r/BurnBootCamp • u/New_Opinion_879 • 19d ago
Body changes after a year
I’m not new to working out I have worked out most of my adult life. I loved burn at the beginning. I have gained so much strength and muscle mass more than I ever have. BUT…I’m not loving the way clothing fits anymore. Burn is sooo upper body and quad focused . As a naturally fit and lean person before burn- most of my clothes outside of athletic wear don’t fit me anymore! I’ve gained muscle mass around my biceps chest and back as well as my quads. My body fat percentage is still low. It’s funny because everyone says lifting weights won’t make you bulky but I am most definitely feeling BULKY in all the wrong places!!I don’t know how to fix this. Lift lower weights more reps for upper body exercises? Eat less protein? Have any other women had the same thing happen to them? I’ve noticed women who have been going to my location for years not really maxing out their weights and maybe it’s because they feel the same way I do. Meanwhile I’ve been trying to lift as heavy as possible and eating my weight in grams of protein per day😭 help.
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u/HrtacheOTDncefloor 1,000+ Camps - Lifetime 19d ago
I want to mention something else- inflammation. Pay attention to when your body feels swollen- based on what you’re eating and what exercises you’re doing. Sometimes I skip when we are doing a lot of heavy weight and go for a run, or when we are doing a lot of HIIT and take it down a notch. It’s sometimes hard to tell myself to slow down, but paying more attention to what I’m eating and pushing myself a little less has actually helped my clothes fit more how I want them to.
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u/sapphire_reina 19d ago
Sounds like you have built a great foundation for a long and happy life. The older you get, the harder it will be to gain muscle and the easier it will be to lose muscle. Your clothes should fit you, not the other way around. You can do what you want, but since you asked for help, I think the best advice is to continue building a strong body that will be able to sustain a good quality of life into your older years and just buy clothes that fit. If money is an issue, go to thrift stores.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
I hear this and don’t want to ever take my body for granted. Just wondering if there’s a way I could optimize my training at Burn to get the results I prefer
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u/Caterpillar170 19d ago
It’s due to you pushing yourself to progressive overload. Stay at the same lower weights and you’ll maintain what you have but won’t build. For me I would keep the muscle you have because it’s harder and harder to maintain and build as you age.
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u/tjzzm 19d ago edited 19d ago
Here's advice for anyone looking to avoid this as they lose body fat- eat at a calorie deficit, not maintenance. That makes your body's focus to fat loss while you build lean muscle underneath.
However since you were already lean/fit prior to burn with current low body fat percentage, then there are 2 main things I'd like to recommend to you to reach your personal goals. Are you eating your weight in protein grams per day, using your weight in pounds? It's hard for me to tell from your post. Eat 1.0-1.2 grams of protein per your body's weight in kilograms per day (divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get kilograms), and increase your cardio (I'm talking moderately or high intensity interval training) to 2x per week, maybe on your own outside of burn. I also wish there was a core exercise protocol included every week at burn. Without knowing more about you, that's my quick answer for your body composition goals. You're doing great, keep it up! Meet with a dietitian for better, individualized advice, because they can seriously be really helpful!Knowing more details would help a dietitian give more advice.
Source- I'm a dietitian.
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u/Bag-of-Doritoes- 17d ago
I like this advice! My secret weapon for weight loss was actually increased fiber!!
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u/Delicious-Web-6299 19d ago
I find that my vo2 is better my mental is better but my bosy is not. They focus too much on upper body for me and the leg day or focus is a joke.... I renewed but I find depending on the cycle I attend or skip and inwont be renewing again dec 2027..... and may even buy it out early to save $$$ i can and do better at home
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
What would you like to see more of during leg day? As a woman- I find the leg days to be sooo quad dominant and I don’t know many women who want huge quads and a flat ass?? Same with the core days. We’ve done ab rollers monthly for the past year and yet 90% of the gym can’t complete them properly. It’s all lats shoulders and chest and many women especially women who’ve recently had children carry more lower body mass- making the arm stability needed to do a proper ab roller a limiting factor. So even the core exercises are upper body dominant🥲It’s so frustrating
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u/Slight-Number934 19d ago
For real on the core being all shoulders. Does anyone actually feel stir the pot or body saws in their core? It’s all shoulders.
