Not Building Muscle
Last week after one of my spin classes a woman asked me a most unusual question, “How can I work out without building muscle?” Hmm. I had to think about that. For a while. Wait, why would you not want to build muscle? She said she builds muscle very easily (indeed some people do) and has a hard time fitting into her clothing. I must point out that she was beautiful and had a fantastic, athletic body. So…why would you not want to build muscle again?
I googled “how to not build muscle” and didn’t find a single thing on it. I found a lot on “Build more muscle, burn more fat,” “Lose weight, build muscle FAST,” etc. So I have to go on my own experience in yoga and fitness. If you do physical activity, you will build some degree of muscle because there isn’t a way to not use your muscles, even in yoga. However, if you are going for a leaner appearance, I recommend concentrating on endurance-based exercise (long distance running, elliptical machines, yoga, spinning) Think marathon runners here. The muscle fibers used for endurance don’t “bulk,” but are ever present indeed. The stretching in yoga class will help by lengthening the muscles, but you will still firm them up in some of the postures.
My other thought about this was to love what you have! Like I said, this woman had a wonderful body and she’s asking me how to not build muscle while we stand amongst sweaty gym folk pushing weights at the machines. People who build muscle easily tend to have very strong and powerful muscles. Think softball and soccer players. Last time I checked people work very hard to make their muscles stronger and more powerful. Embrace your wonderful qualities and even though we can admire what other people look like, it’s impossible to be like them. Why would you want to? Get the next size up in jeans to be more comfortable (it’s just a number), or squeeze into the snugger size and make heads turn everywhere. Either way, you win!
Do exercise you love and makes you feel good. Trust me, you’ll be healthy and hot.