Any other women who put on muscle ridiculously easily? page 2

[Kochin]

I'm of Baltic-Slavic heritage which, whilst it's a small amount of my gene-pool, is VERY dominant. As a result, my legs, for example, are 21-22 inches at the widest point (if I don't tense and squeeze the measuring tape a bit), with NO pinch-able fat on the quad (probably 4-10% over that muscle, and very well-attached with no give) and most inner-thigh fat restricted to the upper inside. Additionally, even when relaxed the quads are too hard to deform when you poke. I'm about 23% body-fat (miscalculated last time, so I'm getting calipers for more accurate future measurements, but, right now, it's 23%) and, if it weren't for that, almost my WHOLE body would be a mass of rock-hard muscle. As it stands, some loose skin on my upper arms masks how dense and large my biceps are and my belly-fat makes the abs less visible (though, despite the fat covering them, when they're active the fat takes the shape of the muscle underneath, which is weird as ****, but oh well).
When I get down to 20% body-fat, though, my body will probably still look about the same size as now, but with more muscle.

Not a curse, but a gift, I'd say.

[happybunny]

Congrats on the baby, teach. I agree with you on the never getting to a "normal" BMI. It might be fun to see myself with 17% body fat, but I don't think it will ever happen

I've never heard about the multiple BMI charts, DinoHunter. Somehow I doubt they're enough to fix the BMI's deficiencies, but they would be a start!

I'm seeing a trend of farm work from a few of you... Wouldn't you know, I grew up on a farm, too!

[YogaBare]

You conveniently forgot to mention your bodyfat percentage

This guy is a real charmer

Anyway - yes! I've got a reasonably light frame but I put on muscle without a whole lot of exercise. If I eat well (no junk, and around 1,800 - 2000 cals a day) and do an hour of Yoga a day I quickly drop to around 19% body fat with nice muscle definition and two abs My problem is inconsistency and too much of a liking for ice cream...

[happybunny]

Isn't he, though? Seems like he was confused about his gender, too :P

19%! Impressive. This might sound a little weird, but I wish some of you had hormone levels to see if our small sample size shows a correlation between testosterone and ease of gaining muscle.

[Kharnath]

This guy is a real charmer

I can do better:

Strength standards for men and women

Where do you girls rank on those lists? Advanced? Elite? No, probably not. In fact, I bet you struggle to fit into the untrained category. That's because you're not strong and muscular. You're just big. And you're delusional if you think you can put on lean body mass ridiculously easily, when males - with vastly superior testosterone levels and training intensity - are barely able to put on any muscle without gaining at least some amount of bodyfat in the process.

Let the flaming commence.


(by the way, I tend to get very "big boned" and "muscular" around my hips and ass during the winter)

[YogaBare]

I can do better:

Strength standards for men and women

Where do you girls rank on those lists? Advanced? Elite? No, probably not. In fact, I bet you struggle to fit into the untrained category. That's because you're not strong and muscular. You're just big. And you're delusional if you think you can put on lean body mass ridiculously easily, when males - with vastly superior testosterone levels and training intensity - are barely able to put on any muscle without gaining at least some amount of bodyfat in the process.

Lol. You're a dope. My waist is not even 29' inches right now. I'm 5 foot 8'. This is my winter weight.

When you say "muscle" you probably mean big beefy muscles? If you're stocky then that what you get but I've got a 'wirey" frame so I can get lean with muscle definition without too much work. If I wanted to get "big" then yeah, it would take a lot of training and effort.

I have a friend who is "big boned" and she's got a very low body fat % - she looks defined and awesome, so it is possible.

You seriously need to take a chill pill man. Actually don't - I find you obnoxiousness very entertaining

[happybunny]

I'm sorry if the context was unclear, but none of us were claiming to be able to put on muscle like men. Relative to women, however, it's a different story. All I am saying is that just like for men, some women have a much easier time increasing muscle mass and tend to have bulkier muscle than others. I'm also willing to concede that it will probably be harder going from now on for me than it was to start with.

As far as gaining lean mass, unfortunately, I don't have BF percentage from my top weight, but I think it's fair to say that a significant increase in muscle definition without a corresponding decrease in circumference around quads, calf muscles, and upper arms could possibly be a sign of an increase in muscle mass. Note that I'm not saying definitely. Although I can tell you that I have a pair of boots that fit last November that I can hardly get over my calves now despite losing weight during the same period. And even when my weight has stalled, my waist, hip, and chest measurements have continued to decrease. Make of that what you will.

Also, in high school, I was intermediate on bench press and intermediate or slightly higher on squat at about the same weight I am now, according to your metric. My school had a terrible weight training program, so I didn't even learn how to do the other exercises. Seeing as that was the result of a very indifferent bi-weekly lifting program in gym class, I'm not going to complain about it. I don't have equipment to do those now (how convenient, right?), but I would be very surprised if I performed worse. However, back then I had a higher bodyfat percentage and larger waist measurement.

I don't particularly care to flame you. Maybe you're right and we are all just fat cows trying to make ourselves feel better. But even if we are, I think it is unfair of you to assume that we can hardly get into the untrained category on your chart. If you'll look directly above, you can see that teach2183 is outside of "untrained" for some lifts even if she weighs 300 lbs (which I doubt that she does). Of course, we're probably all lying, so if we are so incorrigible, you might as well not bother with us :P

[YogaBare]

Isn't he, though? Seems like he was confused about his gender, too :P

19%! Impressive. This might sound a little weird, but I wish some of you had hormone levels to see if our small sample size shows a correlation between testosterone and ease of gaining muscle.

Lol

I saw an interesting BBC documentary a few months back about exercise. One of the tests they put the guy through was his genetic responsiveness to "getting fit". According to this doco, it's innate, so some people will respond well to exercise, and others just wont get fit, no matter how they try. Maybe that has to do with our hormonal profiles. Here's the doco if you're interested: Horizon Season 50 Episode 8 - The Truth About Exercise

[Kharnath]

When you say "muscle" you probably mean big beefy muscles?

When I say "muscle", I mean "skeletal muscle". Not "toned muscle", "wiry muscle" or "big beefy muscle".

[YogaBare]

When I say "muscle", I mean "skeletal muscle". Not "toned muscle", "wiry muscle" or "big beefy muscle".

"Skeletal muscle" - now there's a concept! I was referring to the muscles made out of clouds and fairy dust...