The Myths of Building Muscle for Women
No, you won’t get bulky.
Normally, women want to achieve a more “toned” look which often looks like less body fat and more muscle definition. However, they tend to stray away from lifting weights because of their fear of gaining too much muscle and looking “bulky.”
Strength-training offers many benefits that goes beyond aesthetics. Some of these include healthy aging, more metabolic flexibility, improved mobility and functionality for the elderly and sick, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, personal and mental health, empowerment, confidence, and the list goes on.
Unfortunately, many women are missing out on these benefits because of their fear of getting “bulky.”
It’s important to note that “bulky” may look different to everyone and is completely subjective.
Another important note to point out is how the media has portrayed women to look a certain way and that having muscles as a female is discouraged because it’s “unfeminine.” This is a big misconception that some women have ingrained in their brains, stopping them from lifting weights and reaching their potential.
Fact vs. Myth
In the mainstream fitness world, “longer” and “leaner” muscles have been more advertised, insinuating that certain workouts like Pilates or yoga are the go-to’s to achieve this look. This comes from the idea, not fact, that these exercises “lengthen” your muscles as opposed to getting bulkier.
The truth, according to the current evidence, is yoga or Pilates don’t tend to lengthen your muscles and that bodybuilding, to be specific, does a better job at changing your muscles’ structure.
Contrary to popular belief, it is nearly impossible to lengthen your muscles due to their biomechanical structure. Muscles have a point of origin and another point where they attach and both of these points have tendons that connect the muscle to bone. Unless you do surgery, these are fixed and can’t be “lengthened.”
The feeling of stretching may feel like you are lengthening, but you’re only training the nervous system to relax the muscles and increase the range of motion which is a neural adaptation in an increase in pain tolerance.
It Takes Longer For Women To Gain Muscle
You think just a few resistance training sessions will cause you to gain muscle real fast. Personally, wish that was how it worked. But the truth is, there are so many other factors that come to play when trying to gain muscle. It’s not just a few training sessions. It takes a long time, consistency, and patience to get there.
Women have unique genetics and biochemistry
Training history and fitness level
Nutrition and how much she is eating
Lifestyle factors like non-exercise activity thermogenesis, work setting, family and social
Socioeconomic factors
Yes, all these factors come into play when trying to build muscle.
So what about all those women who do have a lot of muscle and are strong? These women have worked really hard and have followed a customized program that caters to the factors listed above.
Your random resistance-training workouts here and there with a more flexible eating lifestyle won’t get you there. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing. The point is if you fear gaining as much muscle as those women have, then you have to realize you have to put in work for years to get there. So if you’re still contemplating, I can reassure you to finally put that fear away.
Did you enjoy this? Are you looking to finally start strength training and follow a customized program to gain muscle and lose body fat? Sign up here for online programming or if you’re in the Los Angeles area, book a consultation for personal training.
References:
Abou Sawan, Sidney; Nunes, Everson A.; Lim, Changhyun; McKendry, James; Phillips, Stuart M.. The Health Benefits of Resistance Exercise: Beyond Hypertrophy and Big Weights. Exercise, Sport, and Movement 1(1):e00001, January 2023. | DOI: 10.1249/ESM.0000000000000001
