Will weights make me look too muscular?

 Alright here is a question we get a lot at Awakened Labz, “will lifting weights make me look manly or masculine as a woman?” The short answer is no. This is a huge misconception by most people. Even when I hear smaller guys say this to deflect the fact that they themselves aren’t masculine in the first place, I always tell them “no”.

I’m going to deep dive and expand into this question a bit more and explain why simply lifting weights won’t make you look masculine. Now I’m not saying that you won’t gain muscle from lifting weights, but the assumption that you’ll look like some hulking bodybuilder is simply not true. Lets get into why this is

Not enough testosterone

First things first woman, you don’t have enough testosterone in your body to look masculine. Whenever you see a woman who looks like a man and she’s in the gym, 90% of the time its because she’s taken testosterone. Same thing with men, there is a certain threshold on how much muscle a man can obtain and maintain depending on his testosterone levels. Testosterone by itself won’t make you obtain large muscles either, this is another myth. Testosterone increases something called protein synthesis which is how much protein your body can absorb and utilize which ultimately helps you build muscle. Which Will bring me to my next point.

Muscularity depends on diet.

Alright like I stated previously without enough protein, about 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound you weigh, you cannot put on much muscle. If you are a woman or man and are not eating enough protein you will not gain muscle. Simply lifting weights will not put on lean muscle, building muscle is a combination of working out, refueling the muscle with nutrients, proper rest and then repeating this process like a madman. If you naturally have elevated testosterone levels and would like to look more feminine while working out, simply decrease your protein intake.

Conclusion

The assumption that you’ll simply become extremely masculine looking by simply lifting weights is false. Building muscle is a science and an art. Without the proper ingredients you will not put on tons of muscle. That being said I encourage everyone to workout with weights due to the many health benefits, a strong lean body is ideal. You don’t want to be the person struggling carrying out groceries from the store.

Lifting weights and putting on muscle with proper diet and supplementation is also beneficial with burning calories when you’re physically doing nothing. You burn more calories if you have more muscle density. So if you’d like to get away with a bit more calories on your diet I’d suggest putting on some muscle and letting the muscle burn a few more calories per day ,plus you’ll look better.