Female Bodybuilding: The Difference Between A Leaner Physique & Bulking

A lot of people, when they hear the word bodybuilding, the image of a man is pictured in their mind and some are unable to hide their surprise when they hear a woman is building her body. A lot of women also cringe when they are told to build their body, but you won’t blame them, no woman wants to look masculine.

Women give the “I don’t want to get big and bulky” attitude when it comes to building their body, I just want to lose weight and be like a model. The truth is those models build muscle too.

The reason is it is muscles that give the body shape and form, and while you are losing weight, you are probably going to lose muscle too, that is why you should make sure you build and maintain your muscle.

And you won’t look too big and bulky, like superman.

There is a big different between having leaner physique and bulking. It’s largely a myth, however that weight lifting doesn’t cause women to bulk up. The truth is that the tendency to develop bulky or lean muscles varies widely from one woman to the next.

image source

While testosterone, the male hormone does contribute to muscle growth, your body type is just as important a factor on how your body responds to strength training. If you are born with a muscular mesomorph body type, you’ll quickly pack on more muscle mass.

If you happen to be a more voluptuous endomorph, you’ll typically lose weight before you notice any notable growth in muscle. Slim ectomorphs, however are very unlikely to ever develop bulky muscles, even as they gain more strength.

In the end, what every woman wants is to look lean and fit, so depending on your body type, you know what comes first if you want to start getting fit.

What is the difference between leaner physique and bulking?

When women say they want a lean physique, what they mean is they want to become leaner- meaning they want to lose fat and add a little more muscle definition, but not a lot of muscle mass that they look like a bodybuilder.

Bulking means adding a lot of muscle mass and possibly reducing body fat. When we talk about bulking up, images of big football players and bodybuilders usually comes to mind.

So you know, having muscle is not the same as being bulky. In fact, it is almost impossible for women to get “bulky” without taking hormone supplements like testosterone and HGH. The body-building figure that most women are afraid of is actually a result of taking lots of steroids.

To be honest, too much fat, also known as excess adipose tissue may lead to making you look bulky and very big/muscular. This actually has nothing to do with the amount of muscle you have. A very high percentage of fat on top of your muscle will make you to look bulky and big.

If you want to lose weight, eating clean will help with lowering body fat. But did you also know that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn? Having more muscle means that your body is burning away your body fat even while you are asleep. If you want to build muscle – so you can begin to see muscle definition, you will need to weight train.

You will probably have to go a bit heavier on the weight than you are used to. Do this combinedwith cardio and you are on your way to burning away the excess fat. Decreased levels of fat plus an increased muscle means you are now able to achieve that “lean” and “toned” look you’ve always wanted.

Developing a leaner physique Vs bulking up

We all need muscle, whether for staying lean or for bulking up- which women do not want. So as to know what to do, I will explain how to bulk up and how to stay lean muscled.

You build up your muscles by overloading them. Strength training and aerobic exercise both create resistance, either with weights or your body mass, which your muscles must work in order to overcome.

When this resistance begins to sufficiently demand, your muscle tissues starts to respond by increasing in size and changing their shape.

You can influence the development of your muscles by adjusting the amount of resistance as necessary. Also, your diet plays a big role in influencing your muscle growth; consuming plenty of carbohydrates gives your muscles ample energy to heighten performance and development.

• Getting a lean physique

If you want a toned but reasonably lean physique, you should take steps to inhibit massive or excessive muscle growth. You have no power to control your body type, which largely determines the development of your muscle. You can however adopt a workout that has many repetitions of relatively low-resistance exercises.

Combining your strength training with aerobic exercise would help you reduce body fat. What you will get is a leaner muscle-to-fat ratio and a more toned overall look. To develop lean muscle, choose relatively light endurance activities, for example long-distance running, instead of more explosive forms of exercise like shooting soccer balls during a match.

• Bulking up

If you want to develop the figure of a bodybuilder, a huge basketball player or a big football player, choose your training to include shorter bouts of higher-resistance activities. Do strength training at least twice everyweek, and make sure you never train the same muscles two days in a row. To get optimal development, your muscles need 24 to 48 hours to recover. This is a crucial stage for growth.

Opt for a weight that you can lift up to 12 times; the last repetition should be hard but possible, leaving you with no strength to complete a 13th.

Increase your workout by including additional sets of 12 repetitions each as you progress. Build up to 3 sets of 12 reps during every training session. Talk to a qualified personal trainer or dietitian to make sure you’re consuming the right amount of calories to supply energy for your workout and also repair and build your muscle tissue.

Conclusion

Bulking up and getting a lean physique for women are entirely different, although both require working out and eating the right diet.

All you need is to know the type of body you have and what you need to do to sculpt it to look like the way you want it to be.