Switching to sculpt/low weight workouts to lean out?

[virtualhope]

I’m not loving how built and bulky I look from lifting weights. I use heavier dumbbells 4-5x a week (20+) via Obe app power and strength classes and spin once a week (I LOVE it and have been doing spin for 12 years). I’m 38, 5’1 and 130 and while I don’t look chubby, I look quite built and bulky.

Id love to lean out. I build muscle quickly and I’m wondering if I should completely change my workouts to sculpt type with higher reps and lighter weights + using lighter DBs for my strength classes. Any thoughts?

Edited to add: Obviously I know I need to tighten up with my macros, but the last time I did a cut I lost 3 lb in 3 months and didn’t see much of a change.

Currently at 1523 cal, always over 10,000 steps a day, 120 oz water, 128 G protein daily with no issues.

 

[panda0301]

@virtualhope I’m 30, 4’11” and sitting around 126 right now. I spent the last three years cutting and bulking with a 4 to 5 day split of heavy weight training. I finally leaned out this past 6 to 9 months and the major differences I did was continue my high-protein diet, lower my carb and fat intake just a bit (dinners are now protein filled salads) but I believe the major difference for me was adding cardio after my lift. I do the 12-3-30 method on a treadmill and I’m pretty damn lean, abs visible in the morning, I fit into all my 0/00 clothes again, but I’ve got more ass and muscles that I know what to do with

The first two years of my cut/bulk cycle, I got pretty damn bulky and I hated the way I looked and didn’t fit into any of my clothing. Even when I went through my first two cut cycles, I still felt like I wasn’t lean enough. I’m expecting to go into a mini bulk since it’s winter where I’m at, but I’m lean bulking from here on out really. Lean bulk for me means I’m focusing on high proteins still, and a medium allowance of carbs and fats versus high like I do during a bulk. Daily cardio after my lift is also staying.

 

[virtualhope]

@panda0301 How does that look for you in terms of working out time? I don’t have an hour daily. I do an hour of working out 2x a week, spin 1x a week (I was an instructor before COVID where I did 5-7 spin classes a week ), and the other 3 work outs range from 30-45 min. I don’t mind adding in hiit or endurance cardio, or even boxing, but my time is limited. Thanks!

 

[panda0301]

@virtualhope Unfortunately My upper body days are 2 hours and leg days are 3-4 hours, including cardio. I’m trying to minimize my time more with the anticipation of a future family, but right now I’m going hard.

If I was limited to an hour, I would do all of my stretching at home. I spend 10 to 20 minutes stretching my full body but with a focus on what I’m hitting that day, makes a big difference with injuries and landing your max PR‘s. I would have all of my workouts lined up in my head and stick to 3x12. On upper body days I’d only do a 30 second rest between reps, and leg days 1 minute. Sounds like with your time, you should be doing cardio at home. Figure out how to do a low-medium intensity, ~30 minutes worth of steady cardio. That might be jump roping, fast walking on treadmill, walking or running outside, or dancing for 45 minutes. You can still train like an athlete with your limited time. Impress yourself, you deserve it.

 

[toonsense]

@panda0301 Oh wow that's an impressive amount of time! Do you eat or drink a protein shake in between? I sometimes have two hour sessions because I don't want to stop training because I enjoy it, but in the back of my mind I have this 'rule' that training is not effective after 60 or 90 minutes because your energy runs out. I sometimes think about snacking in between but don't want to bring food to the gym

 

[panda0301]

@toonsense I had the same question when I first ran across a bodybuilder I know that also has a 2 to 4 hour gym routine. He said it’s really unnecessary unless it’s a placebo thing for you and it helps you train better. I used to bring a banana in with me, but I just stick to taking my pre-work out in the first 10 minutes of arriving to the gym. I also have a really good meal prior to working out. Not gonna lie, I’m dead at the end of my workouts, I lift really heavy, into the 300s on my leg day, and I sweat, I’m out of breath and I shake every single set l since I’ve really started to slow my tempo and focus on mind muscle connection. Leaves me absolutely exhausted and sore for days, but I’m definitely reaping the rewards with my gains.

 

[loveyhwh]

@virtualhope You probably just need to do a mini cut

 

[virtualhope]

@loveyhwh Any ideas? I’m open to it all!

 

[loveyhwh]

@virtualhope It sounds to me like you should do a cut. I don’t think you should change your training. You say your current calories are 1523. Those sound like cutting calories? Surely that’s not your maintenance calories… ? At your weight and activity level, I’d say your maintenance calories have to be at least around 2000 or 2100. If you’re gauging your maintenance calories right now at 1500, something is off. Maybe you’re either not tracking accurately or consistently enough. Use a food scale and track every bite you put in your mouth. If you do a 6-12 week cut eating 1550 calories and keep your protein high I think you could definitely lean out and not feel so “bulky”.

 

[jacob2848]

@virtualhope Weight is a function of calories in vs calories out, not the type of exercise you do. Your composition of lean mass vs fat mass gain or loss can be altered by dialing in nutrition, but looking "bulky" isn't the result of lifting heavy nor will taking a "sculpt" class lean you out.

