Will Lifting Weights Make Women Bulky? The Real Answer

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

So in order for you to increase in muscle size and muscle mass, that requires you to lift heavy weights, to have high volume, and to have a significantly high calorie surplus.

What is going on, everybody? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott. And welcome, you guys, to episode 175.

Honestly, this whole podcast topic's inspiration came from watching that new Netflix show with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. And look, before you judge me, I will be radically transparent that in my downtime, I like to watch some reality television. I watch the Kardashians. I watch Love Island and Perfect Match. And I find those shows to be very entertaining, especially after a long day of hanging with the team, being in meetings back to back and doing work.

Sometimes that type of, quote-unquote, trashy television is what clears my mind. I just enjoy watching that kind of stuff. So before you judge me, I just had to be radically transparent and share my stuff with you. But this podcast today, episode 175, is inspired by what one of the Cowboys Cheerleaders was talking about in the episode that I watched last night.

And boy, if you watch that series, it's pretty interesting. I can't imagine what these cheerleaders go through in terms of body image and probably some hard things. They weren't directly saying it, but I feel like I can feel it without them directly saying it. The unspoken words and the unspoken concerns, essentially. I could just be projecting how I feel after watching it.

But anyway, one of the Cowboys Cheerleaders was talking about fitness and working out, and that she was worried about getting too bulky with strength training. And I was like, ooh, this is a great topic to bring to the podcast. So today, you guys, we're going to debunk one of the most persistent fitness myths, and that is why lifting weights won't make women bulky. Dude, the fear of becoming bulky is literally one of the main reasons why women avoid lifting weights.

I'm going to dive into the science of muscle growth and why women won't get bulky from lifting weights due to a couple of things. And then, once we've debunked the myth, I'm going to talk about some incredible benefits of what lifting weights does for women, both physically and mentally.

But before I dive into it, if you are resonating with this myth and you believe in this myth, I was once in your shoes too. I will never forget when I first started my journey back in 2015. I hired my first coach and I was going into the world of bodybuilding. I shared this, I think, all the way back in episode number one of the podcast, where I shared my whole backstory. I remember standing in front of the mirror in his basement. He had a home gym. And I was looking at my body, looking at him, looking at the mirror, and I was like, I don't want to get too bulky.

And I bless him for the response, because it encouraged me to continue to pursue strength training. He helped me understand that that's not what's going to happen. I even said, I don't want to look like a man. I said all of the things, and I can totally understand where this thought process comes from. But there are so many misconceptions about how muscle growth works and the differences between men's and women's whole bodily makeup.

So I'm going to break down these misconceptions, and I'm going to explain why lifting weights is actually one of the best things, through and through. Just like how I firmly believe in macros because it's science, lifting weights is one of the best things that you can do for your body for so many reasons. That's why I talk about it so much throughout this entire podcast, and why I fundamentally believe the foundation of strength training serves so many purposes for women in every age bracket of their life.

Whether they're 15 and maybe in sports in high school. I remember lifting my first weight when I was 13 because my mom had a home gym, but I didn't keep up with it, obviously. Or even at 20, which is an interesting age. You're still figuring it out, but you're also about to turn 21. You could turn to alcohol or you could stay in the health and fitness realm. And I've been there. I spent those years drinking and partying when I was that age.

But strength training is so important, even at that age, and even at 25 when I first started my journey, to 30, to 40. Even if you guys are 50 or 60 and you've never lifted a weight, you can still pick up a weight, start lifting, and reap the benefits of strength training. Lifting weights is the best thing you can possibly do for your body, regardless of what age you are.

First, the most important thing to understand is that increasing your muscle size requires a combination of lifting heavy weights, having high volume, and a significant calorie surplus. So in order for you to increase in muscle size and muscle mass, that requires you to lift heavy weights, to have high volume, and to have a significantly high calorie surplus. And those really are the three things I'm going to break down when it comes to the science aspect of this podcast, in addition to the hormonal differences between us and men.

