I saw Leigh’s article. I was going to post a follow up to mine and then I saw her’s. She said just about everything I wanted to say, only better. She is so articulate. Clearly, this is information that needs to be heard. Thank you so much for your post!!

Val

J.- I just wanted to let you know that Leigh Peele put up a follow up article regarding to the survey I thought you might find it interesting. http://www.leighpeele.com/the-ideal-female-body

Red Carpet Ready will definitely help you get those benefits. If you are already pretty fit, then you might want to do the bikini body program. The diet is the same but the workouts are a little more intense than RCR. Not with heavier weights but with the cardio aspect of the circuits.

Val

I agree with her though that it’s more that woman are afraid of “plumping” rather then “bulking”. It takes a LOT of work and time to really bulk huge muscles. It doesn’t take much time at all though to build a little muscle under the fat and thus achieve a “plumping” effect where you don’t fit into your pants anymore. What most women don’t realize though and have the patients to see out, is that it is a temporary effect, and if they keep going and then go on a fat loss – leaning out phase they will eventually shrink back down in size, but with a higher muscle to fat ratio, etc. Of course it depends on body type, but I do see some very defined woman who are into heavy weights and sculpting their bodies who are not huge in size and thickness. Like Zuzana – http://bodyrock.tv/ and Jennifer Nicole Lee – https://www.jennifernicolelee.com/JNLSHOP/10Browse.asp?Category=Photos
Jennifer says in her videos to never work the obliques and also that as a beginner if you don’t have much muscle to begin with to lift heavy, but then as soon as you get to the level of muscle development that you want to switch to high rep. muscle endurance instead so you stop building and stop getting bigger then where you want to be. Makes sense to me. Wherever that is for the individuals preference.

http://www.leighpeele.com/bulky-muscles-and-training-females-the-definition

One- I am not making a judgement on anyone or the physique they desire. If you like a athletic look (as I did when I was younger) or what some might call a “Pilates” body or you like to feel skinny or you are working to love your body where it is, I am okay with all of it. I just believe there are different training protocols for different looks.

Two- The blanket statement “women can’t get too muscular or too bulky” should be removed from trainers vocabulary. I get emails from women every week attesting to the fact that some can and do.

Three- I am fully aware that diet plays a big role in the “bulky” look.

Four- Some women can lift heavy weights and still struggle with gaining muscle, while others with a different genetic makeup seem to get bigger looking at the squat rack.

Five- I do believe women need to lift weights. I use a variety of rep ranges, a variety of weights and I love body weight exercise and exercises done on 1 leg.

My programs work and I don’t have to use heavy weights (which doesn’t mean sometimes I might) to get the results my clients seek. With that said, other programs work too. I think the key is to listen more closely to the client and be open minded about the most effective way to get there.