Interesting thread and article, I recently started working with resistance bands( can't afford weights right now) to build lean muscle. The people at my job tell me that I will bulk up. I've been lifting "weights" for most of my life( all the jobs I've ever worked are demanding physical labor). If anything I like my little "rocks" even had some the guys on the job tease me about them, lol.

i cant post what i really want to say here because ill get a message from the mods saying i need to be supportive. the mods just want us to tell people what they want to hear. In my opionion It would be awesome to look like one of the P90X girls.

Nitenurse - if that's your goal, that's fine, but we're just reassuring the OP that given normal weightlifting, she won't look like that (since it isn't her aesthetic). No one body type goal is the "right" one or supported/not supported by the mods.

Martha - I AM one of the outlier % of women who CAN put on muscle mass fairly easily. (I built several lbs of muscle while losing 60 lbs and doing only running) And yeah, it would take me an incredible amount of effort to look like those women. And an incredible amount of eggwhite plain chicken and no carbs.

As it stands I am possibly getting to the point where my upper body is a little more bulked than I would like, but I also know I still have fat to lose. Which means temporarily my fat is bulking out over my muscle, not "being replaced" by it. If you gain muscle faster than you lose the fat you can look temporarily bulked. When I lose that fat then I can reassess. As someone posted it is actually much easier to lose muscle than fat and you CAN actually "spot reduce" muscle. i.e. I build traps very easily. If I dont like the traps, I stop working the traps. They will go away and in a shockingly short period of time.

Meanwhile nothing makes a girls day like ripping 20 perfect decline pushups off a 20 inch bench and having the young guy at the gym comment on how hardcore that is. :D (I didnt let him know that for me decline pushups are actually easier than flat. Backwards! )

Originally Posted by nitenurse:
In my opionion It would be awesome to look like one of the P90X girls.

I completely agree with you, and I am working on it. Even though I probably won't end up looking like one of them (I am old enough to be their mother) but that's not going to stop me from trying.
And like Amanda said, there is no specific supported body look here at 3FC. Everybody is allowed to strive for what floats her/his boat. Some people prefer lean look with defined muscles, other ladies want to remain curvy. Nothing wrong with either, but we are here to help each other and correct myths that people may hear about elsewhere.

Originally Posted by ennay:
Meanwhile nothing makes a girls day like ripping 20 perfect decline pushups off a 20 inch bench and having the young guy at the gym comment on how hardcore that is. :D (I didnt let him know that for me decline pushups are actually easier than flat. Backwards! )

Thanks for the visual - I am picturing him standing nearby, ogling you & drooling quietly. :D

I lift heavy, and I do it daily, I can leg press more than most men I see on the machine! I've been heavy lifting for about a year, for toning & weight loss, not competition, and you know what, I STILL don't look like a p90X chick LOL. I am 188lbs and toned. I have nice arms, beautiful shoulders, and strong legs.

I don't eat a training diet and I'll never be ripped like you see on TV -- I don't have it in my genes, and neither do you! That look comes from a super strict diet and in some cases supplements to help build muscles that we as women don't naturally have the genetic makeup to build to bodybuilder standards.

I always tell my friends to pick up weights and don't pick up something light because you're afraid to get bulky. Pick up the 5lbs for dumbell curls, and when you're pumping like there's no tomorrow, pick up a 10, then a 15, then a 20. You still wont EVER be Arnold, but you'll be strong & have nice arms.

BTW, ennay -- declines are easier for me also -- wonder why that is? I can do at least 10lbs more than I can on a flat bench.

vonnie - I'm talking pushups, not presses, but for me it is because I do a lot of yoga and a lot of hand and shoulder stands. My traps and rhomboids are incredibly strong and overcome the inadequacies of my pecs & triceps in that angle.

Originally Posted by :

Why in the world would you think that? I've tried for years to look totally ripped and know that for me, it's not possible because I'm not willing to sustain a comp diet 24/7 for months on end, then do a "dry out" just for pictures. And like Alena, I'm older than some of their mothers. However, that doesn't stop me from doing pull ups, push ups, heavy dead lifts, cleans, squats and tossing truck tires!

Mel

Originally Posted by nitenurse:
i cant post what i really want to say here because ill get a message from the mods saying i need to be supportive. the mods just want us to tell people what they want to hear. In my opionion It would be awesome to look like one of the P90X girls.

I also do not understand why you would think this. I've disagreed quite vehemently with some of the mods over the years and we get along fine.

I, like ennay, am one of those women that builds muscle a bit faster than most, I do believe. I've done 2 rounds of P90x, each followed by two months of Insanity (crazy cardio), which is how I lost 40 pounds. I would not look how I do at 156 if I hadn't done all that weight training and plyo. Not at ALL. I was close to this weight in college without really doing much except running and swimming when I felt like it. Then, I was squeezing into a size 10. Now, my size 8 pants are starting to fall off. I actually didn't look at the scale for 4 whole months, and I was shocked when I finally got the courage to get back on it again. Anyway, I don't look like a bodybuilder at all! That would require such serious diet/exercise dedication beyond what I'm doing now/ My shoulders are a bit too bulky for my liking at the moment, and my thighs are starting to get some gross veins in them (that actually started after the second round of insanity), but I will tweak my routine to try to counteract that (less pull ups...more running...etc.)

I'm obviously not an expert, but at first I did feel a bit bigger/bloated when I started heavy lifting. When I add it back into my routine, I do see less of a change in the scale, probably due to water retention from sore muscles (read this somewhere?). I think the p90x gals look great, and so do a lot of female athletes/fitness models/bodybuilders. But that may just be because I have that kind of body type and it's a more realistic goal for me than a regular model or a super skinny actress.

I add muscle quickly in the leg area, not so much so in the arm area. go figure. however, I couldn't even tell you if my legs looked bulky in the beginning because I was SO tickled pink at how much my midsection was shrinking. I'd look at my torso / waistline, grin like a banshee and forget about everything else. All I wanted to do was keep on doing more of the same - building muscle to burn off fat.

Tiki!!!!!! :wave:

Wow Tiki, long time no see :welcome: back ....

Been lurking quite a while trying to find some ideas on how to motivate my gym buddy to move beyond the 5 pound dumb bells. You ladies are still burning it up!!!

Originally Posted by tikanique:
Been lurking quite a while trying to find some ideas on how to motivate my gym buddy to move beyond the 5 pound dumb bells. You ladies are still burning it up!!!

heh...I physically removed a dumbbell out of my friends hand and gave her the next heavier one. She has been doing sumo squats for over a year with the same weight.