Just how EASY is it to build muscle?

[Gladiola]

At my aerobics instructor board, I'm the resident "Lift Heavy, eat clean" chick. People post my name in thread titles with Q's on stuff lifting-related. I'm also notorious for fighting the sugar cravings.

Anyways, lately even the Master-Degreed Physical Therapists & Athletic Trainers are chiming in with the, "Oh, women CAN get too thick & too much muscle, even naturally, even not doing stuff like WSB PL."

Yeah, OK, the average chick in the gym *could* go heavier for basic moves, and *could* build more muscle than desired, but I see it as RARE!

It takes so much damn work, so much intensity, & eating enough calories & enough damn protein to grow even if you DO have mesomorph genetics (as *I* do!) These aerobics instructors should know how lazy the average gym-goer is... if you don't WANT to grow, I can't see it happening!

Recently there was even a poster who said her shoulders got too big &, I think also lats, in less than TWO MONTHS of extra heavy lifting! Gimme a break! No one questioned her.....

I feel like the whole world has gone mad! Gimme some perspective here!

 

[vinylgroover]

It's all relative Gladiola.

Sometimes, as bodybuilders, we find it difficult to accept when someone says, 'i don't want to get any bigger' or 'that will make me too big' etc. We can't judge everybody by our own lofty expectations of muscle growth.

Of course it's hard to build muscle, but it's not everybody's goal to build that much muscle.

For that person who said her shoulders were getting too big, she obviously went further than she wanted too........by your's and my definition her shoulders were probably still very small, but to her, it was more muscle than she wanted.

It's the same with a girl i train........my expectations for her are far greater than her expectations and wants, and i have to keep checking myself to ensure that i'm helping her achieve what she wants, not what i want or think she is capable of.

 

[Nonerz]

It's the same with a girl i train........my expectations for her are far greater than her expectations and wants, and i have to keep checking myself to ensure that i'm helping her achieve what she wants, not what i want or think she is capable of.

Most people don't believe they are capable of much...they need to be told! Sounds like she may either a lot of self doubt, or just completely different goals that what you would have for her. Your drive, focus, and discipline is most likely a lot more than hers...just a guess!

 

[vinylgroover]

Most people don't believe they are capable of much...they need to be told! Sounds like she may either a lot of self doubt, or just completely different goals that what you would have for her. Your drive, focus, and discipline is most likely a lot more than hers...just a guess!

She just doesn't take it as seriously as perhaps she could. It probably has something to do with the fact that she looks ok even wthout needing to go to the gym.......so therefore she doesn't want it as bad as others who need alot of work to get in shape.

 

[Gladiola]

For that person who said her shoulders were getting too big, she obviously went further than she wanted too

I had forgotten to add in that original post - she also said she started to develop a "muscle imbalance" from failure to work her rotator cuff. IN TWO MONTHS. Please. She didn't say she was working shoulders & back 3X per week either, and I don't think she was.

My point is not that some ladies don't want big muscles. We know for a fact that many ladies don't want a muscular look. My point is that people are EXAGGERATING how much muscle they have/ can possibly get. How much could her shoulders POSSIBLY have expanded in 2 months?!

Another poster said her quads were so large she was "Quadzilla". You wanna know what workouts got her there? ONE DAY A WEEK of working her ENTIRE BODY on machines & freeweights, plus cardio (cardio kickboxing class & step class) 3X weekly and 'sculpt' class 1X weekly - which is very light weight, high rep.
Is that really possible to see significant muscular hypertrophy from almost no stimulation to the fast twitch fibers?!

Another poster claimed she was too muscular, backed off on lifting & the muscle atrophied & she got the leaner, smaller physique she wanted **without changing her diet**. Simple physiology blows massive holes in her story... if she ate the same number of cals but 1. burned less cals through exercise (didn't do the lifting) and 2. burned less cals through BMR (the muscle atrophied), but ate the SAME # of cals, she would gain fat. Right?!

