This comment, or any variation, always makes me chuckle a bit. For a few reasons…
1️⃣. You do not grow 20 pounds of muscle overnight (sadly). You will not go to bed looking long and lean like Barbie and wake up the next morning looking huge and jakt like Thor. You will not walk in front of the mirror and, suddenly filled with shock and dismay, cry out “OH NO I got BULKY!”. It just doesn’t work that way.
2️⃣. Are you worried for MY sake that I might get too bulky? Or for yours because you don’t think “bulky” is attractive or feminine? Because you can just do you, and I will go ahead and do me.
3️⃣. Perceptions change over time. Once you learn all the amazing things that your body can do and actually SEE how it can build muscle and change shape, what once you might have thought to be “bulky”, might now be pretty damn sweet.
4️⃣. You can have a resistance training program to build strength (to get stronger… duh) and you can have a resistance training program to build muscle (to intentionally gain muscle mass). I have learned from @unleashed_perform that these are actually two different training protocols. Find a coach who knows how to program for your goals.
Remember that bodybuilders train with the intention to have incredible muscle definition; marathoners train with the intention to be light and lean and have insane muscular (and cardiovascular) endurance; CrossFitters train to be fast, powerful, and agile.
Your practices and perceptions precede any physiological changes you desire in your body. Just a little nugget to chew on.
