Fitness Myths: If Women Lift Heavy, They Bulk Up Like Men

I have had women ask me, "What can I do to tone up ____?" The word "tone" needs to be deleted from the fitness vocabulary. In order for women to get big muscles like men, they are either taking supplements *cough coughsteroidscough*, or eating tons of calories and training specifically in order to get like that. According to Andre Read,

"...there’s still that myth out there that to get lean you need high reps and light weights. Women often comment that they’re worried about bulking up, and that they “put on muscle if they look at a weight.” Uh huh. Let’s talk some simple math for a moment. A single kilogram of muscle takes a calorie surplus of 9000 calories to be created. That’s thirty cheeseburgers extra you need to eat above your maintenance calories to even think about growing some extra muscle.
And not only do you need to eat those extra burgers, but you need to train specifically to put on size. While you can make muscles bigger from weight training, that’s not a necessary side effect."

What women mean when they say they want to "tone up" is they want to burn fat and build muscle. In order to do this, there are two things that needs to be done, change the diet, and strength train.

I lift heavy. Do I have big manly muscles?

Here are some tips on building lean muscle:

1. Incorporate weight training into your workout routine, whether it be body-weight training or weight-lifting.
2. Watch what you eat. Don't eat a lot of fried foods, white (or processed) carbs, and sugary sweets.
• On the topic of sugar, pay attention to how much sugar is in processed foods...even salad dressing! The best way to eat clean is to cook everything yourself, and make your own condiments. A lot of food companies put sugar in their products because sugar is highly addictive, and it causes people to crave their products. Sugar is also the reason why many people have difficulties losing weight. (more about this in a future post)
3.  Challenge your muscles. For example, if do two sets with a 15 pound dumbbell, try doing your last set with a 20 pound dumbbell, even if you can only get in 2 to 3 reps. The goal is to exhaust the muscle. Remember: if it ain't rough, it ain't right.