Don’t Worry About Getting Too Big From Lifting Weights (If You Are Natural)
So in this video, I’m answering a very common question, which is how do I make sure I don’t get too big and muscular from my weight training. So, let’s talk a little more about this.
Today I’m talking about the question of what can I do to make sure I don’t get too big and muscular if I train with weights.
Before I go any further, I’d like thank everyone for tuning in, especially those who said this should be a one stop place especially for anyone looking to train naturally. Thank you so much for all the support, all the encouragement, and do be sure to like, subscribe, and hit that bell as well so you’re first in line to get the new content as it comes out.
Why The Myth Of Getting Big From Weight Training Exists
So, on to the topic at hand today. Before I go any further, I’d like to point out the fact that when someone comes to someone who’s been training for a long period of time and says something like this, the reaction can usually be a little bit on the volatile side and it doesn’t necessarily need to be that way. It’s just that it tends to come from a sense of not understanding exactly what you’re getting into.
I think that because something like weight training is still very much esoteric in terms of, there’s not really that much that the average person understands or knows about it. And most of what they see is gonna be on social media. So for most women, their attention is gonna be drawn to the biggest and most muscular females that they see. And they’re gonna internalize the idea of that person lifts weight. So therefore, if I lift weights, that’s what I’m gonna look like.
For the men, they’re gonna look at the male bodybuilders, especially professional bodybuilders, and they might think to themselves that, well, “I don’t necessarily wanna lift weights because if I lift weights, I don’t want to look like that!”
Without Steroids You Can’t And Won’t Get Huge
The problem is, obviously, that the majority of high profile athletes in body building who are pretty much the representatives of what someone would associate with weight training, are on steroids and a lot of steroids. And they are at a size that you could not attain naturally, even if you worked out for a hundred years. It’s just not possible.
Top Natural Bodybuilders Aren’t Huge
But even on the natural side, if you look at the top natural male and female bodybuilders out there. And to be honest, very few people ever see them. But when they do see them in person, they realize that they aren’t that big.
You Won’t Build Large Amounts of Muscle Accidentally
Even to get to their size takes years and years of dedication, serious commitment to your diet. It doesn’t happen accidentally. In fact, I’d probably say on a natural level, the likelihood of your becoming too big and too muscular is kind of like someone who starts taking a ride with their bike in the park, worrying that if they ride around the park too often, they may find themselves, being in a place where they’re winning the Tour de France. And we both know, that’s not gonna happen.
Natural Muscle Growth Has Finite Limits
But it’s still a valid question because when you start weight training, there’s always going to be an initial honeymoon period where your muscles really respond.
In fact, your greatest gains are gonna be the first couple months of training. And people think that somehow or the other they’re gonna keep on putting on muscle the same way they did the first two to three months of training.
And that’s just not how it goes. It slows down dramatically as a natural athlete to the point where there’s only so big, someone can actually get.
Now as a natural athlete, there are actually formulas that you can use to figure out what your maximum potential will probably be.
And here are the formulas up there, and the top natural bodybuilders on the planet are just at the highest level, which if you thought about what big is really isn’t that big.
Female Natural Bodybuilders Don’t Get Bigger
For women it’s even less. I constantly tell the story of the natural female bodybuilder who trained over the years, who, when they competed were always significantly smaller than they were when they first started off.
I’m going to say it again to compete in a natural bodybuilding competition. If you are a female, you are going to be tremendously smaller than you were before you started training. Smaller, not bigger. Female bodybuilders don’t get huge. They get smaller, the muscles get developed, there’s a look that you get. Your body fat goes down but you’re not going to get huge.
Getting huge does not happen without the inclusion of some sort of anabolic compounds. It simply isn’t a part of natural bodybuilding. And at no point in time, do you go to natural bodybuilding contest that’s really drug tested and you see women who look freakishly huge. In fact, I think a lot of people, if they had a chance to stand next to some of the top natural bodybuilding champions on the planet, they’d be surprised how small they are.
Male Natural Bodybuilders Also Don’t Get Bigger
Same with the men. In terms of size being ripped to shreds can create the illusion of being really much bigger than you are. In fact, if you look at pictures of me here in one picture over here, I’m at about 230 pounds, and I look a lot smaller muscle wise than I do over here. Even though in this picture, I’m 205 pounds.
The more body fat you lose with a certain degree of muscularity the bigger you appear to be. But again, it’s an optical illusion. You put your clothes on, people can see for fact that you got smaller. In fact, getting ready for bodybuilding competitions, even for males, means getting smaller.
The Benefits of Lifting Weights Should Be Your Main Focus
So this idea of getting huge and hulking out because your weight training, male or female, it’s simply not going to happen. Again, it’s a valid question, but it’s not something that you have to worry about. Instead, think about all the health benefits that come from lifting weights. The increased muscle size and the increased muscle strength is gonna be tremendous in the aging process and tremendous as well in
keeping you active all throughout your life and putting you in a place where if you think about doing something, you have a body that’s strong enough to keep on doing it for a lot longer than those who don’t lift weights.
Also, if you wanna have that look, that really lean but defined look, you can’t have definition without the muscles to be defined. You need the muscles. So don’t be afraid of lifting weights, don’t be afraid of the idea that somehow it’s going to magically make you big and grotesque. Because it won’t. And if you are interested in competing in a bodybuilding competition and going all the way out, understand that for most people, it’s gonna take years of commitment and you’re not gonna accidentally end up looking that way.
It takes a lot more than you think. So, get to the gym, lift your weights, thanks for tuning, and Excelsior!