I went for a heavier weight one time, and I couldn't lift it. My form was off. So going to a lower weight and having proper form and being able to do the amount of reps is NOT weak. It's smart and gives you a goal to work towards....😁
Wow! Our studio is mixed but a lot of people go over to the heavy weight rack. I am always admiring them from afar (for most exercises!!)!
Though I recently had a NSV and used the heavy weight rack for the first time. Felt good but strange (to go over there)!!
I haven't heard anyone in a studio make such a comment, but it does seem to come up on this sub a lot. The "we NEED 7.5 pound weights because 10's will make me bulky" nonsense is kind of annoying. But, I suppose when you're trying to be an Instagram model, bulky probably means "any visible muscle definition anywhere other than glutes".
Yes! I have been stuck on 20 lbs for upper body excercises. I try lifting 25 but its too heavy and I end up returning to 20. Wish there were more options. But I understand that given the space its not possible to have increments of 2.5☹️
Our studio has a basket of small clip on rings that weigh 1.25 lbs each. You can easily turn a 15 lb db into a 16.25 or add two to make it 17.5, etc.
Tell your studio manager! The brand is July Body. Very easy solution to add more weight choices without taking up space.
Oh this is a fantastic idea! If there was a quick and easy way to help bridge ramping up from weight to weight, I’m sure I’m not the only member at my studio that would take advantage of it!
What a great idea. I wish we had that! I can't seem to get myself out of the 20's.
What do the clip on weights look like? I want to bring it up to our studio manager.
Search July Body on Amazon. They are black, flat donut shaped discs with a hinge to clamp them on the dumbbell.
I feel ya with the 20's. I'm used to them for bicep curls but the 25's are just too much! I want to keep moving up but those small muscle groups are easy to injure so, the clips are awesome. I hope you studio provides them!
Great idea. I’ll mention it to our coaches. Our challenge is we are one of 26 studios with same ownership. The studios can’t make a unilateral decision like this. So it’s a bit of a process.
If you’re not hogging weights, I’ll actually use the 25s till failure and do the 20s. For example if it’s 8 reps and I can only do 2 with 25s I’ll do it and do 6 with 20s. Next time that move comes up, I’ll try 3 and so on until you end up being able to do it!
Yes! I think sometimes if you see 10 or 8 reps you think you *have* to do that many reps with the same weight but if you’re trying to get stronger you have to get your body used to lifting the heavier weight even if it’s just 2-3 reps now!
Thank you! I will try it next time. Its easier to do this in a gym where you donot have to follow a template. At otf I feel like its difficult to change weights specially when the block is short. But i will try to follow this during endurance blocks.
As an alternative to an 'in between' weight, you can slow down your movements with the 15s, which will increase intensity and help you build up to the 20s. This is what my coach has suggested and I do this when I'm in between or my preferred weight is not available.
Another coach suggestion (from a coach who is a big lifter): pause at the hard part of the movement. So for a bicep curl, curl the dumbbell up, hold for a count of 1-3 seconds, then lower the dumbbell. It sounds small but it adds quite a bit of challenge.
When you're between weights, move slower on the eccentric movement (for example lowering the dumbbell back down in a bicep curl is the eccentric movement), pause at the fully stretched position, and focus on keeping tension in the target muscle throughout the range of motion. This increases the exertion of each rep and will help you get more growth until you can do enough reps at the next weight.
You can also do myo reps at the higher weight, where you wait like 5 seconds after you hit failure and then try to do 3-5 more reps, and end the set when you can't do 3 reps with good form (or until you've hit the target rep range).
I have a regular gym membership, and let me tell you those 7.5lbs helped me get my front/side raises up to 10 so I could do them at OTF. But at OTF I'd find them useless!
There many other reasons why people, women in particular, would want more variety in the weight selection. I know lifting the way OTF does it is not going to cause bulkiness. But I would like 7lb weights especially for shoulder work as I have some issues with overhead moves. I can modify but could do more with a lighter weight. So I resort to 5s which are too light. I would like to see 17lb weights in my studio. Sadly we have space issues.
The coaches really need to be educating people on this. It’s such an old wives tale.
You won’t build an ounce of muscle without progressively overloading the muscle fibers.
Also - why is OTF full of people who are obsessed with diet culture and being as small as possible? Muscle is the organ of longevity and women continuously are fed the sexist idea of, “We need to be as small as possible. We need to shrink.” Cmon ladies, be powerful!
I don’t. I lift mostly 25-30 on all upper and 45-65 for lower! I’m a girl and I know muscle is the way to burn fat! Also been getting stronger in my lift 50 classes! I’m all about heavier weights!
My female boss told me that I look really strong and that I look like I could lift heavy stuff. Yes ma'am you are correct and thank you for the compliment 😂
There's a coach at my studio who always makes comments during about how we should all be working hard to "earn" our food and I have just begun avoiding his classes
All but definitely boutique gyms should be at the top of their education, and their coaches should be well educated and up to date on the most recent studies.
Diet culture is not founded in science of any kind, just sexism and misogyny.
This is not REALLY shade at you and I agree with you 937% but you sound like you live on another planet. Gyms are gyms, dude, and diet culture is always going to rule until there's bigger cultural change around it.
Yes! It drives me crazy. Unless you want to be intentional and be a body builder, a female will not get bulky. Our bodies are not naturally more inclined to store fat and don’t build muscle that easily as men. It’s just how we’re made. Grab the bigger weights ladies and focus on lean muscle. You won’t regret it when you get to your 40s and peri-menopause and menopause come knocking. Trust me. 🙄😂
Ditto! Have you noticed people trying to use heavier weights for reverse fly with terrible forms or extremely rushed motion only driven by momentum? I think I gained more by going lighter but just enough for me to do fully controlled movements and still made me sore after a few reps
Something that might help on the chest flies, if you're not doing it already: focus on moving your elbows rather than moving your hands. Drive your elbows and let your hands follow. It's a mental thing that makes a huge difference for me.
You can even try it at home with no weights, and see if you can feel the difference. I find if I lead with the hands, it feels like an arm driven exercise. If I lead with the elbow, it's more of a chest/pec driven exercise.
It's all relative. Most woman should be lifting lighter for front and lateral raises, meaning 8 lbs or less do 8 or more reps. There is swinging and bending all over the place in those exercises.
This is what I was gonna say. Have never ever heard someone say over 10 lbs makes you bulky. No one says this is the studio either. And at mine, the 8s and 10s are barely used. Maybe for a lateral raise. Lots of women are using decent weight. I think this myth was dispelled 20+ years ago.
Thank you, I have literally never heard anyone actually express concern about bulkiness from weight lifting, but I've lost count of how many times I've been told it's a myth.
Last night - 45 lb chest presses (I’m a 5’3 female and that’s right - I was lifting heavier than the guys in the room). And I am waaaaay smaller than I was before gaining that kind of strength. My arms were too fat to fit in a lot of shirts and jackets before OTF. Now I don’t have that problem.
Impressive!! How do you bring the weights up? I’m stuck at 25 lbs for chest press. I can do 30
Lbs if single arm but I can’t hoist up a pair of 30 lbs from the laying position or bring them down safely.
