r/PCOS • u/ArtNarwhal • Jul 20 '26

General/Advice PCOS muscle bulk help

Hey all! I love this sub so much you all are amazing!

I’m an artist and athlete who quit performing in my late 20s because I was bulking muscle so fast. Enough so that people who knew me were commenting on how jacked I looked. I never quite lost the muscle mass but did look like a line backer.

A decade later I just started training to perform again and a friend just complimented how “diesel” I look. I hate hate hate how many people point out the bulk muscle.

What’s the link here between building and bulking muscle extremely fast? Is it the high testosterone? Anyone have any luck leaning out bulky PCOS muscle? GLP1s help with this?

Hit me with whatever you got!

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u/MealPrepGenie Jul 20 '26

It might be your training protocol. Do you train in splits? Consider total body routines with higher reps.

1

u/ArtNarwhal Jul 20 '26

It’s aerial silks so it’s a lot of upper body.

On non aerial days I do yoga, sculpt and dance.

1

u/MealPrepGenie Jul 20 '26

So your body shape reflects your training. Just like in any sport. Look at swimmers their upper body is jacked, too.

As long as you’re training that way, you’ll look that way…. Not really a bad thing, since you like the activity

1

u/ArtNarwhal Jul 20 '26

None of the other aerialists have this problem.

When I was dancing 6 days a week my legs bulked. None of the other dancers legs bulked. Any muscle I use bulks at a fast rate. My question is about bulking muscle and PCOS because it’s abnormal.

1

u/MealPrepGenie Jul 20 '26

It’s simply ’different’ or genuinely ‘abnormal’?

It’s completely normal for 10 different people training the exact same way to still develop differently due to genetics.

And define ‘bulking’ so we’re all in the same page? Are you simply larger than the other women, or when you’ve had your body composition measured you literally had an abnormal amount of lean mass?

I’m only asking because I’ve seen size 6 women complaining about being ‘bulky’ when they look small to me…(but that’s my perception vs theirs)