26/05/2026
I want to talk about the lie that has kept more women away from the one thing that would genuinely change their health than anything else I can think of.
The idea that lifting weights will make you bulky.
It won't. And I want to explain why — properly — because I've been coaching women for over 20 years and this belief still comes up in nearly every first conversation I have.
Where the myth came from:
Fitness culture in the 80s and 90s was built around the idea that women should be small. Cardio was for women. Weights were for men. "Toning" became the acceptable middle ground — light weights, high reps, nothing that might make you look "too muscular."
That advice wasn't just wrong. It was actively counterproductive for the goals most women actually had.
Here's the science, simply:
Women don't have the testosterone levels required to build the kind of muscle mass associated with "bulking." A man trying to build bulk trains specifically for that outcome, eats a significant calorie surplus, and often still finds it difficult. For women, the hormonal environment simply doesn't support that kind of hypertrophy — not accidentally, and certainly not from a few sessions of resistance training.
What lifting does do — for women, at any age, at any starting point — is this:
It builds muscle definition. It increases your resting metabolic rate (so you burn more calories at rest). It strengthens your bones and reduces osteoporosis risk. It improves insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation. It builds physical and psychological confidence that transfers into every other area of your life.
The "toning" myth deserves its own paragraph: there is no such thing as toning. Toning is building muscle and reducing body fat at the same time. The only way to do that is resistance training and adequate protein. Light weights and endless cardio will not tone you. They will exhaust you, and then not much will happen.
And finally: you don't have to get fit before you start lifting. This is the one that breaks my heart the most, because I've watched so many women wait — for months, for years — thinking they need to be ready before they can begin. Lifting is how you get fit. The first session is exactly where readiness starts.
If any of this is landing for you — I'd love to talk.
I work with women who are at the very beginning (never touched a weight in their lives) through to women who've been training for years and want better results. 1-on-1 in Mount Compass, small group sessions, and online coaching across Australia.
Send me a message, or drop a comment below.
And tell me — has the "bulky" fear ever stopped you from picking up a weight? I'd genuinely love to know. 🖤
— Hayley
