Why Lifting Weights Doesn't Mean you will get "BULKY"

Strength.  It's never a bad thing!  Who wouldn't want it?...
Muscular strength, simply put, is a measure of how much force you can produce.  Your level of muscular strength allows or prevents you from being able to perform many of your actions of daily living.

However, a common misconception of strength training is that in gaining muscular strength you WILL get "bulky."  I regularly hear this from female clients and anyone who just wants to "get toned."  I believe that this misconception is a large part of why so many individuals will spend all their time on the treadmill rather than including resistance training (i.e., lift weights) into their workout.



So what is the truth?
Most literature supports that improvements in strength are influenced significantly more by adaptations from the neurological system then from an increase in muscular size.  However, if maximal strength is your goal, then increasing the size or your muscles will be essential, as muscle size is positively related to muscular strength.  Kind of confusing, right?  Lets try thinking of it this way:

Increased Muscular Strength = Potential for Bigger Muscles

• By training in a specific way to increase muscular strength (post on this to come!), you are setting a higher potential for muscle size.  Once you acquire the strength, you must train in a different way to grow the muscle size.

Bigger muscles = Potential for Increased Muscular Strength 

• By training in a specific way to increase muscle size (post on this to come!), you are setting a higher potential for muscular strength.  Once you acquire the new muscle size, you must train in way to improve strength to reach your new potential.

**This is the basis behind the training model called, Periodized Training.**

Interesting fact: from the onset of a strength training program and through the first 12-weeks, neurological adaptations are almost completely responsible for the increases in strength.  Only after 12-weeks does muscle growth (hypertrophy) begin to occur and account for further increases in strength.


I hope that you will now include resistance training into your workout regimen!
I recommend you try this exercise: