Hey ,

Real quick.

Today is the LAST DAY to nab your spot in the year-long JillFit Total Training Experience. Registration closes at midnight EST.

Next, I want to talk to you about "bulking up."

This is a curious issue because on one side, you have a large part of the fitness community pushing women to lift heavy weights and then saying, "Women can't bulk up, that's ridiculous! They don't have the hormonal makeup for it!" and then on the other side, you have a large portion of exercisers whose experience is that they started lifting heavy weights and well, they actually did bulk up. Their clothes started fitting tighter and they put on weight. Many of them, though they say they like how weight training makes them feel, are confused because bulking is not supposed to happen, right? 

Are the accounts of all these women just made up? Is their added inches just in their head?

Ignoring these stories is shortsighted because something is going on, right? It has to be.

First, a few qualifications ...

1) "Bulking up" is relative.

For some people, they add 3 lbs. of muscle and they are stressed because they feel like The Hulk, and then you have others who are trying like crazy to add lean mass and after adding 20 lbs. think it's still not enough.

Bulking is relative, and so it really comes down to the individual. What your personal trainer thinks is not enough mass might be too much for you. Or what your girlfriends think is too much mass is not enough for you J Like most things, it depends.

2) The fitness and physique journey is personal.

It's unique to an individual so I think it's prudent to let each person have their definition of the kind of body that they want to work toward and build. I think for many of us who are really into fitness, we automatically think "more muscle is better" or it's sexier or it's what everyone should strive for. 

Personally, that's my bias because I recognize the innumerable benefits of having a lot of lean muscle on my frame-not just for aesthetics but also for functionality and health-but not everyone wants a more muscular build.

And the bottom line is that every single person is entitled to work toward the body they want. This doesn't mean we walk around dissatisfied and miserable until we achieve "the perfect body," but instead that we practice Active Acceptance along the way-the ability to be grateful for where we are, while also striving for more. 

3) For some people, it's really hard to add muscle. And for others it's effortless.

This has everything to do with your hormonal makeup. The whole eco-, meso-, endomorph thing, though anecdotal has some weak merit in terms of categorizing specific build tendencies.

Usually it's people who are more stress-driven metabolically that have the hardest time putting on quality mass, or it just takes forever even with consistent effort. These people are running on cortisol and catecholamines that are chronically pulling from stored protein (i.e. muscle) to fuel workouts and activity.

People who add mass more easily will add both muscle AND fat easily. They tend to more anabolically-driven and have less adrenal output compared to their more high-stress counterparts. For these people, if they want to add lean muscle without also adding a lot of body fat will have to be very meticulous with nutrition and it will also probably take longer.

So, back to our question: can women bulk up?

The short answer is yes. But it's not what you think it is. It's not turning into an NFL lineman or Jay Cutler getting up on stage at the Olympia. It's not using drugs or putting on a ton of mass in a matter of days.

Bulking up is simply adding muscle while not burning the fat on top, and so the outcome is a larger look. Good or bad, clothes will be tighter.

I think the misconception comes in when people talk about "replacing fat with muscle." You don't ever turn fat into muscle. That's impossible.

But what you can do is add lean muscle and burn fat to create a leaner, smaller look. This is possible because pound for pound, muscle takes up less space than fat. So if you lose a pound of fat and gain a pound of muscle, your measurements will be less.

The best example of this is figure competitors. I remember before I ever competed looking at the pages of Oxygen magazine and seeing the competition photos. I thought, Good gosh, these women are MASSIVE. On stage, competitors are dieted down, dehydrated, tanned beyond belief and honestly look enormous. 

But then, I went to the Arnold one year and watched the pro figure competition. After the show, I was FLOORED when I saw the girls up close and personal. THEY WERE TINY. And then for me, I was my tiniest ever when I competed. These gals have very low body fat and so their muscles are more prominent, but relatively, they are tiny.

While this level of extreme fitness or leanness is amazing, this is not to say it should necessarily be your goal, but instead it's to point out that bulking up doesn't entirely mean being huge. It's possible to add mass, and then decrease body fat to look smaller overall.

If you are "bulking up," it's most likely a nutritional issue because you are not burning the fat on top of the muscle. And as we all know, the majority of fat loss happens in the kitchen.

And one more note ... this also doesn't mean you shouldn't lift heavy weights :) 

Your body needs to be taxed in order to change, and there are a variety of benefits associated with intense exercise. Including yes, adding muscle, which does things like increase insulin sensitivity, improve soft tissue integrity, release anti-aging hormones, bump resting metabolic rate, improve strength, stability, and much more. 

Can you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?

Though we could go into an in-depth discussion on that one, the short answer is: it depends. Mostly on your nutrition and timing of your meals. In other words, though you cannot be in both anabolism and catabolism at the same exact time, you can maximize your post-workout window by making the most of it. I recommend doing 1:1 ratio of carbs to protein within 60 minutes after your workout, and usually doing upwards of 50g each! Yes, that's a lot, but that's also your best time to catalyze lean anabolism because you are in a depleted, higher metabolic state. 

NOT TO BORE YOU WITH SCIENCE :) But there are many factors that go into YOUR muscle gain/fat loss formula.

Which is why I created an entire 52-week course addressing so many of these in-depth and often complicated topics. Because in nutrition, there's rarely, if ever, a hard and fast rule that works 100% of the time. Each person is different and their unique metabolic makeup warrants a separate approach. Which is why off-the-shelf meal plans and one-size-fits-all "detoxes" and "cleanses" are Band-Aids. They don't address the underlying metabolic tendencies, personal preferences and psychological sensitivities of YOU. Only you can do that :)

And creating YOUR unique approach to all things fitness, nutrition and mindset takes putting in the time and effort. Being consistent with the things that matter the most and as for the rest? Do your best!

The JillFit Total Training Experience closes tonight at midnight and then begins Monday Sept 1st for all those registered. Get the full scoop here, and as always, let me know if you have any questions!

Ox, Jill