I ask this, because of a lot of questions regarding working out and building muscle seem to have this theme. It appears as many women are interested in working out as men but are more apprehensive about “getting too big”.
Is it society’s attitudes towards women and what constitutes an attractive healthy appearance (not too muscly and heavy on the super skinny) or negative feedback from guys that are fueling these concerns?
I personally believe the fitness figure women look very healthy and attractive, however their image in the media is overshadowed by the most extreme heavy weight female bodybuilders, who are obviously juicing. I doubt that women who are clean and all natural, should worry too much about gaining too much muscle, simply because the likelihood is diminished by being all natural.
Thought on this?
Tags: Attitudes, Building, from, Keeping, more, muscle, society's, women
Personally, I look to gain muscle. I always start with a 20-minute cardio workout, but then I focus my time on resistance training. I lift weights and “pump iron” with all the guys, though sadly I tend to be one of the only women in the weight’s section of the gym.
I realise that my natural body composition won’t allow me to grow too large unless I actually aim for that. Even then, I’d have to change my diet and really work at it. I also know how to train for the results I’m looking for–if I want toned muslces, I’ll do lightweight reps. If I want increased strenght, I’ll do just the opposite.
However, I do recognise that many women still carry this fear of growing “too big”. All the movie stars and models have this soft, chiseled look but lack much muscle. They tend to be very narrowly framed with little mass–women are afraid that muslces will do the opposite.
For instance, let’s have a look at a woman’s calves. Let’s say she frequently trains her calves to the point that they begin to grow some healthy, noticeable muslce. Of course, we’re not talking anything too large here, but something certain worth applauding. Now, imagine her in society. Perhaps one day she wants to wear boots? So she goes out to the nearest shoe stores and finds some lovely calf-high black boots. But when she goes to try them on, they don’t zip up fully. She begins to think that her calves are too big. Maybe it’s fat? Maybe she has more muscle than she should? So she skips the boots and carries on her way.
One day she stumbles across an advertisement for some cute shorts. She’s interested in buying them, so she heads out to the store to try them on. As they slips them up and looks in the mirror, she’s shocked. Her legs aren’t as slender as the models, nor do they taper off to a nice lil’ point at the feet. Instead, they’re toned and muscular, so they bulge out a bit at the calf. But she doesn’t perceive this as healthy or fit–she just knows that she doesn’t look like others. After all, many women aren’t toned or fit in this way, so she’s different.
I’m not sure if I clearly made my point here, but I hope you understand to at least an extent.