Fitness

[Super Buu]

What's a good way to get lean muscle instead of bulk muscle? I'd like to gain some strength, particularly leg strength, but I don't want to look like a she-hulk. Does anyone know any activites that can do this? I run a average of 5 miles a day, and while it increases my cardio, I was wondering if there was more I could do.

This is a huge retarded myth among women and oh fuck it I'm just going to quote someone who's written it all up for me:

With very few exceptions, the principles of diet and exercise are the same for men and women. I recognize this is hard for women to accept, especially if you have little understanding of the science behind exercise.

The truth is, women can't gain muscle at anywhere near the rate of men, no matter how hard they lift. Men naturally produce testosterone (you, of course, produce estrogen,), and the fact that we have 60% more upperbody muscle mass on average (yes, even the lanky little nerd you know has significantly more potential for growth in the upperbody) means you will never become "big and bulky" if you don't use growth hormones and steroids.

Getting huge doesn't just happen to men, forget women. Every female fitness magazine you read is garbage. It's not hyperbole. Every single one. They are bad. Men's Health isn't really highly regarded, but you are honestly way better off reading it than you are pretty much any other fitness magazine geared towards your sex. They fixate on things like spot reduction (a myth discussed below) and bosu balls (CORE TRAINING OH EM GEE), light little weights and hours spent doing cardio.

Light weights don't do anything for you but build muscle... Slowly. You might say the point of this is to avoid you getting big and bulky like a female bodybuilder. You, as a woman, genetically have a "cap" on muscle mass. You will NOT get big. What's the point then of reaching your potential slow (or really, never reaching your potential at all) when you could reach it faster with heavy weights?

Heavy weights actually cause the bone to become more dense. Bone density is a major issue for women. Heavy weights build muscle, muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat, therefore muscle increases your metabolism.

Every woman in Hollywood who is considered "hot" does resistance training. They do intervals in cardio. Genetically you are predisposed against ever getting large without the help of chemistry. Do not worry about big weights making you big. They will build muscle, which will burn fat faster, help with cellulite, increase bone density, give you 'shape' and they're the only thing that can fix flabby arms for women over 30.

For the greatest benefits, lift weights like everyone else. The benefits of this over pure cardio are covered in detail in the link I posted above, or pretty much anywhere else on the internet if you feel like searching. Unless you have fairly unusual genetics or take steroids (both of which is the case for a lot of the super-bulky female bodybuilder models), you will not become a she-hulk.

</fitness nerd mode>