But I Don’t Want To Bulk Up
Hey guys,
I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to get some great workouts in this week. After getting sick last week. I am really looking forward to having a great week of hard workouts and good food choices. If you are looking for a kickstart to the week, check out our latest updates!
This weeks Free Featured Workout is the Back To Basics Workout. This workout is composed of some of the simplest but most effective strength training exercises. It is critical that you master this workout before trying any “crazy” exercises.
Check out the Back To Basics Workout here.
For our members you can also check out our newest workout routine the Abs Gauntlet workout. This is an awesome workout to get you beach ready this summer.
But I Don’t Want To Bulk Up!
So after last weeks post on the reason you are not getting results I got a ton of questions and responses about not bulking up. Most people (and by people I really mean women) feel that if they lift heavier weights they are going to bulk up. Here are 3 reasons why women should not worry about bulking up with strength training:
1. Women don’t have the hormones to gain a significant amount of muscle.
Testosterone is the hormone that is responsible for massive muscle growth. Sorry women, unless you are taking in extra testosterone you will just not have enough testosterone to gain a large amount of muscle.
2. If you are eating properly you will not be getting enough calories to gain muscle.
It takes extra calories, along with specific hormones to build muscle. If you are not getting enough calories in your body will not be able to produce more muscle mass. If you are trying to lose weight then you need to decrease your calories. If you are doing this your body will have a very difficult time building muscle. If you have never strength trained before you will probably see some increase muscle mass on a restrictive diet but it will not last forever.
3. You probably aren’t training hard enough anyway.
It is actually very difficult to build muscle mass. You need to train very hard and continue to overload your muscles to see increased muscle. Chances are you will not train hard enough to see this growth. It is actually the goal of many fat loss programs just to maintain your current muscle.
Now hopefully you can see that it very hard to actually bulk up. Instead you just wanted to gain as much muscle mass as you can or at least hang on to as much muscle as you can. Here are three reasons why you want to train to build muscle:
1. More muscle increases your metabolism.
Muscle is much more metabolically active. It takes your body more energy to function and to keep around. For every pound of muscle you gain you will burn about an extra 10 calories per day. This may not seem like a huge number but this is just at rest. If you are exercising you will burn even more calories than that.
2. Heavy resistance training builds bone mass.
Weight bearing exercise such as strength training has been shown to increase bone mass in men and women. If you are at all concerned with osteoporosis, and most women should be, then you need to train heavy.
3. Heavy resistance training burns more calories.
Trying to build muscle mass means you are training at a very high intensity. Training at this intensity will not only burn a ton of calories while you workout but also for hours even days after your workout is complete.
As you can see, strength training really offers only great benefits to your workout. If you are currently strength training but not at a high intensity, now is the perfect time to try! Add some more weight, do an extra set, add 5 more reps, or try a new workout to reach this goal.
Have a great workout!
Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
