I'm Huge

[sjdavis]

I'm a 30 year aerobic veteran, but I'm only about a year into heavy weights and I love how strong I've gotten; I am in love with RWH. A major drawback is that I have gotten much bigger. My shoulders are huge (my son calls me the Hulk), my legs have gotten bigger too. Many of my clothes are too tight for me to wear comfortably. I've decided to stop the RWH/XTrain rotation and do the "Fat Loss" rotation for the next month and see if that helps a little. I'm thinking if I lay off the heavier weights I can stay strong, but loose some mass. Since I'm new to the heavy weights I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I'd like to maintain strength, but not grow it at this point; I'd like to "shrink" a little. Is this possible? I'd love any advice.

 

[mbmundt]

I know when I've done STS once I get into Meso 2 and 3 I feel much thicker due to the heavy lifting. Try going with more muscle endurance based workouts when it comes to weights. Lighter weights, higher reps. Everyone's body reacts to things differently.

You should still be very proud of your accomplishments.

Good Luck!
Brenda

 

[jamie vaughn]

Hi Sara,
Are you saying you've only noticed this significant change in size during the RWH rotation? If so, do you think perhaps there's some fluid retention because you embarked on a new program and as your body gets used to it the water weight will resolve? Or have you noticed the size when you started weights a year ago? Do you find you are also inadvertantly eating more as a result of the weight workouts and perhaps there is a layer of fat now? (No i'm not saying you're fat LOL!!) I guess i just thought it was very difficult for women to actually increase muscle mass that much due to the lower testosterone levels etc but I'm kind of envious! If it truely is all muscle then I agree with Brenda and maybe add some metabolic workouts to the mix or bodyweight/ barre?
Jamie

 

[Justinef]

My immediate thoughts are that if it's your shoulders and thighs, then it's muscle (otherwise you'd have mentioned a muffin top????). Or, as Jamie says, fluid. Glycogen / muscle pump and all that. If so, please tell me how you got huge muscles in a year...I've been trying for decades!!!

Seriously, do you want to lose fat? If so follow advice of other 2 posters. If you want to lose muscle, then do cardio and drop your calories. But why would you want to lose muscle? Weird question, but how old is your son? Are you feeling 'huge' because he said something? Our children hate us to change. And they hate a parent who's 'different' to others (even if that means you're ripped and sexy and the other mums are wobbly). No disrespect to your son - I know from having a daughter! She's 20 now, and only just appreciating that I don't look like other middle aged women AND THAT'S GOOD. If I've misinterpreted your post - apologies xx If not, why not have a week off, and see if the 'pump' goes down? I know that RWH made my thighs swell. But ultimately the lean muscle will look awesome.

 

[desertambrosia]

My immediate thoughts are that if it's your shoulders and thighs, then it's muscle (otherwise you'd have mentioned a muffin top????). Or, as Jamie says, fluid. Glycogen / muscle pump and all that. If so, please tell me how you got huge muscles in a year...I've been trying for decades!!!

Seriously, do you want to lose fat? If so follow advice of other 2 posters. If you want to lose muscle, then do cardio and drop your calories. But why would you want to lose muscle? Weird question, but how old is your son? Are you feeling 'huge' because he said something? Our children hate us to change. And they hate a parent who's 'different' to others (even if that means you're ripped and sexy and the other mums are wobbly). No disrespect to your son - I know from having a daughter! She's 20 now, and only just appreciating that I don't look like other middle aged women AND THAT'S GOOD. If I've misinterpreted your post - apologies xx If not, why not have a week off, and see if the 'pump' goes down? I know that RWH made my thighs swell. But ultimately the lean muscle will look awesome.

My thoughts exactly. Why would you want to lose muscle? Women should never have to apologize for being strong, and ripped at any age. Weight training keeps us young. I don't plan on spending my "golden years" in a rocking chair.

 

[Stacy]

I can actually totally relate. I tend to add muscle bulk/size/hypertrophy whatever term you'd like to call it, quite easily. I'm not saying easy, just easier than say someone with an ectomorph body type. I also tend to lose fat slowly so it's a constant struggle to achieve the size I want to look good in my winter clothes and the aesthetics to look good in my summer clothes. If I focus too much on cardio then I get the flabby look but overall don't increase my size too much. If I increase my weights I tend to look Hulk-like and at 5'1" I just don't like it. I'd describe myself as Endo-Meso body type, slight pear, but also with big shoulders. I've experimented with just barre and didn't feel it was enough of a calorie burn and I got that flab look again. STS got me stronger but bigger i size and I just felt uncomfortable in my clothing, actually tore a dress shirt in the shoulders when reaching for something on a top shelf! I"m narrowing down my "magic" plan by trial and error but thru the years consistency is even more important than ever. I've been paying more attention to cals and carbs, moreso on my rest days than on my workout days. I try to eat only my maintenance cals with lower carbs on my rest days and up my cals and carbs a bit on my workout days. I've also learned thru trial and error that less is more. I was doing all RWH and was exhausted, felt puffy, wasn't losing body fat. I backed off and am now doing more metabolic workouts with 1 or maybe 2 RWH workouts a week. I'm alternating two weeks of split strength training with 2 weeks of total body weight training as well. I'm also working in yoga once a week. My current plan is 5 days a week....