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One of the factors is the hormonal differences. This is one thing my coach told me when I first started my journey and I was standing there in front of his mirror saying, I don't want to get too bulky and I don't want to look like a man. He said that women naturally have lower levels of testosterone. That hormone is primarily responsible for muscle growth and increasing muscle mass. That means that compared to men, we are less likely to gain large amounts of muscle mass.

And I could unpack this even more. There are so many women I hear from who say, oh, my husband just picks up a weight and he starts to see incredible results in like two weeks. That is because his hormonal profile is drastically different from yours. And I always hear that men are just so big, right? The ones that are truly adamant about strength training and working out, through years of doing that, they're just huge. Again, that is because their hormonal profile is drastically different from ours.

What I also need to slide in here, which some people may not fully know or understand, is that sometimes men are taking extra testosterone. They're on testosterone replacement, or they're taking steroids that help with growth hormone and testosterone.

A little off-ramp, but I even saw one of the WarriorBabes asking their coach what we thought about SARMs. It just shows that that WarriorBabe had no idea that SARMs are a type of steroid. And we don't promote that inside of WarriorBabe. I fully stand behind the idea that proper nutrition and strength training are enough for you to get the type of result that you want.

What people probably don't think about or understand is that if you see women who are overly bulky and you're afraid that you're going to look like that, that's probably because, one, they're in the bodybuilding space. In order to achieve certain goals in that sport, like going pro with the NPC, which is a federation that is known for steroid use. By the way, I competed in the OCB and I was natural. I had to take a polygraph. I had to pee in a cup, all that jazz. But those women that look that way are using performance-enhancing drugs so that they can win and achieve the optimal results that they want with their body. And sometimes the body is just way too unnatural looking and not feminine enough.

Another thing to know is that if you look at a woman who is overly jacked, you can kind of tell the difference, especially me being a professional in the space, and our coaches. We can sometimes look at people who are overly jacked and see if they're natural or not. One thing that's really easy to pinpoint is the jawline in women, and the voice getting deeper. Those are some indicators that the person may be taking steroids.

So that's another thing to keep in mind. What are you looking at that defines your term of bulky? What is drawing you to have that narrative in your mind? What picture did you see on social media? Is it just a narrative that you picked up from listening to people over time? I would just get down to the source and ask yourself: what does bulky mean to you? And then we can unpack it from there.

So I started to dive into all those things. Now I want to dive into the science of muscle growth and why women won't get bulky from lifting weights. Muscle growth is influenced by several factors. One is what I just touched on, which is hormonal differences. Testosterone plays a huge role in muscle development, and women have significantly lower levels of testosterone compared to men, which makes it that much harder for them to gain large amounts of muscle mass. Our hormonal profiles are drastically different from men's hormonal profiles.

The second thing I want to talk about is training volume and intensity. Building significant muscle mass requires one to lift heavy weights with high volume. And if you really start thinking about it, most women's strength training programs focus on moderate weights with higher repetitions. That style of training promotes muscle toning and endurance rather than bulk.

You've maybe heard me talk about the different phases one can go through on a fitness journey. Both nutrition and the type of strength training protocol we use play a factor in those different phases. One is a cut, one is maintenance, and one I like to call a build, just because of the terminology. If I say you're going to go into a bulking phase, which a lot of people say in the bodybuilding space, you're most likely going to be deterred by that when you're just trying to live a natural lifestyle. But some people who come to WarriorBabe want to build more muscle and build it fast, so we go into a building phase.

The training looks different in each of those phases. In fat loss and maintenance, it's more of what I'm talking about, focusing on moderate weights with higher repetitions. Maybe in maintenance you're going to push and challenge yourself a little bit more. But more likely than not, you're pushing moderate weight with a rep range of anywhere from 10 to 15, maybe 8 to 15. Whereas in a bulk or a build, the training volume looks different. You're really focusing on one-rep maxes. You're doing sets of three reps, five reps at a very challenging, heavy weight.

