BREAKING THE MYTH: WHY LIFTING HEAVY WILL NOT MAKE YOU BULKY

Ladies, this article is specifically for you. Do you see those fitness models and how long and lean they look with muscles in all the right places? Here’s a secret, most of them lift HEAVY weights! I know most of us are concerned about looking “manly” or bulky, but the good news is that lifting heavy actually doesn’t cause that. It rather causes lean muscles and increased fat loss. Here’s a few reasons WHY that is and why lifting heavy is actually good for you!

You need to increase calories to get bulky

So, here’s the good news. You will not get bulky unless you are eating MORE! That’s right, in order to put on weight, whether fat or muscle, you have got to increase your caloric intake. That is how people bulk up, by increasing their calories. Large muscle doesn’t grow out of thin air (even though some bodybuilders wish it did.) So as long as you’re not over eating, you can reap the benefits of lifting heavy and NOT get bulky! Woohoooooo!!!

Weight-training helps you burn more calories for longer

Carido is known for weight loss, and it’s great, but I’d like to challenge that with lifting heavy weights as a solution too. When you have performed a 30 minute weight-based exercise, you not only burn calories during exercise itself, but your metabolism is increased for the rest of the day. In that same situation with cardio, once you are done with your 30 minute cardio exercise, you have burned all you will burn. When you have more muscle on your body, your body is automatically burning calories at a higher rate than when you don’t, and weight training increases muscle. Your body is using energy to repair the muscles you broke down during your weight training workout, and is taking your fat for that energy. So you will get longer and leaner quicker and burn more calories throughout the day then simply cardio alone.

Improves musculoskeletal strength so you can do more

This is one of my favorite reasons for lifting weights, because I like to do things and live life to the fullest! When you start lifting weights, you are making your muscles stronger, which is also good for your skeleton because you are less likely to injure your bones if your muscles are helping them move properly. There is even evidence that lifting heavy weights can improve bone density and arthritis! This is a huge advantage as we get older because it is a good way to prevent injury as our body is becoming more fragile. Also when you’re stronger, you’ll be able to do more things. For me, I can lift my children out of their car seats if they are asleep, I can paddleboard, help on our farm, move furniture around, lift heavy luggage while traveling, etc. When I am stronger physically, I am able to do more fun activities without exhaustion and be more of a help in my family.

You can shape your body how you want

Do you ever wonder how people get smaller in all the right places? There’s a fitness trend going on where ladies want to keep thick, luscious hips and have a small waist. The best way to do that is by weight training (unless you are genetically blessed with it or get plastic surgery… You do you boo!) by weight training you actually get to shape your body how you want. If you’re like me and have to work to keep muscle on your hips, then you will definitely want to focus on leg day regularly with a lot of heavy weights. Same if you want a small waist, you will want to use heavy weights for that as well and focus on a good core workout. I want to make sure that my back is always strong. You guessed it, heavy weights for that too. You are allowing for more customization with a heavy weight routine rather than a cardio or full body HIIT that just burns all over. Those work outs are great for a number of reasons, but don’t allow you to customize your body shape as much.

How to know the weight is heavy enough for you

The way you know that your weight is on point, is based on how many repetitions of an exercise you’re able to do. For instance, if you want to tone up your arms and are doing bicep curls with dumbbells, you should be able to do between eight and 10 repetitions of an exercise with the last three repetitions being very difficult and a struggle. So you should go through five or seven repetitions with somewhat of a challenge and the last three feel almost impossible. But last three are where you really get stronger and where your muscle is breaking down… So don’t quit! If that’s what you’re feeling then you know you’re at a heavy weight. If you are consistent with that, you will find in a short amount of time that you can increase weight because the three at the end are no longer a struggle. Always strive for these numbers and watch yourself get stronger over time!

I hope this is helpful during your fitness journey. I have been living by this principle since I began my journey many years ago. Do you already lift weights? Comment below with some of your favorite weight-based work outs!