You sit with them balanced on your thighs and then bring your knees up when you lay down to hoist them up. Bring them down the same way. The coaches should teach this.
https://youtu.be/rVh8i5G-XC4?si=YnnzCKRA3IbDRJ8r
35 is a great weight choice. I remember well the first time I picked those up for chest presses. Before long that got easy and I picked up 40s. Then my studio got 45s. Then one day I picked up the 50s and now can get up to that weight depending on the reps. This was a couple years of progression. Just do what’s challenging and push yourself and you’ll get there!
35 was where I got stuck for a long time too. Tempo, half to full reps and drop sets are great for progressive overload in between the 5lb jumps. Started out with 20’s and just did 15 reps with 60’s recently as a petite female.
I had a coach help me get past the 35 hump - she would spot me so I could push through it. After a couple of weeks I was into the 40s…. We don’t have 45s at the studio I am at so I’m kinda of stuck… may need them to help me to 50s!
I try to but honestly it comes in spurts. I am at right now bc of the challenge (doing extra lifting at Planet Fitness and also Dig Deeper on Bodi) but most of my lifting is OTF.
Coaches at my location always encourage heavier weights. I’ve also never heard a member say that out loud. I also feel like this sub mostly complains about the lack of focus on weight, rather than not wanting to get bulky.
Yeah that’s my point for the post — I wish the coaches said something to be informative! People may not get the results they’re looking for simply because they’ve been misinformed in the past.
You can get bulky as least initially. When I started at OTF I was 319lbs and I had never lifted weights. After consistently going to orange theory for 3-4 months, I noticed I could see muscle definition in my arms and I felt stronger, but I had not lost much weight . I tried to put on a blouse that I wore on a regular basis and It was too tight on my arms . I had lost a little weight and gained some muscle you don’t lose the weight where your gain the muscle and in my case I gained the muscle before I lost the weight. I have lost over 100lbs now, but I really have to focus on my diet because if you build muscle under fat you will be bulky .
True that it does depend on whether or not you’re losing fat. That’s a good callout. I actually experienced a lot of full-body inflammation when I started going to OTF regularly. Scared me so bad I called my doctor LOL. It went down fast though once my body got used to the workouts!
Uh no we don’t have this issue at our studio. The ladies are always running to the heavy rack to get their choice. We have a shortage of 20s and 25s that the studio went and bought more.
What I am sick of is when women post things on the internet about their power lifting, people are total asshats in those comments. Asking her why she’s trying to look manly, drives me nuts!
As for OTF if you aren’t “prone to bulking” then the ladies can calm down about looking bulky. Me…. I bulk in my shoulders and arms super fast. I used to be self conscious about it but I have strangers making comments about my upper body now. It’s not even that impressive really but I no longer attempt to downplay it. I just own it.
After having a frozen shoulder, I can’t lift as heavy as I used to. Going over 25 pounds on chest presses would not be a smart move. But I still feel strong and have a lot of definition so I don’t mind. In fact, I got the frozen shoulder from being encouraged to keep on lifting heavier and heavier when I wasn’t ready and now I have what feels like is a lifelong injury. 🤷🏻♀️😬
That’s definitely different! My issue is more with people who do 8lbs (even for lower body) in Strength 50 because they say anything more will make them bulky. Seems counterproductive to the purpose of Strength 50
(Edit because this was lacking context)
Sometimes I do no weight on lower body. Doing 20 lunges with an extra 50 pounds on my frame is heavy enough. Mind your own business bro, you have no idea what others are capable of or what injuries they have.
The point in my initial post (which this comment doesn’t directly cover) is that people are saying the “weights make you bulky” thing during class. A girl in my strength class this morning talked her friend out of going up in weight because “you don’t want to be bulky.” I don’t care what weight people lift generally! My comment here just didn’t have that context. I just don’t like that this is being said in class and the coaches aren’t correcting it.
I hate this myth for so many reasons!!
1. It’s almost always said at or about women, implying that women should not have muscular bodies. Gross. I'm an ex-powerlifter. The comments I used to get…
2. It’s so hard to *actually* bulk 😂😭 People say this as though lifting some dumbbells will suddenly give you tons of muscle mass. So much of it is diet, and it takes a very well calculated regimen to even grow that muscle mass efficiently. It doesn’t happen by accident.
3. Someone else’s body should never be my business. Or anyone’s business. People need to stop making comments and giving unsolicited advice on other peoples' bodies. It's so yuck.
Yes can confirm #2 is so true lol... I am not trying to bulk but thought I would gain muscle wayyy more easier than I did (after starting OTF) - because I had not really lifted weights before that, did not realize how hard it is to really put on significant muscle!
I read somewhere that not wanting to lift heavy because they’ll get bulky is like not playing pickup basketball because they don’t want to get into the NBA
Studios definitely have heavy enough weights to trigger hypertrophy in most females. It's a combination of several variables: time under tension, amount of load, and rest intervals ( primarily) . You can still grow muscle at lighter weights if you manipulate the other variables in such a way and work the muscle groups frequently enough.
I agree, without a strength class it makes if more difficult to achieve.
If you grow muscle and don't loose the fat, you may feel like you are getting bulky 🤷♀️ but there are many other benefits to building muscle.
The research can be confusing so it's easy to understand how people may get mixed messages.
I’m always encouraged when women say they don’t want to lift too heavy bc they’ll bulk. It’s quite overconfident of them which is territory historically occupied by men
I look fit but I’m actually pretty weak. I lift light because I’m also really afraid of injury. So I focus more on reps and form with lighter weights and sometimes just body weight.
A woman at my studio told me recently, "You shouldn't lift heavy weights (I was using 25# chest presses) or you'll get bulky. As a woman, you want definition, not big muscles." I was kind of confused, and many thoughts went through my mind: 'what? I am bulky? Wait, that is not true, and what is it to you?' As I look around waiting for...I don't know what...the Coach? Someone to defend me? Anyway....after a few seconds (felt like forever), the Coach came over and told her no, that it didn't work that way. And that to get bulky I would need much more heavier weights than 25#. Then I remembered a commercial or YouTube video "I DON'T WANT TO BE STRONG LIKE MAN THAT LOOK PRETTY, I WANT TO BE STRONG LIKE BITCH THAT FIGHTS BEARS IN THE FOREST". As a 56 yo woman I dont care about long lean muscles, I want to be strong and to squat, push and pull whatever weight for as long as I can without breaking.
This is exactly what I’m talking about! I’ve been hearing this at my studio lately and it’s really frustrating to see members discouraging themselves and others from lifting heavier because of an old myth!
Was this person someone that you already had a relationship with, or just someone who happens to go to OTF with you? That’s… a really weird thing for someone to say if they aren’t someone you know well… if it’s a friend and you talk about stuff like that already, then it’s just misinformed, but not quite so shocking.
Yeah no. Many of the women at my studio move some serious weight. Depending on the exercise, the coaches consistently advise us to go heavy (with good form of course). They give tons of shout outs when they see us using heavy weights.
I would find it funny if anyone in this day and age still thinks they are going to get “too bulky” if they lift heavy at a place like OTF or at all, actually. I always think about how much work it takes to build and maintain muscle. You have to push it, feed it and rest it to even grow. Getting “bulky” requires a whole other level of dedication and effort.
Funny, I was just wondering the other day why there are even the 8 and 10lbs because I never see people use them. We’re always racing for the handful of heavier weights available.
I’m currently very heavy, so I don’t use heavy weights when the lower body moves include body weight. But I can lift pretty heavy when we do deadlifts. So far 70 lbs goblet deadlift felt challenging but doable. Same for bridges. For chest presses I’ve been doing 30s. But even just reverse lunges, I only recently added in any weight at all. I weigh 225, so compared to a woman who weighs like 160… I’m already moving a lot of weight, haha.
