Any other women who put on muscle ridiculously easily? page 4

[heatseeker]

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.

Try again, brah. I'm 149lbs and at Intermediate in each of the lifts listed, and only 10 and 20 pounds shy of Advanced in Clean and Deadlift, respectively. I've been Crossfitting for 6 months, and I eat Primal, and otherwise that's it. So, please, go ahead and keep telling me how I don't put on muscle easily. Six months ago I was deadlifting 110. Now I deadlift 220. I'd love to hear more of your amazing insight on how I'm not strong, just big.

Also, thanks for being a condescending prick about fitness. We ladies NEVER run into that in the real world, so it's refreshing.

[happybunny]

I wish I could claim that I kept low body fat that easily... As I'm sure you read, I can't and a still have a ways to go But she does sound like someone who might belie the common impression that women just don't naturally have much lean mass. Like all human beings, there's a continuum.

And as far as being athletic, the only things I was around the best at in gym were lifting and ping pong, so I'm not sure I can claim that title! (Hint: if you want to do well in doubles ping pong in middle/high school, make yourself disagreeable so you don't have a partner, then proceed to hit the ball as close to the middle of the opponents' side as possible. Works like a charm!)

Thanks for commenting! I need to get back to working out my fairy dust muscles

[seaweed]

i dont know about the testosterone thing. i have always been a tomboy in my activities but i look totally feminine. i muscle up easily but i dont bulk. in fact, i spent years avoiding big weights in case i did bulk. i am usually towards the middle end of the healthy BMI and i always weigh more than i appear to. no probs finding pants that fit me either.

[Kharnath]

Try again, brah. I'm 149lbs and at Intermediate in each of the lifts listed, and only 10 and 20 pounds shy of Advanced in Clean and Deadlift, respectively. I've been Crossfitting for 6 months, and I eat Primal, and otherwise that's it. So, please, go ahead and keep telling me how I don't put on muscle easily. Six months ago I was deadlifting 110. Now I deadlift 220. I'd love to hear more of your amazing insight on how I'm not strong, just big.

Strong deadlift. Just a few pounds shy of Advanced as you point out. Here is the thing: This thread is about building muscle - and not the imaginary kind of muscle. Now, would you be so kind as to tell us exactly how many pounds of sheer muscle tissue you have added to your frame. You have literally doubled your numbers on one of the best mass gain exercises known to mankind and I have been led to believe that women put on muscle easily. You should look much bigger, much stronger. Not just leaner.

The thing is, despite your numbers, I would be very surprised if you have gained more than a few pounds of muscle over the last six months. And I bet you had to work hard... and I mean REAL hard to improve your numbers that much. But please prove me wrong about women and their inability to easily put on muscle - or show us that it is at least possible to build an appreciable amount of lean body mass over six months. Post a picture of your trapezius and rhomboids so we can see what an advanced female deadlifter looks like.

[drssgchic]

I think the clothing thing is the hardest part of not being a waif. Whatever my waist measurement is, the fashion industry tells me that my arms are too thick compared to the rest of me. It's just worse when I'm leaner. I know this discussion has come up elsewhere on the site, since a lot of us Primal women are something other than skin and bones or shapeless blobs. (Those really do seem to be our options, clothing-wise.)

[heatseeker]

This thread is about building muscle - and not the imaginary kind of muscle.

What the hell are you even talking about? You're not making sense.

I have been led to believe that women put on muscle easily.

Then you've misconstrued the topic of this thread. It's not "women put on muscle easily". It's "some women put on muscle easily". I am one of those.

What exactly are you trying to argue? Because in your first post, you were arguing that all of us in this thread are "not strong, just big." Now you're conceding that I am indeed strong, and are saying that I must also be big? Which is it? You're confusing.

And I bet you had to work hard... and I mean REAL hard to improve your numbers that much.

Yes, over the course of six months, I worked very hard. But the fastest muscle gains were in the first month. I went from having so-so muscle size and definition to larger muscle size and obvious definition. And in that month, I gained ten pounds while also dropping a clothing size. Muscles grew, fat shrank.

It's been true my entire life that when I start a strength-based activity, I get muscular quickly. And I have noticeably bigger muscles than most of the women I see in my day-to-day life. There are women in my Crossfit classes that started around the same time as me and look exactly the same, as far as muscle size. They have even commented to me about how muscular I look compared to them, so it's not in my head. We're doing the same amount of work, and I am building muscle more easily and quickly.

