Finally - an Article that Really Gets Down to the Nitty Gritty About Women's Fear of Bulking Up from Lifting Weights

Many women-including ones in their 40s, 50s and even older-still believe that lifting weights for fitness will bulk them up. If it were that easy, then all those young men who clang heavy dumbbells, who guzzle buckets of protein shakes every day, would have biceps the size of pumpkins.

Women not equal to men. Women have far less testosterone, the "male hormone," than men. It is this hormone that enables men to develop large muscles. Therefore, it's really silly to think that a woman is on the same playing field as a man!

Women naturally have less muscle mass to work with. Again, how does it stand to reason that a woman will bulk up from weight lifting, when it's pretty darned hard for many men to increase their muscle size? This is really something to think about.

Body image distortion. Some women have told me, "I get really big," or "I get bulky muscles." One woman went on and on about how muscular she was during her weight lifting days. By the time she was done speaking, I was picturing a grizzly bear. Then she showed me a photo of herself during her "bulked-up" days. She was no more muscled than a typical aerobics instructor.

We all know women who think they have "fat" legs, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. And there are 79-pound women who think they're overweight. So if you think weight workouts make you too brawny, consider the possibility it's all in your head.

Fat gets mistaken for muscle. Whenever I gave a body fat caliper test to a woman who claimed she bulked up easily, her body fat percentage was always at least 28 percent, and most were over 30 percent. According to the American Council on Exercise, body fat exceeding 25 percent is in the "poor" range as far as body composition, i.e., this means too much fat in the body.

In other words, the "bulk" was excess fat! But not all fat is fluffy and jiggly. Sometimes, a thigh or arm can have so much fat packed into it, that it has a harder, denser appearance, creating the illusion that it's actual muscle. It's easier for a woman to convince herself she has too much muscle, rather than too much fat.