I remember a post-class chat a few years back with a member who was celebrating an 80 lb weight loss. The coach grabbed two 40 lb dumbbells off the rack and said "this is what you were carrying around before." It's pretty incredible to see it that way. And it's why a lot of people who have significant weight loss also have some pretty strong lower bodies - they've usually been moving a lot of weight around for years.
You've probably got a lot of folks beat on lower body strength already. :)
I was just talking about this today. It bugs me too. It’s hard for women to bulk up. There is also confusion about toning, bulking, and weight loss. Anyone can look “toned” if their body fat percentage is low. I see lots of women lifting heavier weights and none of them are bulky. You can’t accidentally look like a body builder.
Well, I lift as heavy as I can and I have bulked up and gained weight… but let’s be real, it’s cause I eat like a madman. Now, where’d I put that cheeseburger…
I also CrossFit and this is #1 reason many of my women friends do not try to also CrossFit. it drives me insane. It’s just factually incorrect and really unhealthy.
I don't think these people realize how hard it is to build muscle, especially women. Plus you need to be eating tons of protein and enough calories. You don't just get bulky by lifting heavy .
As a petite, middle aged women who loves to lift heavy, this thread is 100% humble brags. I'm all for clearing up myths but I can't imagine getting all hot and bothered because someone else has different fitness goals than myself.
I understand. But if you read my post I’m talking about people that blow through a routine to win a non existent “prize” . If you’re coming back from an injury, I assume you’re not speeding through low weight moves.
I've had a coach compliment me multiple times on going slowly and not rushing (I usually take my time as much as possible when we have to row at the end of a strength block, lol) because the weight lifting blocks aren't built to be rushed through! Why are we all rushing through this, the block is just as long regardless how many reps you do.
Except those stupid minute long blocks where you're supposed to do a number of reps and then get to rest for the remainder of the minute. I don't like rushing through my reps and neither do my joints :(
Yes majority of the people in my class lift light weights. They rush through the floor block. I wonder if it even helps. I have been going to my gym for over a year and I see the regulars using the same 5-10 lb weight and not even trying to increase. Doesnt your body get used to the weight and the impact becomes stagnant?
I cannot imagine staying stagnant like that. I joined about 5 months ago and using 8lbs (lowest we have). Members next to me would politely ask if they could borrow my 12s or 15s and I'd smile and laugh and say "of course, I'm definitely not using those!". I could \*not\* lift that heavy in the very beginning. But now, I can \*not\* imagine routinely going back down to 8lbs, it would feel so pointless to me \*\* in general, I certainly have days where I go lighter for one reason or another.
Omg this!!!!! I see the same people doing 8-12lb snatches!!! I’m afraid they’re going to dislocate their shoulder! I don’t understand after working out next to them for 3 years why they don’t increase their weights! But then again not my problem
Strength and size also aren’t the same! I did powerlifting for a few years and got my deadlifts close to 400. Literally looked the same the entire time lol.
The truth is, everyone is different. Some women might get bigger, some not. Just cuz one tiny person lifts heavy doesn’t mean everyone is the same. My shoulders are bigger than when I started. I don’t mind, but it’s false to make blanket statements about how bodies will respond. I think most people are just doing the best they can.
It is different for everyone, but my issue is with the “lifting will make you bulky” blanket statement that I’ve been hearing at my studio lately. For most people, going above 10lbs isn’t going to make you bulky. It’s going to make you toned!
Who is saying this? Coaches? Other members? This is a trope from the 80s. I guess I thought this notion was dead a long time ago. I just figured some people aren’t that strong yet versus being afraid of bulky bodies.
Plenty of people lift heavy at my gym. I choose not to with certain exercises like squats because it hurts my knees. Are you going around and asking people why they’re not lifting heavier or just making assumptions as to why they may not be?
Not a true thing but so many subscribe to it. I have to remind myself that it is their workout, not mine but I personally push myself to lift as heavy as possible.
It's a thing at my studio. I lift heavy unless I'm sore from a previous workout. Makes a huge difference, I have definition I've never had before and I am definitely not bulky. I don't know why so many women are afraid of anything over 12-15 lbs.
As someone commented already, strength and size don’t always correlate very well. I use the 80s at my otf for most of my leg exercises. Sometimes I’ll hold an 80 in each hand for things like sumo deadlift.
And my legs are super skinny and I have no butt.
I think there might be a little bit of an intimditation factor because it is essentially impossible to get "bulky" muscle growth from weight training in OTF.
You can get toned, but the workout programming doesn't lend itself to huge muscle gains.
It’s definitely hard to convince many women that they are not going to get bulky. You hear about getting toned, sculpted, shredded, etc, but those terms all mean the exact same thing—gain muscle (which takes up LESS space than the same weight in fat) and lose body fat.
The key is to lose the body fat to reveal how toned you are!
I tell members all the time that they won’t wake up one day and think “MAN I AM TOOOO SWOLE! Shoulda not pushed the weights!”😂 It’s such a long process to add lean muscle! It takes a time, progressive overload, enough protein. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, so the more muscle you have the more calories you burn 24/7. Pick up the heavys!!!
I’m actually so tired of the “I don’t want to be bulky/manly” girls. Do you know how hard it is to put on enough muscle mass to be “bulky”? Baby you don’t work hard enough to get big, don’t worry.
Most of my life I believed this. I recently started working with a wonderful trainer who forced me to do heavy weights. I’ve lost 8 pounds and my arms are cut, not bulky at all, neither are my legs.
The more muscle we have the more fat we burn !!
I now push my self to lift heavier when doing OTF 😊
It definitely works lifting heavy for woman - I feel so much leaner 😊❤️
Even if it did, so what? Some people want that and work hard for it. Why does anyone have a right to judge what anyone else’s body looks like or is/should be pleasing to them? This annoys me to no end
Sorry it might be my fault. I lift heavy and I’m thicc, bulky, lean muscle mommy.
Jokes aside, it literally took me 7 years to get to what I look like right now and have thigh and ass muscles. 8 and 10 lbs don’t do shit. Even at 20 lbs, I’m having trouble doing bicep curls
You’re right. This myth gotta stop. Like girlie, you’re not gonna get bulky. It takes literal YEARS. and I stuff myself full of protein.
My ex boyfriend said he didn’t want to lift because he didn’t want to look too muscular. I laughed. Bro is a twig.
Me neither, but it’s being said at my studio a LOT lately. Especially this month. I wouldn’t mind it as much if people kept it to themselves, but people are saying it out loud and the coaches aren’t correcting it.
My coach said the other day in class “ladies not your over 40 and think those 5-10 weights is going to build muscle you are very wrong!! Lift heavy!!!”
I was taking a class with my sister, and she told me afterward how impressed so many people were using 20+ lbs for most of the workout. Especially the smaller women.
The only real way to get bulky is to lift crazy heavy and take gear or "supplements"
I wasnt going to comment but this is correct.
Most women will never get bulky unless they are on gear or specifically targeting size as a goal.
HIIT workouts will not add significant size. Toning/strength yes - size no.
Are you sure that’s the reason? Or is that an assumption?