And I'm not saying you can't build muscle otherwise. Depending on the volume, you totally can. You're just going to achieve more muscle mass with high volume rather than moderate weights. With moderate weights, you're challenging yourself, but you're doing higher repetitions, which supports muscle toning, muscle definition, and decreasing body fat, because you're in an endurance rep range at that point. So you're helping with fat loss to tone out the body rather than really bulk it up.

That brings me to the third thing. One was the hormonal differences, two was the training volume and intensity, and the last thing I want to talk about scientifically is caloric intake. To gain muscle mass, you must consume more calories than you burn. And many women who lift weights still maintain a caloric deficit or a balanced intake aimed at fat loss or maintenance. So you're in those two other phases I was talking about, and you're not going to be able to get bulky because you're not consuming more calories than you burn.

If you are in the build phase, it's different. I've talked about this with Cheryl before. She came into WarriorBabe and went directly into a build phase, and I had her upwards of over 3,000 calories, clearly more than she burned on a regular basis, because I wanted her to build more muscle and build muscle fast. That's how I do it. And she was okay with understanding that she was going to gain weight. But a lot of you guys don't want to gain weight. That's not the reason you come into a fitness program, right?

But I hope this is helping you understand, one, that you're not going to get bulky, and two, if you do have the goal of building more muscle, which is ultimately going to make you more toned in the long run, you have to spend time in a build phase. You have to spend time lifting heavy weights at high volume and eating more calories than you burn. That's going to help you build more muscle. You're not going to bulk up like a man will, because of the hormones. You still don't have enough testosterone to make that happen. So even if you have the training volume, the intensity, and the caloric intake there, it's still not going to bulk you up as much as a man, because they have more testosterone than we do.

I hope that paints a picture, you guys, and helps you understand: okay, I'm not going to bulk up, because of the things I'm sharing with you right now. But also, if I want to build more muscle, I've got to trust the process of being in a build and doing all of these things, which is ultimately going to make me look more toned.

But anyway, women are in fat loss, women are in maintenance. Probably 90% of the time, the women I know who are going after a certain aesthetic look are in a calorie deficit or a balanced intake. You're not eating enough to build tons and tons of muscle. So being in a caloric deficit or at maintenance supports muscle definition without a significant size increase.

Now, I'm sure you're asking, can I still build muscle if I'm in maintenance or fat loss? Yes, you can. But it's not going to come with significant muscle growth like a build would. And a build, even for a woman, isn't going to cause a significant size increase.

Cheryl didn't. There are before and afters of Cheryl all over social media, by the way. There's a YouTube video where I talked about her whole entire journey, which is so inspiring, and I think you guys should totally go check it out. I think I brought it to the podcast too. She came in skinny fat, and I pushed her hard through a build. Actually, she went through a build two or three times. And she looks incredible now. She doesn't look too bulky, and she's never going to look too bulky, especially if we're doing it the natural way.

Okay. So now that we've completely debunked that myth, which I truly hope is completely debunked in your brain by how I just broke it down, I want to talk about the incredible benefits that lifting weights has for you as a woman, not just physically, but also mentally.

Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with the body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, WarriorBabe is here for you. At WarriorBabe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results, and results that last. Don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com/apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com/apply. All right, let's get back to the show.

Dude, lifting weights builds strength, making everyday tasks that much easier and improving your overall functional fitness. It makes it easier to do things like walking up steps, lifting your groceries, lifting your kids, and it improves your overall ability to go do yoga, go do Pilates, go do a boot camp. It improves your overall functional fitness. So it increases your strength in that aspect.

Number two, it improves your body composition. Strength training increases your muscle mass and decreases your body fat, leading to a leaner, more toned physique, which many of you want to achieve. To ultimately improve your body composition, you have to incorporate strength training. You can't rely on boot camps, on F45, on Orangetheory, on Pilates to improve your body composition. The only thing that's going to improve your body composition is strength training.

