Why weightlifting WON’T make you look bulky

Weightlifting has tons and tons of benefits for everyone, but especially for women.

However, we so often only hear that weightlifting is good for men.

As a result, so many boys and men are encouraged to lift heavy and strength train.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for girls and women.

More often than not, girls are encouraged to slim down and try out more “feminine” exercises like cardio or yoga.

But the truth is, both men and women can benefit from weightlifting equally.

So why don’t more women weight train?

This is because we’re told, and so we fear, that we’ll start to look too bulky.

In this post, I want to dive into why more women should weight train as well as bust the myth that weight lifting makes women bulky.

In this post you’ll find:

Why women fear the bulky muscles myth and avoid lifting heavy

From my experience, most women shy away from weight lifting out of a fear of getting bulky.

The main reason for this is because of the stereotype that weightlifting is a “man’s sport”.

And as a result that women who lift weights will start to look bulky and manly.

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, this is one of the biggest weight lifting myths out there for women.

There are a lot of factors that go into growing muscle and getting bulky.

Because of this, it’s nearly impossible for women to start weight training and suddenly become too muscular.

Why weight training won’t make women look bulky

Strength training workouts are customizable

I mentioned before that there’s no way for women to accidentally become too muscular.

The main reason for this is because your strength training workouts are entirely customizable.

This means that you can selectively grow each muscle. And grow each muscle however much you want to.

For example, you can choose to grow your upper body a lot, a little, or not grow it at all.

Then, you can customize your routine and train accordingly.

What you want to grow more, you train more intensely and more frequently.

Whereas what you want to grow less, you train less intensely and less frequently.

All you have to do is create your weightlifting routine accordingly to these goals.

So keep in mind that no matter who you are, that no one ever grows muscle on accident.

Muscle growth requires tons of work, consistency, and the right conditions to grow.

And most of these have to happen intentionally, not by accident.

Women and men have different hormones

Naturally, gaining muscle is a lot more challenging for women than it is for men.

The reason for this is that men and women have very different hormones.

Hormones play a huge role in your body when it comes to gaining muscle.

They determine how much, how quickly and how easily, and in what parts of your body you can gain muscle.

So if you think you’ll step into the gym and after a couple weeks start looking like a man, that’s not possible!

Not only that, but women also deal with many other factors, such as periods and hormonal birth control, that make muscle growth more difficult.

Both of these impact your strength, workouts, and muscle gaining ability, mainly because of the hormones behind them!

So no, women can’t pick up a weight and suddenly look like a man.

Primarily because of the differences in our hormones and other factors that prevent us from doing so.

Many bulked up women worked hard to intentionally look that way

At this point, you might be thinking of some jacked female body builder you’ve seen and be doubting everything that I’m saying.

However, keep in mind, body builders usually compete and get paid to grow muscle.

This means that everything they do inside and outside of the gym is to intentionally look bigger and get bigger.

As a result, most female body builders intentionally put in tons of effort to look the way they do.

They train extremely hard, count all their macros, and stay in a caloric surplus for years and years to gain the muscle that they have.

So yes, although it’s extremely difficult, it is still possible for women to get big and build a lot of muscle.

However, not by accident and certainly not without tons of effort and intention.

The only way for a women, or anyone for that matter, to build significant muscle mass is to intentionally be trying to do so.

Some women may even use steroids to assist muscle growth

Not only do female bodybuilders work extremely hard for the muscle they grow, but some may also use steroids to assist their muscle building process.

Anabolic steroids are used to assist muscle growth by introducing more male, muscle building hormones into the body.

This shows that women naturally don’t have the right balance of hormones to grow that big in size.

Meaning you don’t have to fear gaining the mass of a pro body builder. Especially one that takes steroids.

Since women can’t gain that size and grow that much naturally.

There are a lot of factors that go into building muscle

A lot of factors are required for anyone to build muscle, and muscle growth happens best only under the right conditions.

Things like eating the right foods, enough foods, as well as training and resting correctly all play a role in your ability to grow muscle.

This makes building muscle a little more challenging, since it really only happens in the right conditions.

However, these also serve as a bonus for women who fear getting bulky.