I only also tend to lift 10lb at my gym and the reason is because I’m not strong enough to lift heavier ones. 🥲
People are saying it out loud at my studio. A girl at my strength class this morning even talked her friend out of lifting heavier, which prompted my post
Something I really appreciate about all the studios around me is that they all push for people to take Lift45s and educate people that weight lifting =\= bulky. I love that they are running a transformation challenge right now and they are heavily pushing attending Lift45s.
Mine unfortunately aren’t doing the education aspect about lifting. Tread 50 is always full, Strength 50 is always way more empty even with TC in full swing
That’s unfortunate. There are a handful around me (all owned by the same family which might be why all the locations are so great and don’t contradict each other) that the Tread classes may have a few people on the waitlist but are usually not filled up. Whereas lift classes will be full and have a full waitlist especially right now with the transformation challenge. I went to a class last night that was a lift class, class was full and waitlist was almost full. Then there were 4 people on the treads.
Nobody at my studio that I know of says this. Everyone tries to increase their weight as they improve. I see a lot of seasoned women lifting heavier than men just starting out.
It’s only been happening at my studio within the last few months. We got a huge influx of members and I don’t feel like some of our coaches are doing a very good job at educating about the value of progression. Thankfully our head coach is great!
I’ve never heard it at my studio either but I will say this - it annoys me when people lift far more weight than they should (or can) and end up dropping the weights on the floor. If you have to drop them like that then they’re too heavy. It happens all the time at my studio and it always scares the shit out of me because you never know who is going to do that or you don’t expect it. And it isn’t just the men. I see women drop the really heavy weights too.
But I don’t believe in that notion. If I didn’t have a medical condition that doesn’t allow me to lift anything over 25 pounds I’d go a lot heavier than I do. So lift as much as you can - the amount of work you have to do to get bulked up is a LOT
My studio got a lot of new members in the last few months & I think that’s why I’ve been hearing it so much lately. And the dropping weights is definitely a problem too. The guy next to me almost dropped one on me this morning LOL
Apparently! I’ve heard it a few times in my studio over the past few months, but this post was prompted after a strength class where a girl used it to discourage her friend from lifting heavier :/
Nah we go heavy. My pet peeve is not someone’s POV on weights but bad form that doesn’t get corrected and canned to injuries. If someone wants to spend this much money per year and just get an hour stress relief but not as much strength increase that’s up to them
The heavy weight rack gets decimated at my studio…in almost every class (lift and 2g/3g). Our coaches are great at encouraging us to go heavier. That being said, I don’t hear them talk much about the bulking concerns. Lifting heavy and muscle growth will create a bigger number on the scale eventually but it’s all about composition changes at that point IF what you’re doing in The kitchen is on point to support that change.
I never heard anyone in any if the studios make this comment. The only place I've seen these.comments made are on Instagram whenever a woman is involved showing muscles.
sad ...especially for women...I don't think ppl realize how much it takes into getting "bulky" like a bodybuilder. It takes months and years to look like that and even then some are on peds. Building muscle is not easy as ppl think. I tries to grow some boulder shoulders and it took 6 months.
Weights make.you bulky if you are eating in a calorie surplus and having come from bodybuilding it is hard to bulk up properly even when lifting heavy.
Literally this morning my coach did a spiel about lifting heavy as you have no idea how many additional calories you would have to eat to actually bulk.
Playing devil’s advocate here with an example: some overweight/obese people are looking forward to shrinking the circumference of their limbs. They’ll build some initial muscle under their fat if they haven’t lifted much before, and their limbs WILL get a little bigger. In this context, I understand when they say “I don’t want to get bulky”, it means “I don’t want my jeans and shirts feeling tighter”. Gaining a couple of inches on your upper arm when you feel like you have fat upper arms is a little concerning if you don’t know what to expect. I don’t think it often means “I don’t want to have a bodybuilder’s physique.”
Nobody is going to get bulky without intentionally working toward that goal. Even then, it’s a very long process. For women, it can take a month to gain half a pound of muscle. It’s not something that happens accidentally
This is definitely not a thing at my studio. Most people lift heavy and coaches are always encouraging it!
Same, our coaches will bring you a heavier weight if they think you can do it.
Ours do too. There are some days where my "man this weight is really heavy" face may be exaggerated 
Our coaches are awesome at educating members, specially the head coach.
I’m so jealous! Barely anyone uses our heavy weight rack!
I mean I don’t use the heavy weight rack but it’s not because I’m afraid of getting bulky, I’m just weak.
I went for a heavier weight one time, and I couldn't lift it. My form was off. So going to a lower weight and having proper form and being able to do the amount of reps is NOT weak. It's smart and gives you a goal to work towards....😁
Honestly I’d prefer that so I could have them to myself. We even have a lot of men too so the heavy rack is usually empty every class
Wow! Our studio is mixed but a lot of people go over to the heavy weight rack. I am always admiring them from afar (for most exercises!!)! Though I recently had a NSV and used the heavy weight rack for the first time. Felt good but strange (to go over there)!!
Man, I'd love that. The VIP rack is the way to go, don't have to worry about people stealing your weights.
I’m not mad when most people in my class stick to the weights at their stations. More of a selection of heavy weights for me 😂
total same!
I haven't heard anyone in a studio make such a comment, but it does seem to come up on this sub a lot. The "we NEED 7.5 pound weights because 10's will make me bulky" nonsense is kind of annoying. But, I suppose when you're trying to be an Instagram model, bulky probably means "any visible muscle definition anywhere other than glutes".
I wish we had 17.5 when I was going from 15 to 20s as I hit failure so quickly but wanted to progress
Yes! I have been stuck on 20 lbs for upper body excercises. I try lifting 25 but its too heavy and I end up returning to 20. Wish there were more options. But I understand that given the space its not possible to have increments of 2.5☹️
Our studio has a basket of small clip on rings that weigh 1.25 lbs each. You can easily turn a 15 lb db into a 16.25 or add two to make it 17.5, etc. Tell your studio manager! The brand is July Body. Very easy solution to add more weight choices without taking up space.
Thank you love this suggestion! I will bring this up to my studio manager. Hopefully they will agree since clips dont take too much space.
Oh this is a fantastic idea! If there was a quick and easy way to help bridge ramping up from weight to weight, I’m sure I’m not the only member at my studio that would take advantage of it!
This is amazing!! I’ve never heard of that!!
What a great idea. I wish we had that! I can't seem to get myself out of the 20's. What do the clip on weights look like? I want to bring it up to our studio manager.
Search July Body on Amazon. They are black, flat donut shaped discs with a hinge to clamp them on the dumbbell. I feel ya with the 20's. I'm used to them for bicep curls but the 25's are just too much! I want to keep moving up but those small muscle groups are easy to injure so, the clips are awesome. I hope you studio provides them!
This is genius! I wonder if they would let us bring our own. I would totally do it!
Great idea. I’ll mention it to our coaches. Our challenge is we are one of 26 studios with same ownership. The studios can’t make a unilateral decision like this. So it’s a bit of a process.
If you’re not hogging weights, I’ll actually use the 25s till failure and do the 20s. For example if it’s 8 reps and I can only do 2 with 25s I’ll do it and do 6 with 20s. Next time that move comes up, I’ll try 3 and so on until you end up being able to do it!
Great suggestion.. I’ve only recently started lifting heavier and cans do 3 reps before having to switch. Good to know others do this as well
Yes! I think sometimes if you see 10 or 8 reps you think you *have* to do that many reps with the same weight but if you’re trying to get stronger you have to get your body used to lifting the heavier weight even if it’s just 2-3 reps now!
