How I’ve enhanced my feminine shape through weight training :)

Now, you may have read the title of this post and thought to yourself, “how is this possible? Doesn’t weight training make you manly, or bulky?” These are some of the myths that intimidate women from the weight rack, and even though many women know better, they are still worried about getting too big. So they say things like, “I just want to be toned.” However, there is no such thing as “toning” your body in the gym. There are only two things you can accomplish in the gym when it comes to your physique. You can either lean out or build size aka muscle. You cannot “tone.” I wrote a blog post not too long ago called “Toned? Or Skinny? Toned, the new word for skinny…” https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/toned-or-skinny-toned-the-new-word-for-skinny/ Basically, in this article I talk about how when most women say they want to be toned, what they really mean is that they want to be smaller. They want to lean out, however, when you lean out and you don’t have a solid muscle base, you actually just look skinny. If you want to look defined, well you need to get lean, and build muscle, it’s as simple as that.

This photo was taken back in my 4th year at laurier when I was teaching a bunch of cardio based classes, and not a lot of weight training. My arm as you can see is just very long and lanky. There is no real shape there.

So the real question here is, how did you enhance your feminine shape through weight training? Well first of all, I’ve always had a decent butt from skating, dancing, and cheerleading. However, bodybuilding, and serious weight training has only made my butt higher, bigger, and rounder. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a great ass?! Bodybuilding has enhanced my feminine shape and curves in my lower body. Now, many of you may be thinking, well everyone knows that you can build a great ass in the gym… But what if I told you I’ve built myself more of an hour glass shape in the gym as well? Unfortunately it is not possible to grow your boobs in the gym, but you can make your waistline appear smaller in proportion to your back and shoulders. How do you do that? Well you grow your lats, and your delts, creating what bodybuilders call a V-taper. So if you have a V-taper, combined with a great butt and legs, you have now created an X shape or an hourglass shape. This can all be built in the gym, you can build your back, shoulders, legs, and butt in the gym, through some consistent, and heavy weight lifting, and the proper nutrition to sustain proper growth and muscle retention. Obviously genetics play a small role. It is much easier to create a more dramatic V-taper if God gave you a smaller waist naturally. Us women come in many shapes, however, this does not mean that you cannot make your waistline appear smaller in proportion to your shoulders, because you can! And you do that by lifting weights!

This is a progress photo of my V-taper. I will say that I was blessed with a small waist naturally, but the width of my back and the size of my shoulders I’ve built myself. On the left was December 18th 2015, and on the right was January 22nd 2016. Almost a month apart and you can see I’ve grown a tone!

Still scared of weight training? You probably are, it is intimidating I agree. I was once intimidated from weight training when I first got into fitness. Coming from a dance background, I was not familiar with weight training at all. However, now that I have educated myself and really became serious about it, I will never look back! It saddens me really that so many women are scared of getting stronger. It’s as if they’re afraid of losing their femininity, and therefore no longer being attractive to the opposite sex. But I’m more muscular now than I’ve ever been, and trust me, boys still find me attractive 😉 No worries there! And like I said, if anything I’ve only enhanced my hour glass shape, only making me look curvier and more feminine. My muscles, and my strength empowers me like you wouldn’t believe! Fitness in general empowers me! Never have I felt more confident and capable in everything that I do. I love looking in the mirror LOL as narcissistic as that may sound but I do. I worked so hard for my body, and I am so proud of what I see. I built this body, it is my temple, and every day I work on making it stronger, and better. Ladies, don’t you want that? Don’t you want to feel a great sense of pride every time you look in the mirror? Don’t you want to love what you see? So many girls say they do, but they really don’t, and most of the time it is out of fear.

If you want the real truth girls, here it is… Most of you do not train often and consistent enough for you to see any real muscle growth. So the chances of you ever getting “bulky” is slim to none. Secondly, the majority of you do not eat properly to sustain any real muscle growth either. Many of you, I believe are quite naive when it comes to weight training. A lot of you underestimate the amount of work it takes to get any real size on your body, because let me tell you, it takes a HELL OF A LOT! I literally workout everyday! I weight train 6 times a week! It is not magic that my body looks the way that it does. It has taken me over a year to have the body that I do today. So, what I’m telling you is that you will NEVER get manly or bulky from weight training. Especially if you’re not using any chemical drugs to enhance your muscle growth. Please, stop worrying, and start lifting anything heavier than your purse! Don’t even think about grabbing those two pound dumbbells! It feels good to be strong, trust me 😉 And it looks good too! But that’s just my opinion…

Me about to go to my bodybuilding team’s Christmas Party this past December… I don’t think I look manly LOL 😛