2 rest days, 1 yoga, 2 strength days (either total body or splits), 1 circuit/metabolic day and then either 1 steady state cardio, 1 barre or another circuit. I use this as my freedom of choice day to do whatever my body and mind feels it needs that week. The results have been slow but steady. For general cal amounts, I aim for 1200-1300 cals of mostly protein and veggies on rest days, 1500-ish cals on moderate days and 1700-1800 cals on more intense days like an RWH day. I also eat more carbs on workout days. I tried low carb and it just wasnt giving me the energy I needed for my workouts.

Good luck in your journey!

 

[sjdavis]

Thanks for all of your replies. I do tend to build muscle quickly. I have always had a lot of natural muscle tone which is probably part of why I never tried weights until lately. At the beginning I noticed I was feeling stronger, but it took about 6-8 months to see the muscles get bigger. I usually lift heavier than Cathe so maybe I should just stick to following her. I am going to add in some more metabolic WOs, but they tend to make me hungrier than the weights or the HIIT WOs so I "suffer" more on those days.
My own weight has been up in the last couple of years about 5 pounds from what I had always been, but I don't think it comes into play here b/c even last year my buns weren't so round (yes round is a good thing!); and I think that is making my pants fit differently. Those weights definitely turned my frown upside down
So I don't really want to lose muscle, but I also don't want to stop wearing at least half of my pants. Like I said, I'd like to stay strong, but see some smaller muscles. I would still like to get those 5 pounds off too, but man since I hit 42-43 I can't seem to make them budge. I'm always a clean eater, but have really tightened that up the last month. I'm hoping that I can see some steady drops over the next few months, but we'll see, it hasn't worked so far.
BTW, My son is 17 and he thinks it's cool that I'm so strong. My kids have always thought that I was ripped, but my shoulders are large and "solid as a rock" (also a good thing). They're glad to have inherited my genes.

 

[Gibbee]

Maybe switch to a couple weeks of 2-3 total body higher rep workouts and see how that does?

 

[nckfitheart2009]

I'm a 30 year aerobic veteran, but I'm only about a year into heavy weights and I love how strong I've gotten; I am in love with RWH. A major drawback is that I have gotten much bigger. My shoulders are huge (my son calls me the Hulk), my legs have gotten bigger too. Many of my clothes are too tight for me to wear comfortably. I've decided to stop the RWH/XTrain rotation and do the "Fat Loss" rotation for the next month and see if that helps a little. I'm thinking if I lay off the heavier weights I can stay strong, but loose some mass. Since I'm new to the heavy weights I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I'd like to maintain strength, but not grow it at this point; I'd like to "shrink" a little. Is this possible? I'd love any advice.

You are not getting bigger. This is a temporary response from your body. It could be water retention.
In all honesty, it can take years to see drastic change. You can *not* compare a result gained throughout 30 years
of aerobic to a year of trying out weight lifting. I am with both Jamie and Karen, carry on lifting and give it sometimes and you
will be amazed with your own accomplishment. A body can not be shaped through catabolism i.e excessive cardio.
Neither can you shape a body by just working out cardio. Your heart will be conditioned but you could loose some benefit
such as metabolism improvement. Fat can not be shaped, Muscle can so build it. More muscle you gain, smaller your size
will get.

All the best,

 

[TurquoiseEyes]

I'm a 30 year aerobic veteran, but I'm only about a year into heavy weights and I love how strong I've gotten; I am in love with RWH. A major drawback is that I have gotten much bigger. My shoulders are huge (my son calls me the Hulk), my legs have gotten bigger too. Many of my clothes are too tight for me to wear comfortably. I've decided to stop the RWH/XTrain rotation and do the "Fat Loss" rotation for the next month and see if that helps a little. I'm thinking if I lay off the heavier weights I can stay strong, but loose some mass. Since I'm new to the heavy weights I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I'd like to maintain strength, but not grow it at this point; I'd like to "shrink" a little. Is this possible? I'd love any advice.

As Bret Contreras (The Glute Guy) would say, it'll take a calorie deficit and accepting a little bit of muscle loss to get as lean as you'd like if true fat loss is in order. For me it's always cut the darn sugar out (not fruit, dairy, whole grains- just anything that's an empty calorie through and through) + laying off the hypertrophy builders for a couple of weeks. Pushups, squats, heavy weighted deadlifts, etc. I always focus on aerobic weight-training and cardio interval training when I'm gaining too much mass too quickly. Like you're talking about, to the point where my shirts aren't fitting (which does happen periodically). Quicker routines with little rest, lighter weights, plenty of cardio, a focus on some smaller muscle groups like adductors over training with lots of heavy squats and such. Sometimes I mix The FIRM (because they used weights with their aerobics routines), like Super Cardio Mix and Maximum Cardio Burn, in with Cathe for a bit. Another option is to go for old-school aerobics: Body Sculpting Basics with Susan Harris or Low Impact Aerobics with Janet Jones are two examples from The FIRM. If I'm sticking with Cathe solely, I choose routines that are total-body in nature instead of splits. PushPull, Muscle Endurance, High Reps. Or stick with Afterburn, Slide and Glide and things like it every day for a few weeks. Stretch a lot, too- it lengthens out those muscles a bit!

Your other option is to keep training heavy, but really get strict on diet and seriously up the cardio. Either in the a.m. before breakfast (on an empty stomach) or a couple of hours after dinner, do an extra cardio routine lasting at least 30 minutes. I really don't prefer this, as I think it's harder on the joints and tendons because of the extra exercise and stricter diet. It's time-consuming and tends to make both eating and exercise more of a chore. But it does work.