But I Don’t Want To Get Bulky!
Jan 05, 2021
I hear this all too often from girls and actually some guys.
And well, ladies unless you're eating a hell of a lot of food, I'm talking 1,000's and 1,000's of calories a day, training for hours a day and maybe taking some assistance drugs it's just not going to happen.
To build muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus. That means eating more than your body is burning. If you are weight training and eating a calorie surplus you will build muscle over time.
WEIGHT TRAINING ALONE WILL NOT BUILD YOU MUSCLE!
You need to be feeding your body enough calories and need to be consuming more than your total daily expenditure (TDEE) to build muscle.
TDEE is a summation of all the things your body does actively and passively to burn calories in a 24 hr period.
With the right training program and consuming a calories surplus, you will build long lean muscle under your skin. Would you prefer 2kgs of fat or 2kgs of muscle under your skin?
Take a look at the size and the texture in the picture. I know which one I’d prefer.
When I first started weight training with a Personal Trainer back home in Jersey about 10 years ago, I started to lose a bit of weight and developing a bit of muscle. I loved the look and feel of muscle! But what my friends were saying to me was you going to start looking like Jodie Marsh or careful you don't want to get massive!
This actually upset me at the time. Maybe because Jodie Marsh was famous for not much talent and had a bad reputation. But, I think more from the fact I didn't have the support from my friends.
Now that I'm a qualified Personal Trainer and Sports Nutritionist, looking back I know my friends were not being mean it was just a lack of understanding and lack of knowledge about weight training.
The Fitness Industry is becoming bigger and bigger, more people understand the benefits of weight training and more women are understanding this too and are starting to lift weights. Which is great!
However, there is still a misconception about eating protein, protein shakes and weight training, particularly amongst women.
People don’t understand fitness competitions they just assume you're going to turn into an old school bodybuilder! They think the amount of protein your consuming is bad for you or that you are eating way too much food that you must be on some bodybuilder bulking diet!
People will be negative about things they can't understand. And I get it. How is it possible to eat more, do less cardio and get the body you want??
By training smart and eating right for your body your goals and your lifestyle.
Protein will not make you bulky. In fact, it will help you feel fuller for longer which means less chance of snacking and it has a thermogenic effect, which means burns calories during digestion.
Cardio only burns calories during that workout. Weight training you are burning calories for hours after the session as your body repairs your muscle tissue. Burn more calories doing less work? Yes, please!
So what if I told you that you could enjoy food, all food and weight train for 45mins to an hour 3-5 times a week and get an awesome body composition?
This is exactly what I do.
Nothing more.
I'm not superhuman, I don't have good genetics or train for hours a day I don't do much specific cardio, maybe some HIIT around comp time and just walk a lot and I eat 2000-2500 calories a day!
This is exactly what my clients do too.
