Ladies, you can lift heavy and not bulk! Even you, Runners!

If I had a dollar for every time a female has said to me “I want to tone up, but I don’t want to get bulky…” I’d probably be able to retire in the next 5 years!  

So let’s talk about this… 

What does “toned” mean?

Well, this can mean different things to different people, but from my experience, it generally means someone want to see muscle definition and firmness on their body. This “toning” typically happens by fat loss or muscle mass gains, but more commonly from a combination of the two. If you want to see your muscles you either need to lose fat mass or, if you’re already on the leaner side, build and increase the amount of lean muscle mass you currently have. Makes sense, right? 

Like I mentioned, I hear this desire for a toned physique quite a bit from women during consults and pretty much anytime someone learns I’m a personal trainer. The first question I ask those ladies is, “What is your current exercise routine?” Ninety percent of the time their answer is A LOT of cardio; and unfortunately, that’s not the key to unlocking their goals. Cardiovascular exercise is fantastic for heart and overall health, but it will not provide you with a toned physique. If a toned physique is what you’re looking for, you need to strength train. And that means lifting heavy things! 

Let’s get real.

As soon as this comes out of my mouth, I can see the apprehension and often fear written all over their faces. For whatever reason we automatically default to this image of an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like body builder. 

Here’s the reality of why that’s not going to happen, ladies. First, we don’t have the hormones to build that amount of muscle naturally. Second, unless you plan on quitting your day job to dedicate your life to body building, it’s just not gonna happen. Building muscle takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight. Third, you would need to be eating A LOT of calories and A LOT of protein. Most of the women I’ve coached over the years find it challenging [at first] to even eat enough protein to support their current muscle mass, let alone increase it. I’m not going to go molecular here, but with these few examples you catch my drift – lifting heavy weights a few times per week is NOT going to turn you into a huge body builder. 

What about runners?

Runners, male & female, are a group that should 1000% be strength training in addition to their running program. Building a strength training program into your schedule will help with injury prevention as well as performance. Your current training cycle will depend on what kind of weight you’ll be lifting. In your off season you should be lifting heavy to improve your strength while your milage is low. In your training season, your loads will likely lighten up, as your main focus will be on building milage. If you’d like to learn specifics on this, check out my blog post “How Strength Training Can Improve Running Efficiency.” Your muscles are what allow you to run, please support them ☺ 

There are other factors at play here that will impact the amount of muscle you’re able to put on and the speed in which you’re doing so. A few of them being: 

1) What does your training frequency, training intensity, recovery look like? 

The answer to each of these questions is going to vary greatly on the individual. Generally speaking, to see an increase in muscle mass you’ll need to be strength training 2-3 times per week. Your workouts should include moderate to heavy loading, while working 6-12 reps per exercise for 3-6 sets. You also need to account for recovery time. What else you’re doing in addition these strength workouts will impact the amount of recovery time you’re going to need, but it’s usually 1-2 days of rest. Your muscles need that down time to repair themselves and also the fuel to do so. 

2) What does your diet look like? Are you getting enough protein to support your current lean muscle? Are you getting enough protein and carbohydrate on top of that to then build new muscle? 

An individual looking to increase muscle mass should be consuming anywhere between 1.4-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Calories and other macronutrient requirements are dependent upon many other factors. 

The Bottom Line

Bottom line, ladies, is that lifting heavy things is NOT going to make you bulky. For most of us it’s just not physiologically possible and there’s much more going on under the surface that directly impacts your results. Whether you’re not quite sure where to start with workouts and/or nutrition or you’re looking to take your workouts and nutrition to the next level, shoot us a message here and let us help you along your journey with programs created just for YOU and YOUR goals.