I remember a conversation I had with a potential new client where she said to me, “I don’t want to look muscly like you.” For any of you reading this that don’t know what I look like, I am not “big” or “muscly”. That comment felt like a compliment and an insult all wrapped up in one.
At the time, I was in a phase of my training where I had been working out A LOT with the sole intention of building muscle. I was working hard. My nutrition was focused around allowing this to happen. I then reduced my calories to show off my newly built muscle. This was done over a number of months, on top of quite a few years of weightlifting prior to that.
So, what a compliment to be told I looked muscly! BUT, it also felt like an insult because I had worked really hard to get that look. For that lady to think that she was going to achieve that with 6 weeks’ worth of personal training sessions felt like she was undermining the work that I had put in. Of course she wasn’t. She just believed something that happened to be a myth.
The same comment has cropped up a few times since then by others, but I no longer take it as an insult. There are a lot of myths around, the whole “lifting makes you bulky” being one of them, and these myths are really, really hard to shake off.
Building muscle is not easy. You are not going to lift a weight and suddenly start looking like a man. Quite the opposite. To build muscle, you need extra calories, consistent, intentional, progressive strength training aimed at bulking, hormones, and pretty good genetics.
If you see a woman with muscles, let me tell you this. She has worked incredibly hard. She has structured her training deliberately to achieve that look. She has pushed herself to lift the heaviest weights that she can time and time again, consistently for a long period of time. She has worked hard on her nutrition. She has consumed lots of protein. She has turned down lots of cake. She did not get those muscles accidentally. I fully understand that a muscly look is not one that a lot of women aspire to achieve, but a lady that has achieved that should be admired for her determination, her commitment, her work ethic, and her patience for the cause!
Hormones & genetics
Men and women have different hormone profiles. Testosterone is the hormone responsible for helping to grow big muscles. Men have about 15 times more testosterone than women. And women do not normally have enough natural testosterone to grow big muscles. Which is why if I hit the gym doing the same exercises, the same number of sets and repetitions as my boyfriend, both of us lifting weights that were relatively heavy for each of us, he would build bigger muscles than me (much to my disappointment!)
Have you ever wondered why some people can run for a long time while others can sprint or react quickly? It comes down to our muscle fibres. We have 3 different types, and our genetics determine which we have more of.
Type I are the slow twitch fibres. They contract slowly but repeatedly over a long time frame. Think of marathon runners. They have more type 1 muscle fibres, which means they can continue for a long time.
Type II can be split into 2 categories: Types IIa and IIb. These are the fast twitch muscle fibres. They fire quickly and more powerfully than Type I. Think of sprinters and jumpers who are more explosive and powerful.
It is thought that most people have about 50% of each muscle fibre, but you only need to look at Mo Farah and Usain Bolt to see that some people do not! Bolt has more Type II muscle fibres, he moves fast and has a lot of power. His majority Type II muscle fibres means that he can build more muscle than Farah. Mo, on the other hand, has more Type I, demonstrated by his 100 miles plus training weeks.
If you are someone that has more Type II muscle fibres, then it will be slightly easier for you to gain muscle. However, it still won’t happen without the intention of making it happen.
There are a few elements to building muscle. It is not just what you do during your gym time. What you do for the other 23 hours of the day is pretty important as well.
Food
When it comes to muscle building, nutrition is extremely important. Bulking up happens with a calorie surplus. Gaining any kind of mass on your body, be that fat or muscle, requires that you eat more calories than you burn. If you are eating at maintenance or in a deficit, you simply won’t be able to bulk up.
Protein – Protein is the building blocks for tissue growth and repair. If you do not have adequate protein, then you will not be giving your body the tools it needs to grow new tissue. Remember that it’s not just for muscle building; every cell in your body needs protein.
Now, if you are lifting weights and you lose some body fat then what will happen is you will unveil some of those muscles which we all have underneath. This will then give you a more toned look. You have not necessarily built a huge amount of muscle, but you have stripped away some of the fat that was hiding under the muscle!
Training
To build muscles, you must push yourself. If you finish your set and still feel like you could do the same number of repetitions again, then you have not pushed yourself.
When lifting weights, you need to be at near capacity to build muscle. Meaning, you need to feel like you would not be able to lift that weight with good form many more times. You also need to be very honest about that. So many times, I have asked someone that I am training, how many more times could you have lifted that, only to be told, “maybe 1”. When you get to the point that you can only lift it once more, the 2 reps that came before that would have been quite a struggle as well. It can be difficult to gauge this to begin with, which is one of the best things about personal training. Knowing that you are doing an exercise safely, that someone is there to spot you (make sure that you don’t hurt yourself) but also encourage you to give it a try. It is seriously empowering to lift a weight that you didn’t think you’d be able to lift.
Another myth around strength training is that lifting light weights for many reps will help with “toning”. Truth be told, this will have very little effect on body composition.
I often hear, “I don’t want to put on muscle, I just want to tone up.” Muscles do not go from soft to hard; they either shrink or grow. A muscle can not tone up. A “toned” look is an increase in muscle and a decrease in body fat, which means that the definition of the muscle can be seen. So, if you want to “tone up,” you still need to lift heavy enough weight to allow the muscles to grow and eat according to your goal. Do not waste your time with high reps (generally above about 12 – 15). It will not give you give you the toned look that you are seeking. Sets of 8 – 12 reps where you physically cannot do more than 1 – 2 more is what you need to be doing.
I cannot emphasise this enough, 45–60 minute gym sessions 2–3 times per week is not enough to build significant bulk. It will definitely help you to achieve a more defined and sculpted physique. It will give you so many health benefits, both physical and mental, but it will not turn you into HeMan, so please don’t fear the weights.
To continue progressing, you need to increase your weights or shake up your exercise program. It might feel good to be able to comfortably do something, but that saying “if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you” is SO true. Our bodies are great at adapting. A weight that you lifted when you started may have felt heavy initially, but do it enough and your body will adapt and you will become accustomed to lifting that weight.
Rest
You need to allow your body to recover and adapt. When we put the muscle under the stress of resistance training, the muscle fibres break down. The recovery time (when you’re not in the gym) is when those micro tears repair, and this is what makes the muscles grow.
So to summarise, weight lifting WILL NOT make you bulky, but it WILL improve your life in so many ways. Read more about the benefits here.