The first thing I'm noticing is how specific your calorie amount is. When setting calories, I typically go in increments of 100, maybe dipping down to 50s, but certainly never adjusting the figure in the ones place. The variation of calories per food item vs what's listed along with the variation in how many calories an individual will actually absorb and utilize (both hormones and mechanical differences like chewing come into play here) mean this is really splitting hairs to a degree that is useless.

Next, how certain are you that you are only eating 1523 calories a day? Because I'm only an inch taller than you and older and 1600-1800 are my cutting calories. If you are quite certain about adherence, especially as someone carrying a lot of muscle, I would potentially be talking to my doctor about getting my hormones checked. This would be different if you were that age/height/weight and sedentary, but considering you're getting 10k steps a day and strength training 4-5 days a week, I would expect you to be losing weight at these calories. Do you suffer from something like PCOS? Because women with PCOS often need to drop calories a bit lower than the rest of us because of hormonal differences. They also tend to put muscle on more easily as a result of increased testosterone associated with the disorder.

 

[virtualhope]

@jacob2848 Also, I track my macros. I had 3 different macro counts which were all in the same deficit range. They were calculated based off carbs/proteins/fats. I still struggle with eating more carbs than indicated. Like I said, I need to tighten up. So my calories are likely falling towards 1700. I don’t do anything outrageous with regards to eating.

 

[jacob2848]

@virtualhope I still think it would be worthwhile to have your hormone levels checked. The numbers don't add up, your maintenance should be around 1900-2100. At 1700, I would expect you to be losing weight. Slowly losing weight, but still seeing the scale trending downwards over time. Where on your body do you tend to hold body fat? Is it more hips, butt, and/or back of the arms, or do you see more accumulation near the midsection? Is your cycle regular? Do you notice your periods being very painful or heavy? I don't mean to tmi you, but I'm in your age group (I'm 42) and have had several friends recently discover that they struggle with PCOS, so it's been on my mind.

 

[virtualhope]

@jacob2848 So I have an iud- haven’t had a “real” period, but since I’m nearing the end of my iud time I spot every 28-30 days. When I had a real period - years and years ago before bc - I had regular ones, nothing unusual. I tend to carry my weight in my arms and back…so I guess I’m not loving the boulder shoulder look! Is there a specific hormone test to ask my dr for? Years ago I had my thyroid tested and it was fine but again, it was over 10 years ago.

 

[jacob2848]

@virtualhope Hmm, that sounds like everything is fine. If overly muscular shoulders are the biggest issue, potentially lay off shoulder dominant movements. Like drop overhead press, shoulder press, delt flys. Are your shoulders really bouldery, like with super capped delts? Or is it more that you have large traps that slope into the delts? I have struggled with this second one for a long time, and personally, I found that working my middle back and focusing on posture has made a big difference. I feel like biking might have increased my tendency to round my shoulders, and while I don't know a lot about spin, I could see it being similar.

As to hormonal imbalances, I don't have a lot of info. If you are curious about looking further into it with your doctor, I would basically just tell them about the conversations you've had in this reddit thread. That you had some physique goals you posted questions about, and in the resulting conversations, it came up that you don't seem to be burning as many calories in a day as expected and the potential for something hormonal like PCOS came up and you are wondering if your iud might be masking the symptoms. But the fact that you don't hold most of your weight more centrally is now making me lean away from the potential for PCOS. Having more of an apple shape tends to be fairly common with that.

 

[virtualhope]

@jacob2848 Thank you again! I am very straight- virtually no waist and hips, just straight down and short torso. I totally scrunch up my shoulders and just appear bigger up top and especially at my last. I would say back fat in that area is one of my biggest irks!

 

[virtualhope]

Just as a side note: I REALLY appreciate the information, kindness, and overall positivity of not just this thread but of a lot of the others I’ve read on this sub!

 

[bethany35]

@virtualhope I'm going against the grain here, but I think it is a myth that women can't get bulky lifting weights without trying really hard. Some of us are just more likely to put on muscle and there is nothing wrong with preferring a different look.

Women post in here regularly who look amazing but definitely have a bulkier look than I prefer for myself.

I'm pretty lean and I am thrilled with my muscle definition from cardio-heavy exercise. I do cardio kickboxing (gives me great arms), spin, lots of walking and I occasionally do a Body Pump (low weight, high rep) class.

You know yourself best. Experiment a little bit and see what you think of your results.

 

[virtualhope]

@bethany35 So this is where I was getting at. I’ve been in the fitness industry as a side job for 14 years on and off. I KNOW the absolute benefits of lifting weights. I’m wondering if it’s worth changing my entire workout routine to see if any body changes are possible (besides tightening up my nutrition). I’m just scared that I’ll lose strength - but maybe that’s ok? I’ve been so conditioned to think that I need to push my limits with regards to lifting dumbbells….

 

[lostsoul777]

@bethany35 Dude. This. I’m honestly pretty upset at the the somewhat frequent dismissal of “it’s hard to get bulky as a woman”. When I weight train and count my macros correctly, my leg muscles grow fastest on any part of my body. I look extremely muscular, and it makes me incredibly self conscious. The few times I’ve looked for resources in this group have led to people berating others on how “it’s hard to get bulky as a woman”. Lol

 

[bethany35]

@lostsoul777 And let me guess… probably also a comment or two about how it is wrong to be self conscious about being extremely muscular and why are you caving to unreasonable beauty standards.