If you tone down on a couple of these things, like training style, intensity, and calorie intake, then you can surely avoid gaining significant muscle mass.

Doing this, you’ll have more success with toning out and maintaining the muscle you already have. Rather than gaining significant muscle mass.

Many women build significant muscle, then maintain and tone out

In fact, some women like to start off doing everything to maximize muscle growth.

Training extremely intensely, frequently, and eating lots of the right foods.

By doing this, they start off by gaining some initial muscle mass. Then later, they focusing on maintaining this muscle and toning out.

Remember, there is no such thing as toning out if you don’t have any muscle underneath.

As a result, as time goes on and they bring down their intensity and calorie intake, they start to tone out but without gaining any additional muscle.

The best strategies to maintain your muscle, without gaining any more

A lot of times, many women reach the point where they want to maintain the muscle they’ve built, but they don’t want to gain any more.

Since it’s entirely possible to do this, especially with these strategies, this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s such a myth that weight lifting makes women bulky.

Because you can stop growing and start maintaining at any time you want in your journey.

Train less intensely to maintain your current muscle

Your training intensity is one of the biggest determinants in how much muscle you’ll grow.

To train intensely means to lift heavy and train to failure. Doing these two in combination is the best way to stimulate muscle growth.

As a result, without training as intensely, you won’t be able to stimulate significant muscle growth.

Meaning that if you don’t want to continue to grow significant muscle, then consider toning down the intensity of your workouts.

For example, things like lifting lighter, no longer training to failure, or doing fewer sets or reps are great ways to lower the intensity of your workouts.

All of these will help you bring down the intensity of your workouts and decrease the amount of muscle you gain from them.

Doing this will allow you to stimulate your muscles enough to where you can maintain them, but not enough to where they’ll significantly grow.

Don’t eat in a calorie surplus to avoid putting on additional mass

Another huge factor in your muscle growth is your diet. Your diet has a huge impact on the fitness results you’ll see in the gym.

Both what you eat and how much you eat play a significant role in the amount of muscle you can gain.

Eating in a calorie surplus to build significant muscle:

Anyone who’s focus is on building muscle will most likely be eating in a calorie surplus.

What this does is it gives your body more calories and more nutrients to put towards recovery.

Then, it uses all of these extra calories and nutrients to rebuild your muscle bigger than they were before.

Eating at maintenance to maintain your muscle:

As a result, if you don’t want your muscles to regrow bigger than before, then you wouldn’t want to supply your body with more calories than it needs.

What this means is that, instead of eating in a calorie surplus, you should be eating at your maintenance calories.

Additionally, if you’re trying to lose fat, then you might want to learn about the importance of a calorie deficit for fat loss.

Then, by eating in a slight deficit, you can loss fat and tone out.

Train muscle groups you don’t want to grow less frequently

How often you should lift weights to build muscle is majorly determined by your goals.

The more you train a muscle, the more you’re going to grow, to a certain point.

Because of this, the more you want to grow a certain muscle, the more frequently you train that muscle.

While also not over training and allowing for enough rest.

Typically, any muscle group you’re trying to grow, you’d train 2-3 times a week. Depending on how long recovery takes for that muscle.

As a result, one of the best ways to stop growing a muscle is to train it less frequently.

For example, consider training the muscle groups you don’t want to grow and only want to maintain something like once a week.

This will allow you to maintain the muscle, but without growing it any more.

You’ll still be able to tone out and create defined muscles in that area, but you won’t gain anymore significant muscle mass.

Key takeaways

Although there are so many benefits of weight lifting for women, there are still so few girls and women who strength train.

This is mainly due to the common misconception that weightlifting makes women look bulky and manly.

So as surprising as it may be surprising to hear, weight lifting doesn’t actually make women bulky!

Because women have different hormones and muscle building requires a lot of intention, there is no way for women to accidentally become too muscular.

By customizing your routine to your goals and training to grow or maintain the muscles you want, you can achieve your dream physique in no time!

More posts on women’s weightlifting:

How to stay motivated in the gym

5 Tips you need to transform your confidence in the gym

How to choose a workout style that’s best for you