Scared?
Have you ever uttered those words out loud? Or the very least murmured it to yourself?
Were you ever scared to lift too heavy because you thought it might make you look “bulky”?
What if I told you, that wouldn’t happen.
Would you believe me? Or would you think am full of shit.
Hopefully not the latter, right? Lol.
Give me a few minutes of your time. By the end of this article, I promise you, you will never feel like that again the next time you walk onto that gym floor.
Chest up
Head help up high
Focused
Confident and ready to lift
Scared?
I think not….
Yes and No
What a stupid header.
What the heck does that even mean?
To be honest with you, I don’t even know, and I wrote the damn thing. Nevertheless, there is a point behind it.
Yes, you can get bulky lifting weights if you’re also eating in a calorie surplus. Calories are what dictates growth. If you aren’t feeding your body with sufficient calories, you ain’t growing.
Period.
You see my friend, you can’t possibly get bulky if you’re also trying to lose weight and let’s be honest, you want to lose weight. It’s one of the many reasons why you are here.
Let me ask you something:
Don’t you want to look sexy?
Don’t you want to look “tone”?
Don’t you want those abs or at least come close to getting them?
Don’t you want a big butt and well define legs?
That’s what lifting heavy weights will do.
You’re not going to look like Arnold, I promise.
Enough with the puny weights, it ain’t doing a thing for you. I think it’s time for a change. How about this, let’s try my way for at least three months before claiming that it doesn’t work.
Take me up on it and see what happens.
I dare you.
It’s Hard to Build Muscle
If you think you’re just going to hit the gym for a few months and poof, you’ll automatically look like a body builder. That ain’t happening.
It takes time and effort, year after year. Most people don’t put in enough time and effort to create the kind of physique they’re scared of and guess what that’s a good thing. You should feel relieved because getting bulky isn’t that easy.
There are reasons professional bodybuilders are in the elite few, it takes an ungodly amount of time to look that way. Let’s not talk about steroids, we’re both in agreement. No need to state the obvious, but you get my drift.
I don’t know if you know this, but testosterone is a big driver for muscle growth and by the way this isn’t sarcasm. It’s worth pointing out for those of you who might not know.
Women don’t produce as much testosterone as men and of course, there are always exceptions. Some women have higher testosterone levels than other women, but even those with higher-than-normal levels don’t have enough to get bulky, if they’re also eating in a deficit.
Remember calories matter. If you aren’t eating enough calories, you will not grow.
Go Lift. Like Now
This concept of lifting sounds familiar to most; however, it’s always fascinating how the narrative changes based on where its coming from.
One person telling you to focus on light weights because it will “tone” your muscles. That’s a bunch of baloney by the way. Am going to reframe myself from cursing since I did so earlier.
A curse word per article, it’s a new rule I gave myself. We’ll see how long that last. Anyway, don’t do that. The point of strength training is to make the body more resilient. You do that by getting stronger.
To get stronger, you need to lift heavier. Light weights aren’t going to cut it. I mean what’s the point of lifting if you aren’t building muscle or getting stronger. Really, think about that for a sec.
Take aesthetics aside, most people want to be relatively strong for functional reasons:
Moving furniture
Picking up your kids
Protecting the people, you care about (sounds super cheesy, but’s it’s true)
Getting off the toilet (older and obese individuals tend to struggle with this) … you get the idea
You can achieve all of this without getting bulky. Not even a little bit.
Look at her! that doesn’t look bulky to me!
How to Lift the Right Way
It’s not doing 10 pounds of dumbbell curls. I can tell you that much. This isn’t a knock on those who can’t lift that, you’ve just been marketed in a way that makes zero sense.
“If You Want to Tone Your Arms. You Need to Do Higher Reps with Less Weights.”
Am sure you’ve heard that slogan somewhere before. That fitness magazine with big black bold letters lurking to the side of you at the checkout line.
“10 Best Exercises to Tone Your Arms”
Don’t get me started on the cover photo. It’s usually some men or women with ab’s that looks like it’s been photoshopped to get your attention. Guess what. It works. Every-time.
A photoshopped unrealistic body dead centered with a false narrative.
“You Could Look Like This If You Just Did These 10 Exercises”
A bunch of crap.
Listen I am not saying it’s impossible. However, there is more to it than meets the eye.
A headline that reads:
“To Get the Body You Desire You Need to Eat in a Deficit,
Lift Weights and Commit for an Extended Period of Time.”
That isn’t sexy.
That’s not enticing at all.
You know what is though?
“If You Want to Look Like This, Do These 10 Exercises Every-Day”
Bullseye and that’s how they get you.
Am getting ahead of myself here, let’s reel it back in.
Lifting the right way is knowing:
Compound exercises
Adding weights to the bar
Reps, sets and rest time
Let’s dive in further.
Compound Exercises
These exercises target multiple muscle groups at the same time. It’s the base for overall strength. Movements such as squats, deadlifts, chest-press, pull-ups, rows, etc.
If you leave with anything as it pertains to you getting stronger, remember those two words.
Adding Weights to the Bar
I know how intimidating that might be, but I promise, you will not get bulky. Remember what I told you, calories are where it’s at.
I know you want to get lean and stronger. That’s not going to come from the sky, so, buckle up and trust me on this. You can’t shy away from heavy weights. Easier said than done, I get it, but it is the pillar for getting stronger, leaner, and more confident.
Small incremental progress is just as important as big ones. Going from lifting 10lbs to 15lbs is a big deal. The weight room can be an intimidating place to be, but you must remember, these are your progress, not anyone else’s.
Rest. Sets. Rest Time.
By now I hope you’ve mustered enough courage to try this strength training thing I recommended. If you do decide to do it, boy oh boy would that make me happy. The word happy would be an understatement.
I’d be….
I guess happy lol. I can’t really think of any other words right now. Can you blame me? It’s 1 in the morning and here I am trying to convince you on why you should start lifting heavy weights.
I might have to edit this part out later.
Reps
This is the number of times you will be lifting a weight. The research shows a rep range of:
1 to 5 for strength
6 to 12 for muscle growth
Anything more for muscle endurance
6 to 8 is my general recommendation. I find that to be the sweet spot for both strength and muscle growth, from personal experience as well as from clients.
Sets
This is the number of times you will repeat the same exercise within the number of reps. I bet I just confused you, didn’t I? don’t worry here is an example for you:
Exercise: Barbell Squats
Reps: 6 to 8
Sets: 3
You’re going to do 6 to 8 reps of the barbell squats three times. In between each set you will be resting.
Get it now?
Rest Time
2 to 3 minutes for strength
1 to 2 minutes for muscle growth
Anything less for muscle endurance
1:30 to 2 minutes is my recommendation, however, they’re exceptions:
- Individuals who are new to strength training may require more rest time
- Obese individuals
- Older individuals
- Individuals with certain medical conditions
The list can go on, but the main take away is, if you have plenty of energy left in the tank after one or two sets of an exercise. I recommend decreasing your rest time by 30 seconds.
That Wraps it Up
I got nothing. Nothing at all
I gave you everything I had
Now it’s up to you to either execute on it or not
Either way no offense taken
Do you….