The whole bulky woman thing page 5

[Louisa655]

Point being, anyone can have any body, it just comes down to what you're willing to sacrifice to get it.

+1

[arthurb999]

It's almost comical how some women think if they lift weights, they will suddenly wake up jacked. As a somewhat young man who works out hard, eats right, has way more testasterone than you, etc... I can honestly say... you will never be "bulky" from strength training alone.

[sbhikes]

Well my whole thing was I didn't think bulky meant jacked or looking like a man. I thought it meant looking fat and athletic, stocky. I mean, if you are already fairly stocky, I thought maybe it might make you stockier. Like how you see these really heavy guys with giant calves from bike riding or hiking, only you'd get giant shoulders to go along with it because now you're doing your upper body. That's all I ever thought it meant. I never thought any ordinary woman would ever look like a muscle man without steroids. I think lots of muscles on a slender woman looks great. I just figured if you don't already have a tendency toward slenderness, that you might just enhance your stockiness and figured that's what women were trying to avoid.

[sbhikes]

You know where I think it comes from, at least for me? I was on the track and cross country team for a year in high school. I was jr varsity and ran the mile and 2 mile. My friend talked me into it. I thought it was fun and hoped it might help me keep the weight off that I had lost the summer before. Well, it didn't and eventually I gained enough that the next year the coach suggested maybe I should try shot put instead. The varsity shot putter was enormous. I didn't want to be like that. So that's probably where the image in my mind came from.

[PrimalMama]

You know where I think it comes from, at least for me? I was on the track and cross country team for a year in high school. I was jr varsity and ran the mile and 2 mile. My friend talked me into it. I thought it was fun and hoped it might help me keep the weight off that I had lost the summer before. Well, it didn't and eventually I gained enough that the next year the coach suggested maybe I should try shot put instead. The varsity shot putter was enormous. I didn't want to be like that. So that's probably where the image in my mind came from.

omg... yes. I could see that. There are plenty of Olympians that have low body fat... and plenty that are in a sport that's more about brute strength... and do not have low body fat. Shotput and weight lifting come to mind... I want to look more like a sprinter or a gymnast (but I'm more of a Shawn than a Nastia body type)...

I think I bulk up more than most women when I lift... my large biceps have been mistaken for fat arms... a LOT, even though muscle doesn't hang the same way as flab (you could [and still can, but not to the same extent] see my tricep definition when my arm hangs)... people just see big and think fat, I guess?
Usually once I dole out tickets to the gun show... they're either in awe or scared... and usually either way they think I'm a freak of nature, but "fat" isn't it.
I lost a fair amount of muscle and strength during pregnancy, so I still have big arms, they're just not as toned or bulky with muscle... I think the muscle is starting to come back (still need to rebuild strength) and the fat's starting to go away... I'm not so secretly hoping that I DID lose some of my bulk, so I can stop getting those reactions.

[egrok]

FWIW, I'd love to look like Xena, but I am not tall enough or broad-shouldered enough. So I just focus on making my 5'4" self as badass as I can. Weights help. Especially really heavy ones (cause what's the point if they're not heavy?).

+1

[egrok]

Newsflash to all the women out there: Despite what the TV and the checkout aisle magazines want you to believe, most men are simply not that picky. Not even close. Not even in the same zip code. There are men who want a trophy, but seriously, is that the kind of man you want?

+1

[egrok]

I think women also refer to women who look like this as bulky: Hot or Not: Female Bodybuilders

and not something they would like to look like. I wouldn't mind looking like the 5th girl (blonde, green nike shirt), or maybe the 7th (brunette, pink shirt), but some of them have much bigger arms and chest than I would ever care for.

What do you think of these girls? How many hours a day at the gym do you think they have to spend to look like that? Do you think they do split-routines or whole body routines?

[Miscellangela]

I think women also refer to women who look like this as bulky: Hot or Not: Female Bodybuilders

and not something they would like to look like. I wouldn't mind looking like the 5th girl (blonde, green nike shirt), or maybe the 7th (brunette, pink shirt), but some of them have much bigger arms and chest than I would ever care for.

What do you think of these girls? How many hours a day at the gym do you think they have to spend to look like that? Do you think they do split-routines or whole body routines?

I would say they probably do a 4 or 6 day split, training (and eating) specifically for hypertrophy. But none of them are new to the weights. Splits only work optimally when you have worn out your linear progression gains. Until that happens, full body is the way to go because all the parts get worked more often. And let's face it, you don't need exercises specifically for teh biceptz p33k if you don't have biceps yet.

As for looking like them, meh. The muscles are cool, but I'm not crazy about the vascularity and crazy-low body fat. I'm just happy when my larger muscle groups are defined. I can almost guarantee most of them are not that lean all year - it takes way too much obsession to stay stage-ready all year long. Not to mention the whole fake tan thing, which helps bring out the definition, but makes you look stupid in real life.

[Kingofturtles]

Splits only work optimally when you have worn out your linear progression gains.

Are you saying if someone does a program like starting strength, after they have hit their limits, isolation lifting would be better?