The simple answer here is: No. Many people, especially women have the fear that if they lift weights, they will become bulky. Lifting weights does one thing very reliably: it makes you stronger!

Nutrition Factor

Eating more calories than the body needs to maintain it’s current state will make you “bulky”. Nutrition is the number 1 factor in if you “bulk up” or not. If you eat more calories than you burn off, you will get bigger.

Lift Heavy

“I should be lifting lighter weights to tone and avoid bulking up, right?” This is one of biggest misconceptions with weight training, especially for women. Both women and men should be lifting heavy (challenging weights), with proper form and adhering to good nutritional habits to achieve optimal results.

Men and women have much different hormone profiles. Men have more testosterone, allowing their muscles to grow at a greater rate. For women, their hormone profile will allow them to develop lean muscle mass (tone) without getting bulky, but will also prevent them from losing all the fat they may desire as easily as men. Improving nutritional habits will promote this wanted fat loss for them.