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Will Crossfit Make Me Look Bulky?

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Although they liked it, one of them mentioned that she is afraid of looking too muscular i.e. more manly. Many trainers have grown impatient and tired of refuting those sentiments but I can understand why many women feel that way. It is an irrational fear just like the fear of flying but this doesn’t make it less of a fear at the end of the day.

We have to know that for the most part we want to stay in shape to appear more attractive to the opposite gender. What is considered attractive is largely dictated by media, especially advertisements.

Luckily, over the last couple of years we have move away from false and potentially harmful stereotypes. But still almost no woman wants to look like a female bodybuilder, so the question remains: Will Crossfit make me look bulky?

The honest answer is that I have no idea because we are all different genetically and physiologically. But I can tell you a few things though that I hope will help you lose the fear of looking to masculine.

1. Muscle memory and body type

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Photo credit: barbellshrugged.com

Have you been a professional athlete before? Have you ever wondered why your friend that was sitting on your couch for 6 months only eating potato chips and drinking Coke can get in shape so easily?

It might be the muscle memory. Studies have shown that muscles grow back a lot faster when trained, detrained and then retrained. The reason for this is of course not that our muscles remember their grandeur of previous times but that the nuclei (the brick and mortar of building muscles) are still present in the muscle cells and are simply reactivated.

Secondly, your body type influences the amount of muscles you can grow. I am 1.92 m tall and weight about 95 kg. Compared to a person that is only 1.60 m and 60 kg, I can build muscles faster because my frame allows me to lift heavier weights.

2. Genetics: low and high responders

Luckily, we all come equipped with a very unique set of genes. Imagine we would all look and act the same? This fact makes it very difficult to predict how we will respond to weight training. Generally, the scientific world groups us into low, medium and high responders. Low responders seem to be struggling when it comes to building muscles and high responders sometimes only need to see weights and they start putting on muscle mass.

will crossfit make you bulky

There is nothing really you or me can do about this. That is just the way we came into this world and unless you provide the financial resources to some renegade scientists, this is pretty much the way it will be for the rest of your life.

3. Nutrition

Nutrition can feel like a black box at times. You know what you are putting in the engine but what does the engine do with it?

I have tried 30 days of Paleo and probably 80% of my weekly meals are Paleo and 20% are, well something other than that. For myself I have found out how I react to for instance milk or how I need to change my diet according to my goals. But this has taken me over three years and I am still learning every day.

When we are simply talking about losing or gaining weight (muscles) it is relatively simple. As long as you are eating less than you are using, then you will lose weight. Let me tell you this, neither losing nor gaining weight is a lot of fun especially in its extreme forms when you want to see results quickly.

As a good starting point I would recommend that you track what you eat. Try with apps such as My Fitness Pal or My Macros. Experiment, observe and maybe even get a couple of blood tests over a period of time. Eliminate certain things from your diet for a while and then reintroduce them. Observe how it feels, better, worse or the same and then adjust your diet according to this.

4. Testosterone

Generally, women’s natural testosterone levels are relatively low compared to men’s – for males it is between 300 – 1.000 ng/dl (nanogram per deciliter) and for females it is between 15 – 70 ng/dl.

However, there are various studies that actually suggest that increasing testosterone levels naturally or even moderately through intake of testosterone enhancers will not allow you to build muscles like a professional bodybuilder.

I always tell my members to not expect miracles. To change your physique or performance simply requires time and continued effort. You won’t be waking up one day and look Arnold Schwarzenegger or lift 100 kg, trust me I tried, it didn’t work.

5. General thoughts on Crossfit 

We shouldn’t forget what Crossfit is all about. It is “constantly varied functional movements executed at a high intensity”. It is comprised of weightlifting, gymnastics and endurance exercises and aims to establish broad, general and inclusive fitness and not to make you look bulky. The main goal is to allow you to pursue a healthy and active lifestyle that enables you to succeed in your every day life. This can be playing with your kids, going on a bicycle trip with your friends or simply carrying up the shopping bags to your apartment a little bit easier than before. One of the things that I noticed right after I started Crossfit three years ago was that every day got much easier. I remember that I had the feeling that I was literally flying up the stairs and carrying suitcases up and down became an enjoyable activity.


Soeren Salomo is the co-owner and head coach of Reebok Crossfit Duna in Budapest, Hungary and this article was originally published on its blog and was re-published with the author’s permission.

The post Will Crossfit Make Me Look Bulky? appeared first on BOXROX.


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