I know that sounds weird, but I really am. I have nightmares of looking like those scary body-builder women who virtually have no semblance of a female figure.

I see the women on that P90X infomercial and how they look and no offense-- but a lot of them look scary! I don't want to have huge ripped arms and to be able to see every single ripple on my abdomen.

I have a very V-shaped body for a female and it's a source of self-consciousness a lot, and I'm afraid of looking like superman. Ahh!

The most weight lifting I do is 10 pounds once a week, but I was told that isn't enough. I think what I need is some sort of assurance, and information from other women about what has worked and what would be best for my body type. I know I'll never look like Kelly Brook or Jlo, but I wouldn't mind having a slimmer torso with somewhat of a waist, and having a nicer butt.

You do not have the hormones to look like a bodybuilder, most likely. Bulking up like that requires not only HEAVY, HEAVY lifting over a long period of time and a very specialized diet (which a fitness model in a video will do, sure, as will some people by choice, but which definitely doesn't happen by accident), but also the right hormone balance, either because you're male, or because you're taking performance enhancers. Most women just don't have the testosterone to get bulky. Here's a great article explaining why bulking up doesn't happen on accident: http://www.elitefts.com/documents/female_athletes.htm

Lifting weights has made me not only stronger and leaner at a higher weight, but has preserved my metabolism in weight loss. And I LOVE rocking my toned shoulders in cute shirts (something I couldn't have done if I just did cardio and lost weight).

Another thing to consider...if you DID start bulking up, or getting bigger than you liked, you could always reduce your training significantly and the muscles would go back down again, right? Which is the same as the loose skin question we often get asked, when people worry at the start of their weight loss about what their skin will look like afterward...if you don't like the results, you can always gain the weight back!

Start a lifting program. It'll accelerate your results in a way you can barely imagine!

Those women eat a diet like this: (x grams oats, x grams egg whites, x grams chicken breast, x grams broccoli, x grams brown rice) each day, EVERY DAY, for many, many years, in order to get the lean body fat % that you see on them.

It isn't their muscle - it is their body fat percentage that scares you. The truth is that very, very few women have the perseverance to eat like that on a daily basis for years in order to maintain that look.

Those who DO try for that look (ie. myself) find it can take many, many years to reach that goal, and even then, they are dehydrated and on an even more extreme competition diet just for a few days to get that look.

Ms Weber on P90x does not look like that when she walks around the mall. She only looks like that during a photo shoot that she has spent several months dieting for.

Unless you are willing to weigh every gram of every morsel of food you eat for a good 6 months straight and spend many years lifting very heavy weights at *above* maintenance calories first, then it will not happen. As for actual body building women, that also requires some chemical assistance.

It is sort of like saying, "I don't want to pick up a golf club because I might hit the ball like Tiger Woods".

That is the main reason why women don't get much results from strength training- they believe this myth and spin their wheels because they fear some sort of body type that few *very* athletic women can even achieve.

Great article Amanda

« If it were so easy to bulk up, why is it that most of us are not at least toned » I heard this saying a while back and it stuck to me, because it does take hours and hours of working out and a specialized diet to get bulky... I've tried, it's not easy, I gave up but I am still strong which I really, really like ...

You would be extremely FORTUNATE if you managed to look like the body-building ladies with your weight lifting regimen.
If you are worried about getting bulky (which is NOT going to happen, as already has been explained) you can always focus on lifting less weight but increasing the number of reps.
And even somebody who is ripped to shreds and have spectacular abs like Greg Plitt (pic below) has to follow a special dieting regimen (including dehydration) before a photo shoot. So relax, and head for the gym and show the guys there that you are woman who is serious about lifting.

Long, lean muscle can be built by lifting lower weights at a higher rep. I like to lift at 20 or so reps and use weights that allow me to do that. The weights are ever increasing, but that's because I'm getting stronger.

It's a good thing!

Here is Laura Harris, picture taken TWO days apart. See the effects of dehydration and when you go back to average/restaurant eating???

As you can see, what you see in pictures, videos and magazines, is far from reality.

Ilene,

I have another one for you:

The women that look like that spend their life in the gym to build and maintain that body. The truly huge ones that look like men often are taking supplements and injections in addition to all the training. A normal woman just won't get that big if she's doing a reasonable amount of weight training.

Tomato you have made my day with those pix!!! I can now go thru the afternoon with a smile!

You could stick with light weights and/or body weight exercises, but the posters above are right that it is pretty near impossible to accidently become overly muscular. Even if you feel you are getting too big, losing muscle (unlike fat) is really easy to do.

Oooooo, can I touch?

ooooh, the eye candy thread!

That look doesn't happen by accident. I've tried, and it doesn't often look like that by design, either.

When I was in highschool I lifted weights pretty vigorously 6 days a week with a bunch of male body builders. Obviously, I wasn't powelifting or bench pressing a VW bug, but I lifted quite strenuously. I never got bulky. At all. Even a little bit. I did, however, have reaaaaallllly nice arms.

At one point in my life, I did have the crazy quad thighs. But it wasn't from weight lifting- it was from 10+ years of soccer and having a low BF percentage. Even then, as soon as the season was over and I wasn't playing and conditioning 7 days a week, the uber definition faded in a matter of weeks.