So one of the major things I have to battle as a coach that trains gals is the notion that if you lift heavy you will get big. Let me say it again “It ain’t gonna happen.” Especially not with the way of lifting that I command you to do. At least not unless you are a man.

Men have about 10 times the amount of testosterone as well as testosterone receptors that women do and that is one of the hormones that speeds up the process. With that handicap you have to work 10 times as hard as I do and if you look at me I am not even all that big. Even if you have all the things that can make you big it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll happen.

Last May or so a girl who moonlights as a personal trainer contacted me to prepare her for her wedding day. She said and I am paraphrasing here “I know that girls are supposed to lift weights but when I do I get bulky. I am one of those few that it happens to.” I wasn’t going to argue with her because some (very few) are a genetic anomaly that has the right hormonal environment for putting on muscle and she was training like a bodybuilder. I don’t train people like bodybuilders unless that is their goal.

I explained to her that I train full body movements in non hypertrophy rep ranges to promote “strength without bulk” and that if you are in a caloric deficit then you will be unlikely to put on muscle. Even if you did put on muscle it isn’t permanent but since she is a bride we had a deadline to reach. I meet her. I take her through a swing and getup routine and she can feel an all over effect and I saw the look on her face and heard her say “Everything I know is wrong.” I told her she wasn’t wrong, it is just that what she was doing was inappropriate for her goals and I have a method that is more appropriate.

Fast forward a month or so. When I started including the one arm military press in her routine in one week she took what was a shaky one repetition max and did 4 reps with it. Think about that one second. That is a 400% increase in strength (or strength endurance the line is somewhat blurred there). How is it possible to quadruple her pressing power in that time? Do you think she put on massive muscle in order to do that? Nope.

Let’s take a look at why what women have been told about bulking up is wrong. For some reason women have it in their head that they have to train with a weight that could fit in their purse otherwise they will get big and bulky and that they have to do it in high repetitions to tone and firm up. As a matter of fact the opposite is true.

First let’s have a look at what good muscle looks like. Here is an example of someone with feminine muscle (not manly).

In the ebook the Venus Index the author tells the “untold story of fitness models and bodybuilders” and says that they are on multiple “supplements” and essentially doing bodybuilding protocols to achieve that genderless look. This is what my female clients are trying to avoid and it’s easy since we don’t put any of those factors into place. Here is the actual quote.

“When I was in the supplement industry I knew many top-level fitness models and I also knew about the
male hormones they would take to get into the extreme ‘ripped muscular’ shape they were in. In fact,
they also abused many other drugs including thyroid medication and asthma medication.”

So if you want to be big and manly go ahead and take steroids and a bunch of other crap. If you want to look sexy read on.

“So if I haven’t made myself clear enough yet, you will NOT look like a man if you lift weights.
You WILL Look like a man if you choose to take and abuse male hormones (as the top level fitness
models, bodybuilders and some top level athletes do).”

Training for strength will tone the muscle by making it more dense which gives it a harder appearance. Training heavy with weights can fill the individual fibers with myofibrils which are smaller but make them harder (think toning the muscle). Take a look at kettlebell instructor (fellow RKC) Delaine Ross. She is the perfect example of the fact that training with heavy weights won’t make you look like a man.

Ok so now that I have talked you out of the whole lifting heavy produces bulk nonsense let’s take a look at what he rep ranges do.

Low reps high weight- produces strength without bulk since you are training the nervous system here. Basically what happens is your body typically only uses about 30% of your actual muscle fibers by sending a command signal from your brain through a synapse to tell your muscle fiber to contract. You make that middleman more efficient he can command more of your existing muscle fibers and with the added benefit of not putting on bulk. That is how my client quadrupled her pressing power within a week. It also produces a kind of satisfaction amongst my female clients that trumps their fat loss. I am convinced that women secretly want to be strong and I applaud them for it.

High reps moderate weight- depending on the rep range it can produce bulky muscles because it fills up with something called sarcoplasm. I’ll admit I don’t know what the purpose of sarcoplasm is but that is what bodybuilders have in abundance.

Really high reps and pink dumbbells- This is the type of thing you see in an aerobics class. This is what you see when you go to a gym and everyone looks the same 6 months after they started. Why bother?

So to answer the question that initiated this blog post. Yes it is possible to lift weights without getting bulky. In fact getting bulky is the harder part without everything being in just the right spots and most likely with steroid abuse. Check out the Ice Chamber girls
and tell me that they are bulky. Natural strength develops beautiful bodies. Strong is the new sexy….train that way.

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