Not Lifting Weights Makes You Bulky

This 63 year old woman who weighs 137lbs just deadlifted 264lbs in a drug tested competition. The average American woman in her 20s, 30s and 40s prays to God she could be under 138 pounds. Hell, the average American woman would commit murder to get under 180.

ONLY heavy weight lifting will get you to your goals. There are women I know who kept their prediabetes at bay when they were regularly lifting weights. Several of them gave up heavy lifting and dove headlong into full-blown diabetes. As far as I can tell, when they stopped training intensely, they immediately lost 20lbs of muscle/lean tissue and replaced it with that much fat.

But we hear these women tell us that if they start lifting weights, magic fairytale creatures will add mountains of muscle onto their already-bulky frames. So they stick to 5lb dumbbells, walks, and yard work, hoping it will whittle off the 50-150 excess pounds of adipose tissue. It doesn’t. It won’t. It can't. There's no evidence for such a fantasy. There's not even one success story of long-term improvement by avoiding weight lifting. 

Meanwhile, we professional coaches watch 98lb girls throw 200lbs overhead, squat heavy, and lift HARD. We observe women who start their fitness journeys between 200 and 400lbs of body weight plummet down to the 130s when they start picking up heavy weights several days per week. We all catch a news headline about a 63 year old who’s 137lbs and deadlifts 264lbs.

Bulky? NOT LIFTING makes you bulky. NOT LIFTING is precisely what makes you bulky. NOT LIFTING is all that makes you bulky.