The Myths Behind Building Muscle & "Bulking Up"

Welcome, again to A Fit Life Blog! It's been a great first week, and I've been learning so much about this business. Meeting some fabulous people & getting great advice. This past year, I've found myself being something of a sponge. Sopping up any information I can get! Lately I've been hearing a lot of women saying "I don't wanna lift heavy weights! I don't wanna Bulk Up. I don't wanna look like one of those crazy looking bodybuilders" I'm looking to change that "Don't Wanna" to "I GOTTA". So, let's start with the basics... Men and Women are (get this...)DIFFERENT.

Genetically, women are almost incapable of creating these "big bulky" muscles that so many are worried about creating while lifting heavy weights. Now, I say "Almost" because it isn't impossible for women to be able to build large muscle mass. But the simple truth is, your average woman will NOT.

For illustrative purposes, let's take the P90X infomercials as an example. They love to show other peoples results, as one of their clinchers. And these are REAL results. No tricky camera angles, no special lighting. These are people doing their own interviews, in their own homes. The biggest difference? All of the men built bigger biceps, shoulders, legs, the whole bit. All of the women became leaner, smaller, more toned; and didn't create "bulk".

If anything, it's Fat that makes you look "bulky". It takes up a lot of space. Muscle is what helps burn that fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn, the more body fat you loose, which means a higher Metabolism. The body fat you loose creates that nice, lean, cut look. Why would you NOT want to burn more calories?

Women lack a little something called Testosterone. This is a vital piece of the bodybuilding puzzle. Female bodybuilders are something of a "different breed". They need to live, breath, and bleed their regiment. And some of those that do it for competition, have to go to the extent of taking certain supplements and/or horomones (like Steroids and Testosterone) in order to create and maintain their physique.

But if your still worried about creating muscle mass that's "too big", do yourself a favor, and at least give it a try. You don't have to do an insane amount of reps either. 10-12 reps at the most & when you feel like you can't do any more. The nice part about lifting weights is that when you get to a point where "Ok. I love my shoulders. I don't want them to get any bigger." Then that's the weight you stay at. If you stay at the weight that you've worked up to, you create your own natural plateau. You can still make gains in other areas if you like, and go heavier. But if you simply want to maintain, then stay at that weight. And don't expect me to tell you what weight that is, because "heavy" is different for everyone.