To women-How much weight? Can You bulk up?

Question

For those of you who do weights, in your weekly routines, women specifically- how much weight do you lift? I do light weight and high reps- Usually no more than 8 pounds each arm- I mainly stick to a total of 10 pounds when doing most of the exercises....I just do not want to bulk up- is it true women will not bulk up doing high reps and light weight?

Answer 1

High reps light weigh makes a nice lean muscle tone. High weight makes larger more bulky muscle.

yes women can bulk up....Depends on diet , amount of excise and genetics.

I eat allot of protein and I eat it often when I do allot of heavy weights I really bulk up. So because of this I stick with lower weights and cardio.

Answer 2

Hey Girl! I am a total gym rat. I can answer your question.
In my weekly routine I lift HEAVY weights, two to three times a week. (legs always over 100 lbs, free weights in the 20's, benching and rowing in the 50's.) Heavy weights. low reps. low sets. That is the way to burn fat and tone muscles. I am not jacked, I am a little 5 foot 2 size 2 honkytonk badonkadonk gal. I am strong, but no one would look at me and be afraid that I could beat them up- ever. lol Low weights does very little for you and the high reps does more joint damage that it is worth in toning! Ok let's face facts- how many totally jacked gals do you see at the gym- almost none. Women in general cannot get jacked (unless your mom and grandmas are jacked) it is our estrogen that prevents it and we do not have enough testosterone either we just can't get big muscles. (and that stinks cause I actually wish I could) I have been lifting heavy for 8 months and I am not a jacked gal at all, now I'm not going to lie I do have some defined muscle tone, but nothing manly at all, just hot and sexy toned. You should be working your muscles and not damaging your joints, high weights is good (but not kill you weights, just slightly difficult for you meaning high) and only 2 sets, of 8 to 10 reps. Our woman joints can get damaged so repatitive motions (high reps) is not good. Honestly if you try it and see muscles show up that you do not like just stop, muscles do not stick around unless you use them, so do not be afraid to try different things, see what works for you. Best of luck.

Answer 3

to bulk up you need, A. a lot of testoterone to build muscles. B. Tons of calories to do so. and C. while trainning use heavy weight an only like 4-8 reps. you can safely do between 15 to 20 reps and not bulk up, youll just tone down. any more than 20 reps is just wasting your time. might as well run or something.

Answer 4

It is absolutely impossible for women to "bulk up". We simply do not have the testosterone in our body in order to make that happen. If you feel you can do heavier weights (more than 10 pounds), then girl, go for it! If anything, your arms will be more shapely and defined. I do about 12 pounds each arm, and I'm really noticing a definition in my arms! It's great! You'll never bulk up like those women body builders naturally. They use steriods and other crap to increase their testosterone. So, my dear, if you feel like you can lift heavier, then by all means do it! You'll notice a great difference in both your looks and your strength!

Answer 5

the diet determines the size of the muscles not the load that is used to stimulate them. on average women produce 1/10th the amount of testosterone that men do. i've never seen a man or woman get "big" in the gym by accident. it takes years of dieting and hardcore training to achieve big muscles for a man or a woman.

if you want your body to stay the same then continue training with light loads. lifting light weights with high reps is not optimum for fat loss. training at a low level of intensity provides the most minimal increase in the resting metabolic rate after exercise. there may be an increase in the metabolic rate for 30 minutes +/-

Answer 6

In order to bulk up you need vast amounts of testosterone to develop large muscles. While women do create testosterone it is not enough to support large muscle development. If you are worried about looking like the Herculean women of professional body building you need not worry, most of those women take anabolic steroids to boost testosterone. You can lift as heavy as you like, to get a better idea of what the typical athletic female lookslike that works out look at natural bodybuilding females/fitness models. The competitors of the natural bodybuilding federation are strictly tested for foreign substances. The women of this league lift just as much as the men, and are not "bulky" but rather toned and defined...it takes a great deal of training and dehydration to get to the bone dry/shredded look of competition.

So don't worry, lift heavy!

Answer 7

I do 5 lbs or less in high reps because I'm scared I'll bulk up if I do more.

Answer 8

stay loose from sugar, nutrition created from starch and condensed fat. Drink a physically powerful deal of beverages, healthy end result and vegetables, nuts & hike a minimum of a million/2 an hr an afternoon to commence out stable success :)