No one here is trying to state any absolutes or speak for all women out there. We're just talking about a particular body trait we happen to share. I'm not sure why this is something you feel the need to argue with. You can say our personal experiences are wrong all the livelong day, but you're not going to convince us that something we have personally witnessed with our own eyes actually did not happen.

Post a picture of your trapezius and rhomboids so we can see what an advanced female deadlifter looks like.

I have no idea what this would prove to you. I don't look like an advanced weightlifter, and I don't consider myself one. Are you implying that I'm lying about my lifts? *shrug* I can't help you there. I've always been very open on these boards about my stats and lifts, though, so I think you'll find a consistent story. There are semi-recent pictures of me on my blog if you're curious.

Or better yet, just buzz off and let us get back to our conversation.

[Kharnath]

I have no idea what this would prove to you. I don't look like an advanced weightlifter, and I don't consider myself one. Are you implying that I'm lying about my lifts?

No, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm saying that women look fairly unimpressive in terms of muscle size regardless of their actual strength. That is, unless they take performance enhancing drugs. To even suggest that you can build muscle lifting dogs, feedbags and hay bales if you are a woman must be an insult to someone like you, who lifts heavy barbells multiple times every week and have little to show for it (relatively speaking).

[heatseeker]

What on earth made you think we were talking about looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger? We're simply talking about our ability to build muscle RELATIVE TO OTHER WOMEN.

I'm saying that women look fairly unimpressive in terms of muscle size regardless of their actual strength.

How is this at all helpful or relevant to our conversation? And also, compared to whom? Men? Yes, men have bigger muscles than women. Congratulations, you really uncovered a groundbreaking observation, there.

To even suggest that you can build muscle lifting dogs, feedbags and hay bales if you are a woman must be an insult to someone like you, who lifts heavy barbells multiple times every week and have little to show for it (relatively speaking).

I'm not insulted in the slightest, because it is possible to build muscle in those ways. And the point is not that I have gigantic muscles to show for my efforts, but that I have bigger muscles than other women doing the same work. Oh. My God. I don't know how else to drill this through your head.

All I can tell from your circuitous, off-topic, combative, and often nonsensical posts is that you have a) a poor education in English grammar and b) serious issues with women. Maybe go sort those out and leave us alone.

[Kharnath]

[...] a poor education in English grammar

Aww, that was uncalled for

[happybunny]

No, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm saying that women look fairly unimpressive in terms of muscle size regardless of their actual strength. That is, unless they take performance enhancing drugs. To even suggest that you can build muscle lifting dogs, feedbags and hay bales if you are a woman must be an insult to someone like you, who lifts heavy barbells multiple times every week and have little to show for it (relatively speaking).

Have you ever done farm work? Hay season involves lifting 50+ lb. bales at very awkward angles, sometimes above your head, often extending out in front of you, so physics will make it feel much heavier. Add this to the fact it is often done in 100 degree weather, and that it is common to put up several hundred bales in a day. And trying to get a cow that literally weighs a ton up after she develops milk fever from calving? Yes, you can build a lot of strength doing farm work. How much VISIBLE muscle you build depends on the woman. And why would a woman who cares about her strength enough to work out like heatseeker does be insulted by the idea that someone who spends most of their day doing physical labor can be strong too? You seem determined to denigrate everything that any woman in this thread has accomplished.

Also, since you seem not to have caught on, this thread is talking about muscle size RELATIVE TO OTHER WOMEN. Do I have visibly more muscle mass (bigger biceps, quads and calf muscles) than a guy who does the same workout? Probably not. Do I have more visible muscle mass than the majority of women who don't do steroids or extreme lifting? I would say yes. Do I have more visible muscle mass than guys who don't work out regularly? I would say yes to this too.

And now we come to the crux of the matter. You say that "women look fairly unimpressive in terms of muscle size regardless of their actual strength." It's obvious that there is an implied "compared to men" in this statement. Did I ever compare myself to a man in the original post? Have any of us said that we thought we could take a guy who lifts and works out regularly? No. But I'm a little confused, because you said in your first response that 125 lbs. lean mass while weighing 150 would be "very impressive." There, at least, you seemed to be comparing apples to apples, namely women compared to other women.