 | Hormones--Why Lifting Weights Won't Make You Big and Bulky, Lady! By Cameron McGarr CSCS There is a common fear among many females who want to get in shape. They all are afraid of putting on massive size. One comment I hear over and over again is, "I do not want to get big and bulky. I just want to tone." Of course you do not want to get big. That does not look feminine. The whole point of you getting in shape is to look better. If you just got large with muscles then you would still not like the way you looked. We do understand this. As most of you have probably heard me say before the only way to effectively lose fat and change your body composition is to lift weights and build lean body mass. Now this is where the controversy comes in. Fear takes over, common sense goes out the window and now some of you think for a minute that you know more about a job you originally hired your trainer to do, get you to look the way you want. This fear gets compounded whenever the weight lifted gets increased. I understand the fear but the reality is females just do not have the hormones to get big. Lifting more weight just burns more calories which helps you look leaner. Gaining lean body mass will increase your metabolism to turn you into a fat burning machine. Here are some scientific facts. Men have roughly 260 to 1000 nanograms of testosterone per deciliter of blood. Women have only 15 to 70. Now do not concern yourself with the nanograms and deciliter stuff, all I want you to get is one very important point. The most masculine woman has only 25% of the testosterone of the most feminine man. So what am I saying, you ask? Well, since testosterone is the main hormone needed to build muscle it is very clear that women are not in danger of getting big and muscular. Now that we have covered the scientific facts lets look at some personal experiences. I personally have been trying to put on muscle mass as long as I can remember. I have been seriously trying for 1 year. In that year I have put on some muscle but let me tell you it has not been easy. Those of you who know me know full well that I am not on the feminine side to the testosterone scale. Those of you who know me also know that even with the increase in muscle weight I have not gotten big. What that means is females have a much harder time putting on muscle. Even with the extremely limited muscle they can put on their metabolism will be higher thus burning more fat than before. Since we know fat takes up more room than muscle that same person just got smaller. An experience I have had more than once is female clients saying they have gotten bigger. One comment in particular was, "I have incredible hulk thighs." The interesting thing was that after we measured her thighs they were a full inch smaller. Why then the feeling of "incredible hulk thighs." That is fairly simple to explain. Since she was burning off fat her muscle began to show. Furthermore, since she had less fat covering her legs she could actually feel her pants on her legs. So you can see why she thought her legs had gotten bigger. How then do ladies get big and bulky? They are out there we have all seen them, the professional bodybuilders who look like men. That is simple, they are taking steroids. Steroids just mimic what male hormones such as testosterone do in the body.
Basically these women are taking enough hormones to make them look like
men. These women are not any indication of what lifting weights will do
to your body. | |