I think I'm particularly annoyed at this situation because I DO have more muscle than I want - but I did Olympic Weightlifting training 3X weekly for months. I think a lot of these ladies claiming they are in my same situation with barely 1/10 of the intensity & volume of training as me are deluding themselves! It's just getting particularly difficult for me to defend weightlifing as a means to a nice physique when I personally got 1. injured, 2. too much muscle, & 3. all these ladies are climbing out of the woodwork stating it didn't work for them. (interestingly enough, some are anonymous posters!)

 

[Cowgrrl]

I totally understand your rant. I hear it all the time- "But I'll get HUGE". Um, yeah. After six weeks of intense, heavy lifting you are going to wake up and say Oh my God! I look like Jay Cutler!

I am an ectomorph, and even then I have worked YEARS to get what muscle I have.

Anyway, I think that part of the "I get huge" phenomenon comes from the bigger girls who just lift and don't change their diet. Yes, doing squats and then eating honey buns are going to get you bigger thighs.

Oftentimes I ask myself- what in the hell is wrong with getting more muscle in the first place? Why are you so afraid that you are going to have biceps?

Grrrr. Just grrrr.

 

[newgirl-chargeback]

I read quietly this thread....but echo your rant and sentiment.

The best part is - when I was only 127 lbs at 5'7 and was a cardio queen who ate only 2 meals a day -- mostly just a bagel or yogurt and some thing else later.....I was told I was too thin but I felt like a fat-thin person.

Fast forward to 3 or so years later...now at 5'7 and 145.0 pounds, I am told...boy -- you have put on weight BUT my bodyfat level is about 5-8% less! I was actually told I was chubby (hello I a wear a size 4!).

People are strange when it comes to the fitness myths. Further, and I hate to generalize...there are alot of jealous and catty and un-self aware women out there. Competitiveness in a negative way seems to be rampant. While it is great to be self-competitive..there are always those who have to be pushing others words and views down in order to feel better about themselves and justify their own lack of detemination and drive.


Just my 2 cents......with love I sign off: from chubby

 

[MsBeverlyHills]

IM not too surprised to hear that on an "aerobics instructor" board-- take a look at the Elite Training board & youll see most the guys are anti-aerobics.

Its all relative to the website.

 

[FitFossil]

It's funny. 9 out of 10 women who quit weight training would probably say they're genetically gifted for muscle development, yet it seems only 1 out of 100 women who continue training might think they're genetically gifted.

I think women have been brainwashed with so many images of the female body with NO muscle, that they think ANY muscle on their body looks "big & bulky". Add that to the fact that most people never really see many athletic bodies, except every 4 years when the Olympics are on TV - rarely in the flesh. Other than that, they see mostly overweight people in public, and underweight women in the media.

Granted the picture below is disturbing, I use to illustrate how adding just a little muscle to a body nearly devoid of muscle might make a woman think she was "getting bulky". Women who've spent their lives yo-yo dieting, over-cardioing, and never doing any strength training have burned up a lot of their muscle (which probably wasn't much muscle to begin with), in most cases only to replace it with extra bodyfat. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be far-fetched to suppose if this might be what's left if you stripped away the bodyfat of a chronic dieter/cardioer?

Even for those women who aren't dieting and overtraining, I believe that just through a lifetime of inactivity, most women are carrying significantly less muscle than their genetics would naturally dictate. So, if such a woman then starts weight training and eating properly, it seems she'd initially see some remarkable gains, just because her body is making its way back to baseline. Unfortunately many women incorrectly assume they're genetically gifted, thinking the gains will continue at the same rate if they continue training, so they back off and tell other women their tale of horror/genetic prowess.

 

[SouthernBell]

ewww, point well taken fit.

I have had many bunnies tell me that they get too big lifting those 10 lb dumbells in the cardio room ..

To each her own I guess, we all see muscle in a different perspective, some of us want it some of us don't. I want it but damn I wish I could do an even trade off for fat . lol

If only it were that easy


love