Muscles

This question is for both the ladies and the men.

How much importance do you place on muscles?

To the men - how important is it for you to have muscle mass, and how much?

To the ladies - how much (or how little) muscle do you like in men? How about in yourself?

Often people associate being muscular with being big and bulky. I must say I don't care for that look in anyone. It personally think it looks stupid, but to each their own. However, I think men should have at least a fair amount of muscle mass. To me, the weak scrawny look in men doesn't look good, but it seems like some women like that look.

Me, personally, I strive to maintain a muscular, but lean and toned physique. Definition is more important than size. I don't strive to have the bulked up look of someone who spends hours each day in the gym or takes human growth hormone, but I think having some muscle is more attractive than being skinny. I was scrawny for most of my life, before becoming obese in my early 20s. It wasn't until the last couple of years, since I began lifting weights and exercising regularly, that I have put on a fair amount of muscle.

Also, I think women can work out and have a decent amount of muscle, while still maintaining a toned but feminine physique.

It just seems like people usually associate muscles with bulked up dudebros with little brain matter, and I think that is a myth that should be dispelled. To me, having some muscle mass is a sign of good health and fitness, for both men and women alike.

 

Im tiny strong. like bruce lee minus the 12pack.. my stomach solid tho, but not nearly as rippled. ive strong legs from army years. I am 40lbs lighter than I was in the army. I come in now 150Lbs. Im not eating that food or have a routine that requires much lifting. Even tho MS puts the brakes on me some. I can scamper up a tree, fence, quick as shit. And usually out maneuver any attacker. I dont need to be muscly strong.

 

Just As Any Self Respecting Squirrel Does...:2thumbsup:



Cheers Glen.

 

It is important to me to meet any situation with aplomb and I am not concerned with whether or not I look pleasing to the flesh merchants. I am quite thin, a yoga practitioner and I chop wood and carry water. Peace goes before me so not much call for scampering and have turtle like stamina in a race. I have experienced no shortage of female companions and have fended off many male glances as well. No one has ever praised me for my physic but they have proven fond of the way I carry myself. I think spending time on the pros and cons of body beautiful is much ado about not much.

 

One of the guys on the man show once said you shouldnt exercise unless you are trying to beat someone in a competition. I only disagree with that for basic health reasons. I exercise to stay healthy. And shouldnt everyone...but to muscle build, the days that being strong were needed are mostly past. Now we have tools that make up for any weaknesses. I would like to be slightly more muscular but aint nobody got time for that. I used to work out to be better at hockey. Did it for about a year and couldnt see a difference. I was stronger at the end but looked the same.

 

Good question, PR. I was recently asking people.
My amt of muscle mass has fluctuated substantially over the yrs.
I've gone from pretty thin (internal martial arts) to slightly muscle bound.
A muscle weight difference of several stone ie several times 14lbs.

For me it depends on various things. Your height and frame, what hobbies you are into, your leanness/ripped factor. How much time I have spare (not just to train, but get the extra sleep and nutrition etc) and what any relevant female/s have to say : D

I'm 5'11, maybe a little more. So I think 12 stone can be ok. But 13, or 13.5 is ok. 14 stone is prob a bit heavy unless I was playing sthg like rugby. 15 stone a little too much. But if I was a boxer, I'd wanna be 15 stone (and therefore too heavy for most things).

Because my main sport is martial arts, I'm not obsessed with bulk. It can be very counterproductive and unnec. But I can put on muscle v quickly, so I do change my opinions as to my ideal build.

I think muscle on women is pretty bizarre. I think slim, even skinny frames look best on them.

 

To me, aesthetics aren't that important.. I've been a scrawny little shit for most of my life, but I had a trip a couple of years ago that really made me realise what an amazing fricken tool your body actually is, so, I started using it. Since then, I'm not huge, but I'm pretty toned. My metabolisms on speed, which helps.
I only really do calisthenics, because it's more important to me that my body can actually work as a whole as efficiently as possible.. I don't see the point in isolating muscles to build them individually, they might look pretty, but they're kinda pointless since they don't know how to work together.

