"Too Bulky? #Bulkyou" Fitness Rant

In the last few weeks I have had multiple female members mention that people will come up to them with concerns that they will get “Too Bulky”. For example: “I am glad you took time off. Your shoulders were looking manly” “Be careful. With all that heavy lifting you will get bulky” ” I liked how you looked better before you started lifting” A. No one “effing” asked you for your opinion. The reason why this bothers me is that the people I speak with were normally progressing quite well. They are breaking personal records and doing things they never thought they could do. Now you came over and offered your opinion to people that were building self esteem but conquering challenges they never thought they could do. So in essence you are saying “Be careful. You are getting fit in a different way than my opinion finds acceptable”….and no one asked. So literally the end-all be-all of their fitness progress is how attracted you are to them?  Do you not realize how useless the words coming out of you mouth (or keyboard) are? Someone else’s fitness journey needs to be funneled through how much you are attracted to them? You are a narcissistic jackass. If you don’t believe how prevalent this is I have copied some comments below from people commenting on a recent lady Crossfitter’s picture. “I think she looks more fun in the sack in picture 1” “On the left, a healthy young woman. On the right, a woman who has so overdone her fitness training that she’ll have to get back to the picture on the left when she’s ready to have a baby.” “Oh look… the article about the woman who turned into a man is back” “She not only lost weight, but she changed her gender!” “Manhands!  Seriously, these “feel-good” stories about women striving to be less attractive is getting tiring. She looks like she has the body of a steroid-taking male child.” “Less weights, more reps woman!” I could go on. LIterally there are several hundred more of these.   B. Who are you to impose your opinion of how “I” should look to me? The term “bulky” is relative. What is bulky to some is not bulky to others. So it is an opinion….and the only one that matters ultimately is your own. Do you feel good about yourself? Are your clothes fitting better? Then good. Their opinion is meaningless. The comment while might come from a good place (sorta)but it is a toxic one. C. What is too Bulky? This is where the danger lies. It is like saying what is “Too Tall”. It is relative. So while I won’t lie and say a very small amount of can’t put on excessive muscle mass for their goals…..you are probably not one of them. With that being said it takes all kinds so someone might feel “any” muscle definition is bulky…so that is their opinion. If you are going to tell me gaining muscle mass for women is unhealthy…we will have words. The one I normally get is “I don’t want to look like those bodybuilders” You know those women bodybuilders who look “really bulky”? They eat, train, and take supplements specifically so they can look like that! They’ve probably been working towards that goal for years and years. When you pick up heavy things, your muscles get STRONGER (but not necessarily bigger).  If you pump yourself full of testosterone and eat way more calories than you are burning every day, you will get much bigger. If you pick up heavy things, and eat a caloric deficit (and eat the right kinds of food – actual healthy foods), your muscles will get stronger and denser; you will burn the fat on top of your muscle, and you will get that “toned” look that is so sought after. Picking up light weights for 20+ repetitions builds muscular endurance; it does not build tight, dense, strong muscle. So, want to look damn good AND be strong?  Pick up heavy things. And continually force yourself to pick up heavier and heavier things as you get stronger. Don’t let people put you in their shoebox of how they think you should look. I’ll be the one to get real with you even if it means i catch some flack for it… Being small and weak to look better is not a healthy path.  And if you think you already have too much muscle I hate to break it to you but you don’t. YOU JUST DON’T.  (unless you are the .001 percent of women) I’m ok with dishing out a little tough love so have a seat and get ready… If you’re glaring at you screen there saying, “I’m just genetically bulky.” or, “I’m an exception to what he is talking about.” You’re lying to yourself.  I’ve broken down the body composition of countless females and EVERY SINGLE FEMALE who thought that they were already bulky simply had a high body-fat percentage. “Too Bulky? #Bulkyou” Fitness Rant]]>