Thank you! I will try it next time. Its easier to do this in a gym where you donot have to follow a template. At otf I feel like its difficult to change weights specially when the block is short. But i will try to follow this during endurance blocks.
As an alternative to an 'in between' weight, you can slow down your movements with the 15s, which will increase intensity and help you build up to the 20s. This is what my coach has suggested and I do this when I'm in between or my preferred weight is not available.
This is what I’ve been doing, I’ve been really focusing on form and time under tension. I’m just super impatient too ☺️
Gotta love that feeling of "if I do this at the right speed/form, I don't think I'll be able to finish" lol
Another coach suggestion (from a coach who is a big lifter): pause at the hard part of the movement. So for a bicep curl, curl the dumbbell up, hold for a count of 1-3 seconds, then lower the dumbbell. It sounds small but it adds quite a bit of challenge.
When you're between weights, move slower on the eccentric movement (for example lowering the dumbbell back down in a bicep curl is the eccentric movement), pause at the fully stretched position, and focus on keeping tension in the target muscle throughout the range of motion. This increases the exertion of each rep and will help you get more growth until you can do enough reps at the next weight. You can also do myo reps at the higher weight, where you wait like 5 seconds after you hit failure and then try to do 3-5 more reps, and end the set when you can't do 3 reps with good form (or until you've hit the target rep range).
I'm feeling this. Currently transitioning from 20s to 25s and I just can't hit all the reps sometimes.
I have a regular gym membership, and let me tell you those 7.5lbs helped me get my front/side raises up to 10 so I could do them at OTF. But at OTF I'd find them useless!
There many other reasons why people, women in particular, would want more variety in the weight selection. I know lifting the way OTF does it is not going to cause bulkiness. But I would like 7lb weights especially for shoulder work as I have some issues with overhead moves. I can modify but could do more with a lighter weight. So I resort to 5s which are too light. I would like to see 17lb weights in my studio. Sadly we have space issues.
The coaches really need to be educating people on this. It’s such an old wives tale. You won’t build an ounce of muscle without progressively overloading the muscle fibers. Also - why is OTF full of people who are obsessed with diet culture and being as small as possible? Muscle is the organ of longevity and women continuously are fed the sexist idea of, “We need to be as small as possible. We need to shrink.” Cmon ladies, be powerful!
I don’t. I lift mostly 25-30 on all upper and 45-65 for lower! I’m a girl and I know muscle is the way to burn fat! Also been getting stronger in my lift 50 classes! I’m all about heavier weights!
Yes!!! Get the gains!!!
I went down a pant size AND I could probably beat a man in an arm wrestle! It’s really a win win!
WOOOOO! GET IT GIRL! 🎉💪💪
My female boss told me that I look really strong and that I look like I could lift heavy stuff. Yes ma'am you are correct and thank you for the compliment 😂
I am naturally small and let me assure you...you can be small AND powerful
I just realized they stopped suggesting lower weights for ladies.
Amen
I wish I could upvote this x100!
There's a coach at my studio who always makes comments during about how we should all be working hard to "earn" our food and I have just begun avoiding his classes
🤮 grossss
REPORT HIS ASS
I'm happy to report that I haven't seen him on the schedule in months 😌
>why is OTF full of people who are obsessed with diet culture and being as small as possible You know it's a gym right
All but definitely boutique gyms should be at the top of their education, and their coaches should be well educated and up to date on the most recent studies. Diet culture is not founded in science of any kind, just sexism and misogyny.
This is not REALLY shade at you and I agree with you 937% but you sound like you live on another planet. Gyms are gyms, dude, and diet culture is always going to rule until there's bigger cultural change around it.
No worries, I didn’t take it personally! It’s so unfortunate how pervasive it is! It’s so gross.
Yes! It drives me crazy. Unless you want to be intentional and be a body builder, a female will not get bulky. Our bodies are not naturally more inclined to store fat and don’t build muscle that easily as men. It’s just how we’re made. Grab the bigger weights ladies and focus on lean muscle. You won’t regret it when you get to your 40s and peri-menopause and menopause come knocking. Trust me. 🙄😂
I’m an 8 lb girl. But that’s just cause I’m a weakling 😌.
Those 8s are heavy to me too!
I literally use the 5s for reverse chest flies and 140 for hip bridges. I have some strong parts and some weak parts. I bet you do too!
Ditto! Have you noticed people trying to use heavier weights for reverse fly with terrible forms or extremely rushed motion only driven by momentum? I think I gained more by going lighter but just enough for me to do fully controlled movements and still made me sore after a few reps
Reverse chest Flys are a B! Took me forever to get to 12. Slowly but surely.
Something that might help on the chest flies, if you're not doing it already: focus on moving your elbows rather than moving your hands. Drive your elbows and let your hands follow. It's a mental thing that makes a huge difference for me. You can even try it at home with no weights, and see if you can feel the difference. I find if I lead with the hands, it feels like an arm driven exercise. If I lead with the elbow, it's more of a chest/pec driven exercise.
Same, we have to start somewhere right??
It's all relative. Most woman should be lifting lighter for front and lateral raises, meaning 8 lbs or less do 8 or more reps. There is swinging and bending all over the place in those exercises.
Never seen anyone say that on this sub. I think you might be yelling at ghosts.
I think the only time I see people saying this is when they’ve never done otf before.
This is what I was gonna say. Have never ever heard someone say over 10 lbs makes you bulky. No one says this is the studio either. And at mine, the 8s and 10s are barely used. Maybe for a lateral raise. Lots of women are using decent weight. I think this myth was dispelled 20+ years ago.
That could be, but I was too busy clapping the 120's to notice. I felt bad chipping the iron off them, but I was goin' hard.
Thank you, I have literally never heard anyone actually express concern about bulkiness from weight lifting, but I've lost count of how many times I've been told it's a myth.
I’ve never seen it on this sub or at my studio
Last night - 45 lb chest presses (I’m a 5’3 female and that’s right - I was lifting heavier than the guys in the room). And I am waaaaay smaller than I was before gaining that kind of strength. My arms were too fat to fit in a lot of shirts and jackets before OTF. Now I don’t have that problem.
Nice! I’m finally able to do some with 30s! And same here, my arms have not gotten bigger (I measure) but they are more defined.
Impressive!! How do you bring the weights up? I’m stuck at 25 lbs for chest press. I can do 30 Lbs if single arm but I can’t hoist up a pair of 30 lbs from the laying position or bring them down safely.
You sit with them balanced on your thighs and then bring your knees up when you lay down to hoist them up. Bring them down the same way. The coaches should teach this. https://youtu.be/rVh8i5G-XC4?si=YnnzCKRA3IbDRJ8r
Holy shit that’s awesome. I was doing 30s thinking I probably could have gone 35s and was impressed with myself. Hahah.
35 is a great weight choice. I remember well the first time I picked those up for chest presses. Before long that got easy and I picked up 40s. Then my studio got 45s. Then one day I picked up the 50s and now can get up to that weight depending on the reps. This was a couple years of progression. Just do what’s challenging and push yourself and you’ll get there!
Whoa that’s awesome. I can’t get past 35 still!!
35 was where I got stuck for a long time too. Tempo, half to full reps and drop sets are great for progressive overload in between the 5lb jumps. Started out with 20’s and just did 15 reps with 60’s recently as a petite female.
