I Don't Want to Bulk Up

On Thursday, I wrote about online fitness forums and the attitudes of some of the posters. One of the threads that started my little rant began as something else but morphed into a "heavy weights bulk me up" debate.

The poster insisted that using heavy weight to strength train bulked her up. I am not one to say that it's absolutely impossible for a very few women to get bigger than they'd like using heavy weight. However, this would be a tiny minority of women who have higher levels of testosterone than the average female.

I think that for the vast majority of those who think that heavier lifting makes them bulky, it's a matter of diet. No one will lose weight without a calorie deficit. If you continue to eat the same amount or more while lifting weights, you will build muscle but retain fat.

It's not that the muscle makes you look bulky. Because of your poor nutrition you haven't gotten rid of the layer of fat that's covering your muscle.

Although the poster who got this all started credited her current "toning" (as opposed to her previous "bulking") with using a 4 lb. weight, she also casually mentioned that she was now paying attention to her nutrition by increasing her protein intake and cutting back on junk food.

She's lost inches and is seeing muscle definition. However, although she is determined to attribute her current physique to using light weights, I'm just as sure that it's her current nutrition that's made the difference.

The following article is written about athletes but the information is relevant to any woman.

Top 10 Reasons Heavy Weights Don’t Bulk Up the Female Athlete

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