Why do i look butch???

A

andieje

Cathlete
Hello

I want to ask a question that is, to be fair, purely based on vanity.

I have been weight training for about two years and have been using a cathe dvds for about a month and have become a great fan.

One thing that I have always noticed about me is that whilst I am definitely a lot stronger from weight training, i definitely look 'butcher.' I am a bit over weight (about a stone) but i am firm because I weight train. I have also always had fairly unfeminine upper arms

Naturally I do not want to be butch :) and I do not believe weight training has to make you look butch.

Take for example some of the people on the videos. I love slow and heavy. I can't remember the people's names but there is a woman called Brenda and I tend to look more like her whereas I would prefer to have more of the physique of the girl with long brown hair (who wouldn't :)

I have considered doing more endurance type workouts cos they give more definition rather than building muscle mass but i find these a bit boring. I like lifting heavy weights.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Perhaps if i lost the excess stone I am carrying i would find I don't actually look butch. But i was this weight when I started weight training and i definitely look 'butcher' :)

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas about this?

Thanks very much
Andrea :)
 
Hi, you might want to try and include some dancer type workouts to help elongate your muscles. These workouts also help you with your posture and help you move with grace...all of which will help you look less 'butch". Losing the excess weight will help too. I would recommend Yoga Booty ballet from Beachbody. You could also take an adult ballet, modern or jazz dance class from a local dance studio.
 
I suspect a lot of it has to do with genetics and your body type (you know the old "mesomophic"= muscular; "endomorphic"--tending to roundness and fat; and "ectomorphic"==thin and lean; categories?) You are programmed to look more " butch" from weight training. As you noted about the different background exercisers in Cathe's workouts, everyone has a different shape. Brenda has big, strong legs, and will probably never get a lean , slim look to her legs. Cedie is more round and voluptuous and could not (at least safely) look long and lean. Rhonda is long and lean, and even if she put on more muscle, I can't imagine that she would look butch.

While you cannot actually "elongate" muscle as Cathy suggests, workouts like yoga or other body-weight exercises can contribute to a leaner muscle look.

I'm not sure how much a stone is (?), but if you have a tendency to bulk, then extra weight can reinforce that tendency, since the extra weight tends to gather where you don't want it to!
 
I think it might be genetics. You may be bigger boned than Rhonda (the girl with the long brown hair). Brenda is in great shape! But she's never going to look like Jai.

Unfortunately, there are some things you can't change and you just have to make the best of it. Like me - I'll never be taller than 5'0" - but BOY! I sure would like to try being 5'6" for a day or two....
 
Actually my body is shaped more like Brenda's. I do tend to do endurance type workouts for this reason. However I love Slow n Heavy upper body and just LL for my lower body. I also tend to cycle and power-walk alot (love these forms of cardio)

For me at least, I know if I try to look like Jai I will suffer depression because I am working against my body instead of working with it.

Brenda lets me know there is hope for my body shape and I do enjoy looking at her when doing the exercises. (I think she has an awsome body)!

I also am overweight at the present but I continue working on my eating habits and try to get my 10,000 steps in everyday, besides my 45 to 1 hour workout. I have strong looking arms and back but consider that one of my best assests.

You might consider taking tae kwon do classes ( I do with my children) or using Cathe's kickboxing workouts to trim down. Kickboxing is an excellent workout for triming down all over and especially the lower body. Also Slim Series is excellent for this type of body, although I have to admit I have only 3 of the 6 dvd's and for me that is enough. ( These DVD's are not on par with Cathe's workouts but they do compliment hers)

I would not give up on my REALISTIC goals but realize you cannot change a pear into an apple or vise verse.


Good Luck and take care,
Kim
 
From my days of reading Bridget Jones' Diary, I learned that one stone equals 14 pounds. Which would also be somewhere between 6 - 7 kilograms, for us Canucks.

Cheers,
Sandra
 
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