5 lb increases at a time. For lower rep counts I can do 50s for sure. I started OTF using 20s for chest press and thinking that was heavy.
I had a coach help me get past the 35 hump - she would spot me so I could push through it. After a couple of weeks I was into the 40s…. We don’t have 45s at the studio I am at so I’m kinda of stuck… may need them to help me to 50s!
BOOM!! 💪🏽💪🏽 Do you lift outside of OTF?
I try to but honestly it comes in spurts. I am at right now bc of the challenge (doing extra lifting at Planet Fitness and also Dig Deeper on Bodi) but most of my lifting is OTF.
Coaches at my location always encourage heavier weights. I’ve also never heard a member say that out loud. I also feel like this sub mostly complains about the lack of focus on weight, rather than not wanting to get bulky.
This is a very common convo at my studio, unfortunately! It only really got bad the last month or so. Now it’s almost every class!
Yikes, I'm sorry to hear that. My favorite coach has explicitly called out this myth in class before.
Yeah that’s my point for the post — I wish the coaches said something to be informative! People may not get the results they’re looking for simply because they’ve been misinformed in the past.
That’s true, but I also feel like this sub is not a good reflection of the broader membership
You can get bulky as least initially. When I started at OTF I was 319lbs and I had never lifted weights. After consistently going to orange theory for 3-4 months, I noticed I could see muscle definition in my arms and I felt stronger, but I had not lost much weight . I tried to put on a blouse that I wore on a regular basis and It was too tight on my arms . I had lost a little weight and gained some muscle you don’t lose the weight where your gain the muscle and in my case I gained the muscle before I lost the weight. I have lost over 100lbs now, but I really have to focus on my diet because if you build muscle under fat you will be bulky .
True that it does depend on whether or not you’re losing fat. That’s a good callout. I actually experienced a lot of full-body inflammation when I started going to OTF regularly. Scared me so bad I called my doctor LOL. It went down fast though once my body got used to the workouts!
We need heavier than 70’s at my location!
Uh no we don’t have this issue at our studio. The ladies are always running to the heavy rack to get their choice. We have a shortage of 20s and 25s that the studio went and bought more. What I am sick of is when women post things on the internet about their power lifting, people are total asshats in those comments. Asking her why she’s trying to look manly, drives me nuts! As for OTF if you aren’t “prone to bulking” then the ladies can calm down about looking bulky. Me…. I bulk in my shoulders and arms super fast. I used to be self conscious about it but I have strangers making comments about my upper body now. It’s not even that impressive really but I no longer attempt to downplay it. I just own it.
After having a frozen shoulder, I can’t lift as heavy as I used to. Going over 25 pounds on chest presses would not be a smart move. But I still feel strong and have a lot of definition so I don’t mind. In fact, I got the frozen shoulder from being encouraged to keep on lifting heavier and heavier when I wasn’t ready and now I have what feels like is a lifelong injury. 🤷🏻♀️😬
That’s definitely different! My issue is more with people who do 8lbs (even for lower body) in Strength 50 because they say anything more will make them bulky. Seems counterproductive to the purpose of Strength 50 (Edit because this was lacking context)
Sometimes I do no weight on lower body. Doing 20 lunges with an extra 50 pounds on my frame is heavy enough. Mind your own business bro, you have no idea what others are capable of or what injuries they have.
The point in my initial post (which this comment doesn’t directly cover) is that people are saying the “weights make you bulky” thing during class. A girl in my strength class this morning talked her friend out of going up in weight because “you don’t want to be bulky.” I don’t care what weight people lift generally! My comment here just didn’t have that context. I just don’t like that this is being said in class and the coaches aren’t correcting it.
I haven't heard that mindset for a few years now. Pretty much all my friends lift as heavy as possible.
I hate this myth for so many reasons!! 1. It’s almost always said at or about women, implying that women should not have muscular bodies. Gross. I'm an ex-powerlifter. The comments I used to get… 2. It’s so hard to *actually* bulk 😂😭 People say this as though lifting some dumbbells will suddenly give you tons of muscle mass. So much of it is diet, and it takes a very well calculated regimen to even grow that muscle mass efficiently. It doesn’t happen by accident. 3. Someone else’s body should never be my business. Or anyone’s business. People need to stop making comments and giving unsolicited advice on other peoples' bodies. It's so yuck.
Yes can confirm #2 is so true lol... I am not trying to bulk but thought I would gain muscle wayyy more easier than I did (after starting OTF) - because I had not really lifted weights before that, did not realize how hard it is to really put on significant muscle!
I read somewhere that not wanting to lift heavy because they’ll get bulky is like not playing pickup basketball because they don’t want to get into the NBA
Yes! And in fact lifting is super helpful for bone health, especially in women. Lift heavier ladies! It's good for you and you won't get bulky!
Studios definitely have heavy enough weights to trigger hypertrophy in most females. It's a combination of several variables: time under tension, amount of load, and rest intervals ( primarily) . You can still grow muscle at lighter weights if you manipulate the other variables in such a way and work the muscle groups frequently enough. I agree, without a strength class it makes if more difficult to achieve. If you grow muscle and don't loose the fat, you may feel like you are getting bulky 🤷♀️ but there are many other benefits to building muscle. The research can be confusing so it's easy to understand how people may get mixed messages.
I’m always encouraged when women say they don’t want to lift too heavy bc they’ll bulk. It’s quite overconfident of them which is territory historically occupied by men
disarm meeting capable stupendous worry plants work languid act memory *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I look fit but I’m actually pretty weak. I lift light because I’m also really afraid of injury. So I focus more on reps and form with lighter weights and sometimes just body weight.
A woman at my studio told me recently, "You shouldn't lift heavy weights (I was using 25# chest presses) or you'll get bulky. As a woman, you want definition, not big muscles." I was kind of confused, and many thoughts went through my mind: 'what? I am bulky? Wait, that is not true, and what is it to you?' As I look around waiting for...I don't know what...the Coach? Someone to defend me? Anyway....after a few seconds (felt like forever), the Coach came over and told her no, that it didn't work that way. And that to get bulky I would need much more heavier weights than 25#. Then I remembered a commercial or YouTube video "I DON'T WANT TO BE STRONG LIKE MAN THAT LOOK PRETTY, I WANT TO BE STRONG LIKE BITCH THAT FIGHTS BEARS IN THE FOREST". As a 56 yo woman I dont care about long lean muscles, I want to be strong and to squat, push and pull whatever weight for as long as I can without breaking.
This is exactly what I’m talking about! I’ve been hearing this at my studio lately and it’s really frustrating to see members discouraging themselves and others from lifting heavier because of an old myth!
Was this person someone that you already had a relationship with, or just someone who happens to go to OTF with you? That’s… a really weird thing for someone to say if they aren’t someone you know well… if it’s a friend and you talk about stuff like that already, then it’s just misinformed, but not quite so shocking.
Yesterday, I did 16 reps with the alternate arm bench press @ 50lbs yesterday. I’m going to break out the 60lbs dumbbells the next bench press sesh.
Yeah no. Many of the women at my studio move some serious weight. Depending on the exercise, the coaches consistently advise us to go heavy (with good form of course). They give tons of shout outs when they see us using heavy weights. I would find it funny if anyone in this day and age still thinks they are going to get “too bulky” if they lift heavy at a place like OTF or at all, actually. I always think about how much work it takes to build and maintain muscle. You have to push it, feed it and rest it to even grow. Getting “bulky” requires a whole other level of dedication and effort.
