watch out, don't get bulky
Trust me, you won’t get huge
As a female strength coach, it is my personal mission to debunk the myth that lifting weights makes women bulky.
Some women may have more growth potential than others but that does not mean lifting moderate to heavy weights will make you huge. What makes you huge is a calorie surplus. You don’t see girls being scared of their 203 calorie glass of champagne now do ya? -That’s the real facts.
Whether your goal is to look good in a bikini, feel like a powerful badass or just improve your overall strength, strength training is your answer.
Too often, I have female clients come to me expressing their desire for weightloss/fat loss but they don’t want to get “bulky” but want to “tone.” I’ve even had girls go so far as to express they would like to lose muscle. Firstly, I think it is important to define what tone means. Over the years people have redefined the word to equate how lean and defined our muscles appear. Becoming lean and building muscle is the exact same thing as this ‘tone’ you speak of. If your goal is to see your muscles, even minimally, what you actually desire is building muscle and losing body fat.
Becoming lean, gaining muscle and losing body fat requires the balance of all variables from diet, exercise prescription and mindset development— all of which a specialized coach can help you with.
Lets get into the programing shall we? As a recreational lifter, it will be VERY difficult to get significant muscle growth like some of the women you scroll across on instagram. Sure, you may have a greater genetic gift to building muscle but it really isn’t going to be as significant as you may think. Women have 1/15 to 1/20 the amount of testosterone that men have. The women you may come across that you see as bigger than YOU have dedicated their entire lives and many many years to becoming that way. Some, even committing to anabolic steroids.
Not sure who started the idea that tiny weights with endless amounts of reps was the answer to achieving that ‘toned’ look but lets finally give that a rest once and for all. Resorting to this actually negates the real muscle-building effects of strength training and no adaptation in the muscles occurs; and sure you may have great muscular endurance but it will not help you decrease body fat and gain any muscle definition. It should also be noted that if you grab for your tiny dumbbells or only head to group training classes with limited weights, this strict high rep/ light weight combo develops a build up of fluids in the muscle cells causing muscles to appear puffy.
But what about cardio?
Here’s something cool – Strength training burns calories up to 48 hours after your lifting session and continues to burn even while you’re not lifting! The calories you burn doing endless amounts of cardio ceases the moment you step off the treadmill. The more muscle mass you obtain, the higher your metabolic rate (how much your body burns at rest). Result- more lean muscle mass and less body fat! Crazy! This is not to say cardio does not have its place. Most people will benefit from sprint training/ HIIT training in conjunction to their strength program.
In short, if your goal is to lose weight and body fat, your focus should be on maintaining a negative calorie intake (not too low) and burning more calories (long term) than you consume. More muscle, more calorie burn. Less muscle, less calorie burn = less fat burn.
Do you want to finally feel confident in your body? Give up the idea that lifting weights makes you huge. Thats not how that works. Eating donuts and drinking champagne and living in a calorie surplus makes you huge.
I am here for the girls who believe their limited belief ceilings can be broken.
For the girls who want to uncover their inner badass and transform their lives.
For the girls who are ready to learn discipline when motivation fails them—
because in the end, its the hard work and dedication that builds your confidence and self esteem.
This is what I teach when you are a part of my team.
APPLY to join us today
With Unconditional Love,
<3 Kelsie