I joined a gym 5 weeks ago and have been training with a female trainer 2 days a week, doing 30 minutes weight training sessions. I’m so sick of people in the business saying women can’t get bigger because I am. I told her I don’t want to be any bigger in terms of total size. I want to be smaller but firm! Now, my jeans are so tight in my thighs that I really can’t wear them, even though I see fat loss around my belly and firmness everywhere. What is happening? Is this just not for me? Should I be doing pilates? Is my genetic makeup for getting muscular more easily? I want to give this a fair chance, but I’m so annoyed that my clothes aren’t fitting! It’s very inconvenient to say the least. Any thoughts?
Caroline, Sacramento, CA
You didnt give me the specifics of your routine, so without knowing what you are doing, I can only make general suggestions.
The first thing I would point to is that you aren’t doing enough cardio. I dont know if you are or aren’t, but you should be getting in at least 30 minutes 5 days a week (or an hour 3 days, etc- you can slice it up however you want.) Lifting weights is given too much credit in the calorie burning department, even though yes more muscle burns calories at rest, and you CAN get your heart rate up high enough during weight training that it can count as cardio, but you really have to work at it and basically never let your heart rate drop. You have to burn calories to drop weight (or prevent weight gain), and you have to do cardio in order to do that.
You also might be eating too much. If you have adjusted your intake because of your workouts, primarily to eat more calories, this can be the culprit (especially if not doing cardio.) Again, people overestimate calorie burn, and unless you are burning more than 500 calories a day, you usually don’t need to eat more (this is a general statement for the average exerciser- athletes are different.)
2 days week, 30 minutes of weights is not enough to be gaining enough muscle size. You can be gaining muscle, especially if you weren’t lifting weights prior, but you shouldnt be gaining size- you are gaining strength. If your rep range for your exercises is around 10-15, this is definately true. If you are lifting weights heavy enough that you can only do 6-8 reps, then lighten the weights. Some women are more easily able to get muscular than other women, its a hormone thing, but even for them, they have to be doing a lot more weight lifting than that- thats barely the recommended amount of strength training just to be healthy (medical and fitness professionals recommend 2-3 days of strength training per week.)
Be honest with your trainer- thats what they are there for, and that’s why you are paying them. Tell them you are uncomfortable, and you want answers. Ask why you are doing everything you are doing- and tell them the results you want. Something is missing- my guess is its cardio or food, but they may have you lifting too heavy of weights. Tell your trainer you want to switch it up, try more cardio based exercises (which you can still do while lifting weights- like doing circuits or cutting the weights down real low and doing plyometrics, or full body, fast paced movements with weights to get your heart rate up.) If you arent exercising beyond your two day a week sessions, you really need to be. Get in some cardio, try a pilates class, which developes muscles differently (longer and leaner) or find something else, but you really need to be working out 4-5 days a week.
I know thats a frustrating answer, but I dont know your workout routine- your trainer does. If you dont trust them, or if they cant answer your questions to your satisfaction, or you feel like they dont listen to you- you need to move on from them. Training isnt really a “Im the prfessional, do as I say” type relationship, its a “im here to help you, tell me what you want, Ill do my best to get you there, but we are probably going to have to make some changes along the way.” They should be responsive to that, so if not, again, move on.