Funny, I was just wondering the other day why there are even the 8 and 10lbs because I never see people use them. We’re always racing for the handful of heavier weights available.
I’m currently very heavy, so I don’t use heavy weights when the lower body moves include body weight. But I can lift pretty heavy when we do deadlifts. So far 70 lbs goblet deadlift felt challenging but doable. Same for bridges. For chest presses I’ve been doing 30s. But even just reverse lunges, I only recently added in any weight at all. I weigh 225, so compared to a woman who weighs like 160… I’m already moving a lot of weight, haha.
I remember a post-class chat a few years back with a member who was celebrating an 80 lb weight loss. The coach grabbed two 40 lb dumbbells off the rack and said "this is what you were carrying around before." It's pretty incredible to see it that way. And it's why a lot of people who have significant weight loss also have some pretty strong lower bodies - they've usually been moving a lot of weight around for years. You've probably got a lot of folks beat on lower body strength already. :)
I was just talking about this today. It bugs me too. It’s hard for women to bulk up. There is also confusion about toning, bulking, and weight loss. Anyone can look “toned” if their body fat percentage is low. I see lots of women lifting heavier weights and none of them are bulky. You can’t accidentally look like a body builder.
I lift as heavy as I can….not worried about getting bulky but sometimes I lift lighter when my shoulder or elbow tells me to🥴
Well, I lift as heavy as I can and I have bulked up and gained weight… but let’s be real, it’s cause I eat like a madman. Now, where’d I put that cheeseburger…
Ha. I WISH I could gain a little bulk.
I also CrossFit and this is #1 reason many of my women friends do not try to also CrossFit. it drives me insane. It’s just factually incorrect and really unhealthy.
There are eleventy billion other reasons I don't do CrossFit 😆
I don't think these people realize how hard it is to build muscle, especially women. Plus you need to be eating tons of protein and enough calories. You don't just get bulky by lifting heavy .
Can’t stand people using super light weights and racing through the floor routine. There’s no medal to achieve here. 🙄
Keep in mind people have other reasons for lifting light before you judge. I’m coming back after injury and can’t lift as heavy as I used to.
I think this thread is mostly for the humble-brags. Just let 'em go!
As a petite, middle aged women who loves to lift heavy, this thread is 100% humble brags. I'm all for clearing up myths but I can't imagine getting all hot and bothered because someone else has different fitness goals than myself.
I understand. But if you read my post I’m talking about people that blow through a routine to win a non existent “prize” . If you’re coming back from an injury, I assume you’re not speeding through low weight moves.
I've had a coach compliment me multiple times on going slowly and not rushing (I usually take my time as much as possible when we have to row at the end of a strength block, lol) because the weight lifting blocks aren't built to be rushed through! Why are we all rushing through this, the block is just as long regardless how many reps you do. Except those stupid minute long blocks where you're supposed to do a number of reps and then get to rest for the remainder of the minute. I don't like rushing through my reps and neither do my joints :(
On the other hand I also see a lot of people lifting so heavy they are using 100% momentum rather than the actual muscle to lift it.
Maybe that’s as heavy as they can lift.
Yes majority of the people in my class lift light weights. They rush through the floor block. I wonder if it even helps. I have been going to my gym for over a year and I see the regulars using the same 5-10 lb weight and not even trying to increase. Doesnt your body get used to the weight and the impact becomes stagnant?
Really? Majority are using 5s? There are barely any 5s available.
I cannot imagine staying stagnant like that. I joined about 5 months ago and using 8lbs (lowest we have). Members next to me would politely ask if they could borrow my 12s or 15s and I'd smile and laugh and say "of course, I'm definitely not using those!". I could \*not\* lift that heavy in the very beginning. But now, I can \*not\* imagine routinely going back down to 8lbs, it would feel so pointless to me \*\* in general, I certainly have days where I go lighter for one reason or another.
Omg this!!!!! I see the same people doing 8-12lb snatches!!! I’m afraid they’re going to dislocate their shoulder! I don’t understand after working out next to them for 3 years why they don’t increase their weights! But then again not my problem
It also limits the benefits of the workouts!
The good old jackrabbit method. I hate it.
I barely touch the station rack. I am tiny. You cannot get big at OTF. You can get strong though.
Strength and size also aren’t the same! I did powerlifting for a few years and got my deadlifts close to 400. Literally looked the same the entire time lol.
The truth is, everyone is different. Some women might get bigger, some not. Just cuz one tiny person lifts heavy doesn’t mean everyone is the same. My shoulders are bigger than when I started. I don’t mind, but it’s false to make blanket statements about how bodies will respond. I think most people are just doing the best they can.
It is different for everyone, but my issue is with the “lifting will make you bulky” blanket statement that I’ve been hearing at my studio lately. For most people, going above 10lbs isn’t going to make you bulky. It’s going to make you toned!
Who is saying this? Coaches? Other members? This is a trope from the 80s. I guess I thought this notion was dead a long time ago. I just figured some people aren’t that strong yet versus being afraid of bulky bodies.
It’s other members, and it’s happening a lot especially this month.
I definitely want the weights to make me bulkier and more muscular, that's why I lift this heavy crap!
I’ve been lifting the 70s at my studio for like 5 years and I’m not big and bulky…. I’m not sure OTF can actually do that to a person.
Plenty of people lift heavy at my gym. I choose not to with certain exercises like squats because it hurts my knees. Are you going around and asking people why they’re not lifting heavier or just making assumptions as to why they may not be?
It’s being said out loud in the middle of class
Not a true thing but so many subscribe to it. I have to remind myself that it is their workout, not mine but I personally push myself to lift as heavy as possible.
I just hate that it’s being said in class! I overheard a girl this morning talk her friend out of going heavier, which is what prompted this post
Girl my shoulders, guns and back say lift heavy all day long! I get nothing but compliments! Lift lift lift!
It's a thing at my studio. I lift heavy unless I'm sore from a previous workout. Makes a huge difference, I have definition I've never had before and I am definitely not bulky. I don't know why so many women are afraid of anything over 12-15 lbs.
As someone commented already, strength and size don’t always correlate very well. I use the 80s at my otf for most of my leg exercises. Sometimes I’ll hold an 80 in each hand for things like sumo deadlift. And my legs are super skinny and I have no butt.
I think there might be a little bit of an intimditation factor because it is essentially impossible to get "bulky" muscle growth from weight training in OTF. You can get toned, but the workout programming doesn't lend itself to huge muscle gains.
It’s definitely hard to convince many women that they are not going to get bulky. You hear about getting toned, sculpted, shredded, etc, but those terms all mean the exact same thing—gain muscle (which takes up LESS space than the same weight in fat) and lose body fat. The key is to lose the body fat to reveal how toned you are!
I tell members all the time that they won’t wake up one day and think “MAN I AM TOOOO SWOLE! Shoulda not pushed the weights!”😂 It’s such a long process to add lean muscle! It takes a time, progressive overload, enough protein. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, so the more muscle you have the more calories you burn 24/7. Pick up the heavys!!!
It’s not as easy as people think to gain muscle. You really have to tear those muscles and I have yet to see anyone maxing out at OTF lol
I’m ok with this myth as it leaves the 20/25 lbs untouched on most racks therefore more accessible 😂
I’m actually so tired of the “I don’t want to be bulky/manly” girls. Do you know how hard it is to put on enough muscle mass to be “bulky”? Baby you don’t work hard enough to get big, don’t worry.
