Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Looking Leaner With Out Bulking?

Ok so I know that some people don't want to bulk up and look like a body builder i.e. they don't want to look like the guy below.
















They want to look lean, but not bulky.  i.e. they might want to look like this.



In the olden days and now the incorrect thinking is that the difference between the two is that the male above lifts heavy weights at low reps and the woman is lifting low weights at high reps.  That information is incorrect thinking now.  Muscle is muscle and lowering your weight and upping your reps only lengthens your workout.  Now some people don't mind having longer workouts, but for most people time is a commodity and you don't want to workout any longer then needed.


Now what the difference between the two is that yes one has more muscle, but they also have a different levels of fat covering the muscle.  What needs to happen for most people is that they need to increase muscle mass and decrease fat or Recomposition.

Muscle growth is best at a caloric surplus, but at a surplus there is a chance you could be gaining muscle and fat.  So the goal is to eat enough calories that you build muscle without having the scale move at all.  As you get stronger and go up in lifting numbers you are building muscle, but if the scale isn't going up as well then you are gaining muscle. 

So for people that don't want to "Bulk" you need to really change your way of thinking.  You still want to increase muscle mass, but you want to remove the fat that covers your muscles.  Keep calories at maintenance, lift weights and keep your cardio up.  In order to keep your muscle mass up and lower fat will get you the lean look that you are going for.