First of all, thank you all for the WEALTH of information on this and every forum on this site. I've learned so much...and hope to be able to contribute my own information and success story soon.
On to my question: I was reading threads last night regarding weight training. I know that I need to start this in addition to my cardio or I'll end up skinny and floppy. No way! I want to look GOOD when I reach the top of this mountain.
However, I'm a bit scared to start. I stumbled on a few statements in some of the posts I read last night that stated something like "Girls don't bulk up like guys...don't worry about it....unless you have a condition like PCOS..." Umm...yeah, that's me. I have PCOS.
I tried to find more info on this, but haven't been able to. I guess I'm hoping someone can shed more light on this.... I do want to be lean and strong, however I do not want to bulk up....huge, bulging muscles is not the look i was shooting for.
As long as I stick to bodyweight exercises....maybe resistance band work and the like and don't do heavy heavy lifting, I should be okay?
Any advice from you guys would be great.....
Last edited by bumponalog; 01-15-2010 at 02:09 PM.
Well it is hard to bulk up, even if you do have PCOS. I have PCOS. If you spent hours every day in the gym lifting heavy weights, short reps for years then it might be possible to bulk up. It is also difficult to bulk up without eating excess calories.
When I first started, I was lifting for about 5 hours/week in the gym lifting very heavy and I never gained an inch, I only lost inches and the pounds shed.
If you get to some point where you find you are bulking up somehow, it usually means you need to cut back on the calories.
Really don't worry about using heavy weights. Bodybuilders take years and years of hard work every week to get where they are at. It doesn't happen overnight.
Whoever said that probably meant that many PCOSers have extra testosterone. And I suppose some women with PCOS have an excess of it that would cause them to gain like a man. But for most of us, that's simply not true. We're still women. Women tend not to bulk up. I have never heard that women with PCOS are at risk of bulking up with weight training.
Weight training is good for women with PCOS! Muscle burns calories when we are at rest just like for normal women.
It takes years of heavy, heavy weight lifting and on a consistent (ie. 3-5 per week, every week, for years) in order for a woman to make large muscle gains, as well as eatingabove maintenance calories. In addition to that, women who are actually in bodybuilding competitions (the picture that people think of) have done a good 16-20 weeks of strict dieting and water depletion to look like that - for ONE day of the stage. Most of those women have been using heavy weights for a good 10 years.
In my own personal experience, I definitely show muscle, clear, defined, and yes, slightly protruding muscle, faster than my partner who was working with the same trainer but does not have PCOS. So I do gain muscle *faster* than normal women (we were a nice test for this - we ate the same meals and did pretty much the same workouts, and then worked with a trainer together, so it was a fairly even comparison). I believe it makes me look leaner and fitter and love the way weights make me feel, and I think I look strong, not bulky. I never gained inches, just lost fat and built up a bit of muscle along the way.
That said, it's a far cry from looking like a bodybuilder. Getting that physique, or anything remotely approaching it, does not happen on accident. The most that PCOS will get you, with lifting heavy weights, is a slightly faster build/appearance of muscle due to the excess testosterone. And remember, if at any point you decide you look too muscular, you can always back off the weight training.
Even if your testosterone level is elevated you still won't end up looking like a man. It's possible that you'll see progress a little more quickly (like Amanda) but you don't have to worry about waking up one day looking like Mr. Olympia. Not gonna happen
For the record, I have PCOS as well and my muscle gains are as slow as anyone's (much to my chagrin!)
Hmmm... I have PCOS too that I'm managing by eating right and exercising. Since the weight loss/diet helps to balance the hormones, wouldn't that counteract the "bulkiness"- just another way to look at it. Lifestyle changes = less testosterone= no man muscles.
In my own personal experience, I definitely show muscle, clear, defined, and yes, slightly protruding muscle, faster than my partner who was working with the same trainer but does not have PCOS. So I do gain muscle *faster* than normal women (we were a nice test for this - we ate the same meals and did pretty much the same workouts, and then worked with a trainer together, so it was a fairly even comparison).
I'm glad to see this. I too have PCOS and am just beginning to get serious with the strength training/weight lifting stuff. I'm not doing much yet, but I do have big goals that I am working toward. I am actually hoping to have slightly more muscle than your average fit woman when I get to my final destination on this journey of mine. I was kinda hoping the PCOS would help me in that area a bit. It has done me so much harm that it would be nice if it finally did something good for me. So, thanks for giving me hope.
I think it really does depend but one thing that gives me a lot of perspective is living with my husband. He has been trying to gain muscle for the past couple years but really the past year he has been working on it consistently and the efforts are paying off but even his muscles aren't big and bulky, they are just shapely.
Weight lifting and PCOS.........
So basically what you are telling me is that I'm being a bit crazy and paranoid? 
Glad to hear it. Thank you for calming me down.
