even as much as my DH.
Doing majority of the time I was doing bodyweight exercises or using 25 db.
(Heavier, and I'm afraid my wrists can't take it, at least in db, and that's the heaviest db we have.) Clearly, it's a wonder I ever challenged my legs at all.

This is measuring my very out of shape self. Obviously, I'm in the naturally strong group too, and again plenty of testosterone to spare according to my manly eyebrows. I once tried to test my legs, again when I hadn't trained for months. I did as many unweighted squats as I could, as consecutively as possible, much of the time while I was punching a standing bag. Now, those weren't all full squats, but when I counted all the sets, they totalled 300.
I was going to compare like a before and after number, to see how much I had improved. But when the number was so high, there was no point, at least not without weights. I guess next time the fit test will be jump squats?
that or very heavy weights.

As far as bulking up bc I'm lifting heavy, obviously I'm still new to it, but my reasoning is simple. when I don't work out, I gain most of it in my lower body.
I can't possibly get more bulked up than I am right now.
with workouts it can only get better.
the more muscle I have on my quads, the less room there is for fat.
Thus, I say bring on the heavy, the plyo, stair sprints, squat-a-thons, whatever I can find.

There's this animated adult cartoon with a character that keeps proclaiming enthusiastically
"I'm on a (never ending) quest to save my girl friend!"

I feel like I'm on a never ending quest to find leg workouts.

 

[fit44]

Define bulk.
Leigh Peele's article Defining Bulky-
Leigh Peele » Blog Archive » Defining Bulky, Once and For All

I would take her bulky muscles any day of the week!

 

[mini-natty]

fit44
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing .

I love nicely sculpted muscles on both men & women. I find the more muscle I have, the better I look in clothes (and without ). Not only that, but I feel confident, strong, empowered. I lifted light weights for years before I found Cathe, and although I did lose weight, my body composition never really changed. I always wondered "how do I get toned arms? How can I slim down my thighs & butt? How can I lower my body fat %?". Now I know the answer . Heavy lifting has definitely agreed with me.

 

[fit44]

fit44
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing .

I love nicely sculpted muscles on both men & women. I find the more muscle I have, the better I look in clothes (and without ). Not only that, but I feel confident, strong, empowered. I lifted light weights for years before I found Cathe, and although I did lose weight, my body composition never really changed. I always wondered "how do I get toned arms? How can I slim down my thighs & butt? How can I lower my body fat %?". Now I know the answer . Heavy lifting has definitely agreed with me.

Same here. I noticed many women my age (50+) thin, but shapeless. I've heard several women say that their body is taking on an old lady shape. I think our shape changes because we lose muscle as we age. IMO weight lifting is the fountain of youth, so bring on the muscle! I would rather move up a size in my jeans because I have shapely thighs & and lifted glutes.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Hmmm Looking better even without clothes

fit44
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing .

I love nicely sculpted muscles on both men & women. I find the more muscle I have, the better I look in clothes (and without ). Not only that, but I feel confident, strong, empowered. I lifted light weights for years before I found Cathe, and although I did lose weight, my body composition never really changed. I always wondered "how do I get toned arms? How can I slim down my thighs & butt? How can I lower my body fat %?". Now I know the answer . Heavy lifting has definitely agreed with me.

Lol Natasha u r a little minx

Now to answer to your question: Try Hiit Natasha---studies have proven Hiit to be effective to attack subcutaneous fat---I know You do not really like the anaerobic stuff. This has worked wonder for me.
You do not need to do 1/2 an hours---Play around with your blender and make good effective premixes.

You are on route to achieve what you want---Barres are also effective. Combined various resistance programs and give Hiit a consistent try

Enjoy the remaining Holiday time off,

 

[mini-natty]

Lol Natasha u r a little minx

Now to answer to your question: Try Hiit Natasha---studies have proven Hiit to be effective to attack subcutaneous fat---I know You do not really like the anaerobic stuff. This has worked wonder for me.
You do not need to do 1/2 an hours---Play around with your blender and make good effective premixes.

You are on route to achieve what you want---Barres are also effective. Combined various resistance programs and give Hiit a consistent try

Enjoy the remaining Holiday time off,

Why thank you . I will take this as a compliment .

I have actually been doing hiit, tabata, intervals, weekly since I found Cathe last year. I do not necessarily like it, but I WILL do it. For me, cardio has to be a combo of what I enjoy and what I know will condition my heart. If I do cardio I constantly dread, guess what? I will start hating it and it won't get done. Being fit is not just a short-time goal for me, it's a lifetime achievement. I went tobogganing with my daughter yesterday for 1hr. Even with LB DOMS, I was able to climb up those hills and had the energy and stamina to keep up. Being a positive, active role model to my daughter is the most important thing. Everything else is just an added bonus .

Happy New Year Nathalie! I wish you health & prosperity for 2013 and beyond

 

[PhyllisG]

I definitely "bulk" when I lift heavy. I actually like lifting heavy and did for many years. My arms and quads would no longer fit comfortably into my clothes. I had to lighten up. I started doing a lot of barre, fusion and walking and everything slimmed down. I completed STS 2X plus CLX. My eating was clean tho I was hungry a lot. Cutting back on the poundage helped cut back on my appetite also.

 

[complik8td]

Define bulk.
Leigh Peele's article Defining Bulky-
Leigh Peele » Blog Archive » Defining Bulky, Once and For All

This is a very interesting article, and I enjoyed reading the comments as well. Thanks for posting it.

That shot of Angela Basset is from the Ike and Tina Turner movie, which I happened to see several times. It was just on this past weekend, in fact. I get so every time I see it, but I am ALWAYS looking at Basset's body with such envy. Check out those guns!! I will never have arms like that in this lifetime, but I secretly wish I did.

I would take her bulky muscles any day of the week!

Me too!