Weight Training Will Not Make Women Bulky
A common misconception that is still believed to be true is that women who lift weights will get bulky “like a man.” This is incorrect! How big you can get and how much muscle you can add depends largely on your genetics (do you have a big thick frame or a small frame?) your nutrition, and your hormone profile.
Men will have significantly more testosterone and growth hormone available to utilize to build muscle than women. This does change slightly around the age of 45, where this flips. After age 45, men start to lose testosterone drastically and begin producing additional estrogen, while women start having a larger percentage of testosterone while their bodies produce less estrogen. HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, is a new hot topic that will help both men and women navigate and stabilize the chemical and hormonal changes to their bodies throughout their lives.
Formal fitness training has trained hundreds of women over the past decade and a half. None of those women have become bulky! Sure, some of them are athletes training 4-5 days per week, and they have increased their muscle structures, but what you are left with is a nice lean body, which is way healthier than a woman who is absent of decent muscularity. Genetically, you will find that if you have always been a larger woman (structure-wise), you will remain that way while lifting weights while proportionally reducing body fat and muscle. Similarly, if you have always been a smaller woman, you will remain that way while lifting weights and adjusting your body fat and muscle.
The third thing that must be mentioned is nutrition. Most women will never eat enough food to drastically “bulk up.” It takes 3500 calories to lose one pound of fat; it also takes 3500 calories to gain one pound of muscle. In a perfect diet, a woman will consume about 13 calories per pound of lean body mass to maintain weight while allowing a little bit of muscle to be put on. Reducing to 11 calories will reduce bodyfat and minimize muscle gain, while increasing to 15–17 calories per pound of lean body mass will increase bodyfat and similarly increase muscle gains. The sweet spot generally sits somewhere between 12 and 14 calories per pound of lean body mass for slow and steady muscle increases, supported healthy levels of vitamins and minerals, and removing the chance of drastically adding unwanted bodyfat tissues.
Strength training will do so many positive things for women. It will increase your immune system functionality, increase your bone density and balance, improve your confidence, reduce your body fat, and improve your function in life (picking up heavy things, carrying things, etc.). All these benefits can begin being realized with just 2 days of weight training done weekly. We would rather see people come to the gym twice per week and lift weights than come to the gym five times per week and slowly ride the bike or walk on the treadmill. Cardio is important, but arguably weight training is way more important! Once you are consistently lifting two times per week, you can add in a third and fourth day and work more difficult cardiovascular sessions into your routine.
Ladies! Get 10k steps per day; learn how to lift weights correctly with a goal to build muscle and get stronger 2-3x per week; manage your stress; prioritize your sleep; and remember, weight training will not make you bulky!
It will make you awesome though!
Michael Hartman
My mission is to give personal training participants a safe and effective workout designed specifically for their goals. Dealing with many sports injuries over the years taught me how to come back stronger every time. The competition is with yourself... Strive to bring out your best self and get better every day!