I subscribe to the philosophy that "power is nothing without control". Balance and agility are equally as important as strength.

 

Functional strength is more important to me than visible muscle.

 

i'm pretty damn skinny, with minimal muscle mass

i've always been that way, and i'm ok with it. i've lifted weights for awhile in the past, and it's really hard for me to put on muscle. i think i would have to eat a lot more protein.

i guess i can't be bothered by really working out. but i stay in shape by riding my bike and going for walks - things that i enjoy and don't really look at as a workout.

the little muscle i do have, has always been pretty toned.

 

Muscle doesn't matter much to me in a guy. I want a partner that can keep up with me, doesn't matter what he looks like. Someone I can go to the gym with, hike with, etc.

As for me--I have a small frame and I'm somewhat toned. I don't take time and try to build muscle, but I do have some as a natural product of my lifestyle. Being strong is sort of irrelevant, I think.

 

Personally I place little importance on them myself. Perhaps a bit too little. It's just that I don't really strive to look like anything. This does not mean I don't like to look presentable I just am content with my appearance and the (relatively little) effort I make now. I like how it comes pretty much naturally to me now. I guess I (and the people around me) find my looks and strength suitable enough.

To me it seems people have quite a normal view here. Yes there are bulked up guys here too of course, but in my experience people generally seem to have an agreeable idea on muscles. As in having some muscle mass is a sign of good health and fitness indeed.

 

I have very strong, muscular legs..the mot muscular part of my body.......They do the work for me, and I rely on them.

 

When I see a guy who has huge muscles, it makes me wonder about his priorities and intelligence. Most people have better things to do, and need a little more mental stimulation than the endless repetition of lifting heavy weights for many hours a week.

You can be in great shape without having muscles that bulge. None of the men in this week's Olympic pairs figure skating events have looked like body builders, but they have no trouble lifting 105 pound girls over their heads and throwing them ten feet across the ice. That's athletic enough for me. Sometimes, I see a bodybuilder or NFL linebacker and think it would be great to see him naked, but that's where my interest ends.

Around here, the bodybuilder look for women hasn't caught on at all, except with a few individuals who fit the "trailer trash" stereotype, including extremely dark tans and bad grammar. As long as I don't look or feel flabby, I think that's good enough.

 

They appears to be a global (western) epidemic. Yes, they are still outnumbered in most places but you can find them now anywhere!
But although the bulky ones may be overly present in some places I still don't see that they are the most praised kind of muscled (sp) or athletic people. To PR: Perhaps they are only overly abundant in the gym?

 

Where you are, do men show much interest in women who look like that? I don't see that happening at all. My husband finds them repulsive. For some people, maybe it's some kind of a fetish. I don't understand what's going on there. I don't think many of them are lesbians.

 

where i am it isnt a turn off but it is also not a turn on...more like its just it is what it is....or should i say she is what she is. but most people of course like someone that is fit looking.

 

Like I said they are a minority but yes, it seems the more bulky men go for the fake tanned trashy looking ladies here. I think I understand but I am definately not attracted to them either. I was wondering what being lesbian might have to do with it but most of those women seem to be really straight indeed

 

But men don't go for the bodybuilder type of women, I think that's what she was aksing

 

Ah ok, no they don't at all (in general)! The cliché (and actual reality) seems to be here as well that bulky tanned men tend to go for slim girls with fake big tits and blond hair extensions (and tanned of course, fake or not as long as it seems the desired light brown they seem happy)

 

Alternate perspectives and personal tastes with regard to gender identities, roles, attitudes, appearances, whatever. Some lesbians do various things to make themselves look more masculine, by the most common definition of the word. I don't think that is what's going on in this case.

With any kind of a fetish or nonstandard interest, it's going to be almost impossible for an outsider to understand.