I assume this means either:
a) I don't want to get bigger/beefier or,
b) I don't want to look extremely muscular.
It has come to my attention that many believe lifting weights will make him or her get 'bulky.' Along these lines, many believe that muscles can be bulky or long and lean depending on the exercises they perform. If you are not one of these people, you must know someone who is. For all my bulk-fearers, please, read on, you will discover that your fear is is keeping you away from the body you want. For my friends-of-bulk-fearers, sharing is caring, help your pals and loved ones know the truth about muscles and strength training.
Disarming time
I will step out of my normally objective shell to help you digest this information more willing. I am quite small, 5'2 under 100 lbs, under 15% body fat. I lift heavy weights 5-6 times a week and do no cardio except for walking. I have always been small but my body fat used to be much higher, I was 'skinny-fat.' My body fat went down when I started lifting heavy, I also began to look more defined and 'toned.' All of my clients lift heavy things and have gotten leaner and more defined, no one has ever complained of getting 'too bulky' in the 5+ years I have been a trainer.
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| Me deadlifting |
Lean tone
When a client comes to me wanting to get learner or more toned, I assess how much lean/muscle mass they have. When you don't have a lot of muscle it becomes very hard to get lean. Muscle is a crucial component to being lean. Muscle mass is lean mass, so all muscle is lean. Muscle is metabolically active, whereas fat is not. This means having more muscle will increase your ability to burn calories, even at rest. Muscle is what makes a person look 'toned.'
Increasing muscle mass can be done while decreasing body fat, this will make a person look leaner. Muscles are cells, so when you 'gain muscle mass,' which can sound scary to bulk-fearers, you are just increasing the size of a cell. Gaining muscle is a very slow process, it often takes months to notice any positive difference in appearance. The difference might be that your triceps have a little shape when your arm is straight, or your leg looks more defined in certain light. You will not wake up one day to look like a lumberjack or bodybuilder, this doesn't happen by accident or with the amount of time you (non-fitness industry person) have to train.
The most efficient way to get 'lean and toned' is to strength train with moderately heavy weights and keep calories and portions in check.
Why lift heavy things?
Lifting heavy is the only way to make your body prioritize muscle over fat. Muscle is like a Ferrari with its engine idling, fat is like a Prius. Your body wants Prii (Toyota approved plural), not gas guzzling (calorie burning), expensive (amino acid needing) Ferrari. In order to get your body to trade in its sensible Prii for extravagant Ferrari, you have to make it an offer that it can't refuse. This offer is moderate to heavy strength training. Lifting heavy-ish (ballpark 70-90% of your maximal load) and will create enough of a stimulus for your body to build muscle. Lifting heavy will make you stronger, which is really exciting and esteem boosting. A lot of adaption in muscle has to do with its ability to be activated. This means you can get stronger and leaner without gaining tons of mass. Muscle also increases your cardiovascular capacity making running, biking and 'conditioning' easier. Lifting light weights for really high reps is better than sitting on your butt, but it won't get you toned or stronger. You must make it crystal clear to your body that you are in need of more muscle or it won't change.
But what about this athlete who looks like...
Maybe you don't want to look like (what your image is of) a bodybuilder or powerlifer or CrossFit games athlete. Don't worry, you won't. Bodybuilders work day in and day out to acquire a very specific look. I bet they wished their extreme musculature appeared overnight. Powerlifters and CrossFitters and fill-in-the-blankers care more about what their bodies allow them to do than how their bodies change to accommodate their sport. Maybe these athletes are drawn to sports that support their natural frame. For example, maybe super heavy powerlifters are bigger people who found a sport they can excel in. The same can be said for the 'dancer's body' you might want. Dancers may excel because they already have a certain desirable body structure. Also, these athletes put in countless hours of training, the way they look may not be deliberate, but it sure isn't accidental.
But what about this workout in this magazine...
Magazines are written by journalists. It is a journalist's job to sensationalize reality. How exciting would your favorite magazine be if this article was in it every month: "Strength training still works, eat moderately." Magazines can't really publish a lot on strength training with barbells because the movements are difficult to learn from photos and have a higher injury potential (when done by the general public out on their own) than a pair of pink dumbbells. As for celebrities, they're strength training. Again, 'strength training' doesn't sound as sexy to some people as 'lengthening toning stretching class.' Slight digression: muscle looks longer when you have longer limbs and certain genetics, no exercise makes it noticeably longer. Celebrities also have someone making sure they eat properly, and they have the media. If someone took a photo of you everyday and showed it to everyone, you would get your self to the gym.
But what about that one time I got bulky...
I know this is a fear of you bulk-fearers. Some of you have a time in your life when you tried lifting and it made you bulky. This is always a matter of correlation, not causation. Usually when this happens it is because you got fatter at the time of your lifting experiment. The lifting didn't make you fatter, you just decided to eat more at that time. Maybe you started consuming a seemingly healthy item at that time, like acai bowls or (certain kinds of) smoothies. These items are extremely calorie dense and non-satiating, so they made you pack on the pounds. Maybe you started walking less in your everyday life at the time of your lifting. There are a lot of reasons for weight gain, lifting is not one of them. Lifting will not make you bigger unless you are in a calorie surplus. You could lift all the weights in the gym and loose weight if you didn't eat anything. Give lifting another go under the eyes of a qualified strength and nutrition coach. The results you will get will blow your mind and rock your body.