And until that's proven otherwise scientifically, that just makes sense. You're putting more resistance on your body than it has ever experienced by lifting heavier weights than it has ever experienced, and that's going to increase muscle mass. Pilates is not going to do that, because there's a ceiling you hit with Pilates resistance. F45, same thing. I think you're lifting like 10-pound weights. You may get a little more toned from decreasing body fat, but you need to increase muscle mass. And as you increase muscle mass over time, you're going to increase your BMR, and you're going to have a higher likelihood of decreasing body fat faster and easier as you continue to build more muscle, which is going to make you leaner and give you more of a toned physique.

The third thing is weight-bearing exercise. Even if you're just starting out with strength training and doing weight-bearing exercises like body weight, that, along with adding more weight and getting into 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, is so critical for bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis and fractures as you age. And especially for women who are pre-menopause, going through menopause, or post-menopause, if you can be proactive with strength training before you go through that transition of life, you're going to improve your overall bone health, which is ultimately going to make you that much stronger.

Number four, muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue does. So increasing muscle mass can boost your metabolism and aid in long-term weight management. I've talked about this so many times on recent episodes of the podcast. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn while you're sleeping, while you're sitting on your couch, while you're sitting at work during the day, compared to what the fat tissue on your body burns. So over time, as you build more muscle, that's going to continue to boost your metabolism, because you're increasing your basal metabolic rate, which is how many calories you burn at rest.

And I'm learning that you can get away with a lot of stuff when you have more muscle mass on your body. It's pretty cool. You can have the ice cream when you want it. You can have a cookie when you want it. You can get away with it the more muscle mass you have. And I know this firsthand, because I am living that experience right now in my ninth year of this journey.

Those are some of the physical aspects. But mentally, dude, this is hands down one of the things that increased my confidence and my mood. Exercise and strength training release so many endorphins that improve your mood and boost your confidence. When you go into the gym and you've never gone into the weight room before, you're proving to yourself that you can do that, and you can do it over and over and over again. And there you're building more self-confidence. By getting through your first strength training workout, you're showing yourself that you can do it, and you're developing and building confidence by doing that.

When you achieve strength goals, when you achieve pull-ups, push-ups, squats, when you lift heavier weight than you've ever lifted before, that empowers you to do more of that. At the same time, it enhances the way you see your body and gives you a more positive narrative around your body image, especially when you start seeing the results strength training can offer you.

So all in all, you guys, to recap the benefits of lifting weights for women: one, it increases your strength. Two, it improves your body composition. Three, it makes your bones that much stronger. Number four, it boosts your metabolic rate. Number five, it enhances your mood and your confidence.

And the scientific backing for this is, first, the hormonal differences between men and women. Second, the training volume and intensity. Most women focus on moderate, challenging weights with higher repetitions, which doesn't really produce a bulky result. And the other scientific factor is calorie intake. In order to really gain muscle mass, you have to consume more calories than you burn, and a lot of women are afraid to do that. So the majority of women are naturally in a caloric deficit or a maintenance phase, and that supports seeing more muscle definition on your body without significant muscle growth happening. It can happen, but it won't happen in the amounts women think of when they think, I'm going to get too bulky. It's not going to happen. That is completely debunked in this episode right now.

Lifting weights won't make you bulky, but it will make you stronger. It will make you healthier, and it will make you way, way more confident. By incorporating strength training into your routine, you can achieve a toned, lean, more defined physique and enjoy the numerous health benefits that come from that type of exercise.

So my friends, I hope that truly debunked that myth and cleared up these misconceptions about how muscle growth works and the differences between the male and female makeup of our bodies. I hope it gives you a different perspective on the topic and makes you more confident knowing that, hey, I'm going to go smash some weights, and I'm going to feel good about doing it and not have to worry about anything else.

All right. I hope you guys appreciate and enjoy this podcast. Share this specific episode with one of your friends who constantly says, I'm going to get too bulky lifting weights, and just let her listen to it. Okay. Appreciate you guys. Love you guys. I'll see you next time.

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