Women & Huge Muscles: Getting over the Myth

Posts: 14,352
2/14/13 9:16 A

WOW! Yesterday a female colleague of mine who disagreed with me on this issue several weeks ago brought in a copy of Muscle & Fitness Hers
www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2007/muscf
it_julyaug07cover.jpg
and though it wasn't this cover it was one similar and she said the model was grotesque looking and that that isn't what a female should look like and lifting any kind of weights will make you look like that.

I just retorted that the model was hot and she rolled hers eyes.

Posts: 14,352
2/6/13 10:31 A

I think lots of folks need educated because even here on the SP boards I still see comments from women who think lifting weights will gain them a competetive muscle man look.

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2/6/13 7:57 A

Somebody needs to educate that friend! :-) Let's face it, muscle is sexier than flabby fat and the muscle burns more fat. Good luck!

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2/6/13 12:24 A

I have large calf muscles

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2/6/13 12:12 A

Well I have been lifting weights for 2 years as part of my strength training workout and my arms are not bigger but my biceps are and aren't squishy when I flex

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2/5/13 9:14 P

I am a personal trainer and I will tell you that you need to train a VERY specific way to hypertrophy your muscles, AND change your diet dramatically.

Tell her this - by lifting weights she won't be GROWING the muscle to make it bigger, but she will be growing it to make it more DENSE. That's the difference.

If she flexes her arm, try to squish her biceps. If it squishes at all while she is flexing, tell her that her goal by increasing her weight will be to get it so it won't squish. Make sense?

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2/5/13 8:42 P

I've been lifting weights for over a year and NO I don't have manly muscles. I do want more than I have. Women just aren't built that way....... I'd show her pictures on the net of women who work out. Muscles&FitnessHer's has some good pictures.

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2/5/13 7:02 P

Also remind her that if she does gain muscle, a lot of it is going to be in places where it won't look manly-- the tummy and booty, for example.

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2/5/13 2:28 P

@NAUSIKAA: LOL!!!!

I've already talked to my gf about the whole not being able to gain manly muscle so she's calmed down for now, hahaha....

@Bunnykicks: her curcuit program was suppose to be 3 sets at 20 reps but she wanted to go heavier because she had read that more muscle burns more fat and I agree so I changed her to a 4 day split.

Edited by: KJFITNESSDUDE at: 2/5/2013 (15:14)

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2/5/13 2:27 P

It's extremely difficult for a woman to get "manly" muscles.... they certainly aren't going to sneak up on her by accident, increasing her weights a bit and in the morning, Popeye-arms? No.

People look at female bodybuilders in competitive poses and go "oh no, I don't want to look like THAT!" ... but no worries, you WON'T. These competitors (talking about the "natural" ones, that have acquired "manly muscles" without resorting to a Lance Armstrong diet), don't even look like that when out of competition. Prior to a competitive event, bodybuilders (male and female) will shed as much body fat as possible... will dehydrate as much as possible... and will apply bronzing colour to their skin. And then they "strike poses." All of these things are done to highlight emphasize and define their underlying musculature in order to be judged. There is absolutely NO WORRY about "ending up looking like that" from doing routine strength workouts!

Incidentally, if she can do 20+ reps per set, the weight is too light and she will benefit from bumping it up.

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2/5/13 2:00 P

Come up with something she REALLY wants but isn't likely to get (a new car, a new iphone, a diamond ring, whatever it may be) and tell her "If you build big manly muscles, I will buy you a new car (or whatever)."

She will try as hard as she can and fail. And you won't have to buy her a car. Everybody wins.

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2/5/13 11:00 A

"On average, in adult human males, the plasma concentration of testosterone is about 7–8 times as great as the concentration in adult human females' plasma,[6] but as the metabolic consumption of testosterone in males is greater, the daily production is about 20 times greater in men.[7][8] Females also are more sensitive to the hormone.[9] Testosterone is observed in most vertebrates. Fish make a slightly different form called 11-ketotestosterone.[10] Its counterpart in insects is ecdysone.[11] These ubiquitous steroids suggest that sex hormones have an ancient evolutionary history.[12]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen

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2/5/13 10:47 A

Something about estrogen production or something, right?
I am so stoked to get my Total Gym and kettlebell weight set. Even if I do get super muscular, which I don't think is going to happen, it's better than being super fluffy.

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2/5/13 10:47 A

testosterone vs estrogen

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Posts: 14,352
2/5/13 10:45 A

So my gf started lifting heavier weights this past month and is STILL worried about gaining manly muscles and looking too buffed. She went from a curcuit routine (one exercise per body part 3 sets each exercise, 20 reps each set low weights) to a 4 day split routine (heavier weights, lower reps). She wants to be even stronger and at age 50 she really is worried about her health in the her later years but a friend of hers told her she'll get man muscles.

Ugh.

It seems to be a never ending battle to get folks to understand that women who lift weights will NOT automatically become manly muscle men. I even see that fear here on SP.