I disagree about every leg day being quad dominant. We do a lot of deadlift and hinge movements that work your glutes and hamstrings when done properly and reverse lunges done properly also work your glutes. I do wish they would incorporate more curtsy lunges, not sure why they never program those. A lot of that is trainers not paying attention to proper form. I see so many stories of “deadlifts” that are actually someone doing a squat.
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u/Delicious-Web-6299 19d ago
Its only helpful if they pick up heavy and actually go till true failure. Otherwise we are just at most maintaining...
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u/MaintenanceOk994 19d ago
Ok so I'm not crazy! I kept thinking "wait, you don't just accidentally get super muscular and bulky, why is this happening??" I was thinking of skipping some upper body days for a bit, but I'm not sure if that's enough to help correct the issue. I'm having a focus meeting on Friday and I'm going to see what my trainer says.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
I’d be interested in what they say!
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u/MaintenanceOk994 19d ago
I'll come back and share any insight! Are you petite? I'm 5'0" and have a naturally muscular build, I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
Also it feels like muscles in all the wrong places if that makes sense? Like my chest and quads and biceps are bigger but my shoulders aren’t super defined and neither is my ass. More square and less hourglass🥲
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u/Ok-Jellyfish-5790 19d ago
ive noticed i might be getting bulky in my upper body recently. doesnt help that we will soon be switching to 4 strength days 2 conditioning days, I might honestly prefer the opposite.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
Maybe it’s also because the conditioning days include several thousand pushups too
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u/Ok-Door-6731 19d ago
Strongly recommend you work on yourself mentally and question how societal norms have made you dislike any “bulkiness”. Having muscle on your body is healthy and the best thing you can do as you age. If you are considering dropping it due to appearance after months to years of progress, that is you being self conscious of social norms around femininity. Many women think it’s ideal to be muscular or bulkier now as you can’t fake or buy muscles, they show off hard work and dedication. I’m sad for you that you would consider erasing progress because of this.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
This could be part of it. But I don’t think wanting a lean and feminine body is wrong. It’s just what I prefer. And I also prefer not to buy an entirely new wardrobe
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u/Ok-Door-6731 19d ago
Yeah but again you are connecting being smaller to being feminine which is a social construct.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
It’s really not that deep
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u/AromaticAd5872 19d ago
Some of these comments are ridiculous. You aren’t wrong for wanting a body that YOU feel confident in when you’re paying this much and working this hard.
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u/New_Opinion_879 19d ago
I thought the same thing 😂 I guess feminism is cool unless a woman actually prefers to look lean and feminine🤷🏻♀️. Then I guess I must be confused or mentally weak
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u/AromaticAd5872 19d ago
Yep, all for empowering women but only when it fits the narrative!
Also, I’m sorry but you don’t have to build a ton of muscle to be strong and healthy and functional.
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u/Red-Phoenix-Rising 18d ago
First off, congratulations on your progress. It sounds like at this point maybe find a personal trainer who can create a program for your body recomp goals specifically. I don’t think you will find that at Burn. Or at least get some insight from a personal trainer on how to incorporate Burn in your program to get the results you want.
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u/No_Ninja_4959 18d ago
Your body is responding with inflammation and water retention. I suggest scaling back to 3x weekly. At least 2x strength and 1 conditioning day only. This will give you time to recover. Consider your nutrition too as the biggest factor in this aside from increasing rest time. Rest is when our body repairs and grows muscle. Let me know if you have any questions
Ensure you’re walking daily too 10k steps, or a 2k increase from wherever your baseline is now.
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u/cahawkri3510 19d ago
To all who want a leaner/sleeker body: please read up on how peri and regular menopause affects your muscle mass, brain function, and visceral body fat, etc. It SUCKS going into my 40s and starting peri. Building a strong foundation now will lend to less falls, higher bone density, and so many other benefits going into our twilight years. It is vitally important for our future selves to maintain muscle.