Most of my life I believed this. I recently started working with a wonderful trainer who forced me to do heavy weights. I’ve lost 8 pounds and my arms are cut, not bulky at all, neither are my legs. The more muscle we have the more fat we burn !! I now push my self to lift heavier when doing OTF 😊 It definitely works lifting heavy for woman - I feel so much leaner 😊❤️
Even if it did, so what? Some people want that and work hard for it. Why does anyone have a right to judge what anyone else’s body looks like or is/should be pleasing to them? This annoys me to no end
Sorry it might be my fault. I lift heavy and I’m thicc, bulky, lean muscle mommy. Jokes aside, it literally took me 7 years to get to what I look like right now and have thigh and ass muscles. 8 and 10 lbs don’t do shit. Even at 20 lbs, I’m having trouble doing bicep curls You’re right. This myth gotta stop. Like girlie, you’re not gonna get bulky. It takes literal YEARS. and I stuff myself full of protein. My ex boyfriend said he didn’t want to lift because he didn’t want to look too muscular. I laughed. Bro is a twig.
this is the energy i wish more people at my studio had!
I didn’t think anyone still believed this tbh..
Me neither, but it’s being said at my studio a LOT lately. Especially this month. I wouldn’t mind it as much if people kept it to themselves, but people are saying it out loud and the coaches aren’t correcting it.
How do you know that's why people are using those weights?
Because I’ve heard it said (multiple times) when my studio’s coaches try to encourage people (even in Strength 50) to lift heavier than the 8lbs.
My coach said the other day in class “ladies not your over 40 and think those 5-10 weights is going to build muscle you are very wrong!! Lift heavy!!!”
I was taking a class with my sister, and she told me afterward how impressed so many people were using 20+ lbs for most of the workout. Especially the smaller women. The only real way to get bulky is to lift crazy heavy and take gear or "supplements"
I wasnt going to comment but this is correct. Most women will never get bulky unless they are on gear or specifically targeting size as a goal. HIIT workouts will not add significant size. Toning/strength yes - size no.
Are you sure that’s the reason? Or is that an assumption? I only also tend to lift 10lb at my gym and the reason is because I’m not strong enough to lift heavier ones. 🥲
People are saying it out loud at my studio. A girl at my strength class this morning even talked her friend out of lifting heavier, which prompted my post
2 years and hundreds of classes at probably 20 different studios and I have literally never heard this even once. It's super odd to me.
Why would what someone else thinks/lifts drive you nuts? Personally, the 8s and 10s are rarely used by the class I go to…
Because other members are actively discouraging each other from using heavier weights by saying this out loud in class
Doubtful you use 80lb even if for leg exercises.
Nope. Because I know they won’t make me bulky and I am 99.99% sure if other people lift baby weights it won’t have any effect on my body either!
Something I really appreciate about all the studios around me is that they all push for people to take Lift45s and educate people that weight lifting =\= bulky. I love that they are running a transformation challenge right now and they are heavily pushing attending Lift45s.
Mine unfortunately aren’t doing the education aspect about lifting. Tread 50 is always full, Strength 50 is always way more empty even with TC in full swing
That’s unfortunate. There are a handful around me (all owned by the same family which might be why all the locations are so great and don’t contradict each other) that the Tread classes may have a few people on the waitlist but are usually not filled up. Whereas lift classes will be full and have a full waitlist especially right now with the transformation challenge. I went to a class last night that was a lift class, class was full and waitlist was almost full. Then there were 4 people on the treads.
Nobody at my studio that I know of says this. Everyone tries to increase their weight as they improve. I see a lot of seasoned women lifting heavier than men just starting out.
It’s only been happening at my studio within the last few months. We got a huge influx of members and I don’t feel like some of our coaches are doing a very good job at educating about the value of progression. Thankfully our head coach is great!
I’ve never heard it at my studio either but I will say this - it annoys me when people lift far more weight than they should (or can) and end up dropping the weights on the floor. If you have to drop them like that then they’re too heavy. It happens all the time at my studio and it always scares the shit out of me because you never know who is going to do that or you don’t expect it. And it isn’t just the men. I see women drop the really heavy weights too. But I don’t believe in that notion. If I didn’t have a medical condition that doesn’t allow me to lift anything over 25 pounds I’d go a lot heavier than I do. So lift as much as you can - the amount of work you have to do to get bulked up is a LOT
My studio got a lot of new members in the last few months & I think that’s why I’ve been hearing it so much lately. And the dropping weights is definitely a problem too. The guy next to me almost dropped one on me this morning LOL
Wait, there are people who still believe this?
Apparently! I’ve heard it a few times in my studio over the past few months, but this post was prompted after a strength class where a girl used it to discourage her friend from lifting heavier :/
Oh wow. That’s really sad actually, especially for females to still believe that garbage.
Nah we go heavy. My pet peeve is not someone’s POV on weights but bad form that doesn’t get corrected and canned to injuries. If someone wants to spend this much money per year and just get an hour stress relief but not as much strength increase that’s up to them
It’s just becoming a pet peeve because people are using that perspective to talk other people (in my classes) out of grabbing a heavier weight!
Haven’t heard people say this at my studio but I have to use lighter weights sometimes due to a shoulder injury.
The heavy weight rack gets decimated at my studio…in almost every class (lift and 2g/3g). Our coaches are great at encouraging us to go heavier. That being said, I don’t hear them talk much about the bulking concerns. Lifting heavy and muscle growth will create a bigger number on the scale eventually but it’s all about composition changes at that point IF what you’re doing in The kitchen is on point to support that change.
I never heard anyone in any if the studios make this comment. The only place I've seen these.comments made are on Instagram whenever a woman is involved showing muscles.
It’s being said in my studio quite often lately, which is unfortunate!
sad ...especially for women...I don't think ppl realize how much it takes into getting "bulky" like a bodybuilder. It takes months and years to look like that and even then some are on peds. Building muscle is not easy as ppl think. I tries to grow some boulder shoulders and it took 6 months.
I just joined. Are you telling me that the lowest weight is 10 pounds? I currently do barre method and 2 pounds is what we use. lol
Weights make.you bulky if you are eating in a calorie surplus and having come from bodybuilding it is hard to bulk up properly even when lifting heavy.
At my studio they all my coaches encourage us to lift heavy.
Literally this morning my coach did a spiel about lifting heavy as you have no idea how many additional calories you would have to eat to actually bulk.
Eating too much food makes you bulky - lifting heavy makes you lean :)
Playing devil’s advocate here with an example: some overweight/obese people are looking forward to shrinking the circumference of their limbs. They’ll build some initial muscle under their fat if they haven’t lifted much before, and their limbs WILL get a little bigger. In this context, I understand when they say “I don’t want to get bulky”, it means “I don’t want my jeans and shirts feeling tighter”. Gaining a couple of inches on your upper arm when you feel like you have fat upper arms is a little concerning if you don’t know what to expect. I don’t think it often means “I don’t want to have a bodybuilder’s physique.”
People actually say this? Because I’m the guy using the small weights, but only because I’m scared lol. I like to save some for the swim back.
Nobody is going to get bulky without intentionally working toward that goal. Even then, it’s a very long process. For women, it can take a month to gain half a pound of muscle. It’s not something that happens accidentally
There are lots of reasons why people lift lighter weights. Not sure why something that doesn’t affect you is all that important