# Muscular Women **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069 "2012-07-13T00:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![L.mo5rg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@L.mo5rg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/L.mo5rg)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/81 "2012-07-14T00:04:45Z")
Voted indifferent, but I think from the photo you linked a little less than that would be better, but I wouldn’t so far as to call it repulsive, but it is leaning that way. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/82 "2012-07-14T00:10:50Z")
Why the hate for bulging veins? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/83 "2012-07-14T00:20:08Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Why the hate for bulging veins? I don’t know but I have found that for me, a male, they seem to be a source of attraction-albeit not a major one-for females, _in real life._ Probably because you can’t have bulging veins without very low body fat and good muscle tone. I have also found that _online_, women seem to say that such attributes are a definite turn-off. I won’t speak to the possible reasons for this disparity. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/84 "2012-07-14T00:20:12Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > You guys seriously all think [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbL5UHJd1Q) is repulsive? You all also realize that immediately after a workout, your body retains a lot of veinyness and definition so while there are plenty of women who do have extremely muscularized bodies, there’s no guarantee that the She-Ra you see at the gym is going to look like that at dinner 5 hours later. I find her unattractive (but not repulsive) in the OP but she’s great in the video you linked. I seriously doubt the girl you see in that video walks into a gym, works out for several hours and comes out looking like she does in the picture in the OP. More likely the pictures were taken at least months apart at different points in her training season. It’s exactly what **Ambivalid** is always harping on about, with bodybuilders going from alien-looking to normal-looking when they’re in off-season or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/85 "2012-07-14T00:22:01Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > I’m straight and that works just fine for me. I like a woman who can keep up with me physically. You’ve posted pics of yourself on the forum before. No offense; you’d get your ass handed to you. 😃 (as would I) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/86 "2012-07-14T00:26:18Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > And, of course, a female body builder who is show ready… will also be thoroughly dehydrated… . Slight nitpick…But this is only true of non-natural bodybuilders. It is due to the water-retention effects of certain steroids that necessitates this dehydrating. Natural, drug-tested bodybuilders _do not_ dehydrate at any point pre-contest (or at least they shouldnt). ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/87 "2012-07-14T07:37:25Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Why the hate for bulging veins? Because nobody looks at an attractive woman and says “Gee, look at the circulatory system on her!” Bulging veins are not something I associate with healthy people - you’d be more inclined to imagine them on someone about to give themselves a heart attack - and aren’t attractive in their own right. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/88 "2012-07-14T08:31:10Z")
> [@Ephemera](#): > > A wise choice, as sleeping with a woman like the one in the OP wouldn’t be anything like sleeping with a man. What ever floats your boat. I’m attracted to the traditional female form; slender and curvy. Not hulking and massive. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/89 "2012-07-14T11:14:41Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You’ve posted pics of yourself on the forum before. No offense; you’d get your ass handed to you. 😃 (as would I) In cardio you bet! I’ve got no gym-style endurance at all (though for some reason I can work all day physically- it’s mental I’m sure of it). Hell, she’d probably whup me good at a bunch of iso weight exercises as well. My training has been focused on just mass and power, so I don’t really care about definition or body sculpting. I train my muscle groups to work together rather than isolating them for specific gains. In pure power we are probably about equal, and I find that sexy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/90 "2012-07-14T18:20:37Z")
> [@Dr.Love](#): > > Look at this video of [strong ladies lifting like girls](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilHRhAYS5d4). Exactly. The women in the video (one or two of whom are actually pretty slight) are strong, fit women. And there’s more to weightlifting than muscle mass – there’s technique to be learned, too. I don’t doubt that I am, on the simplest level, as strong as some of those women (I’m a 6’2" man, and I’ve done plenty of manual labor in my life, unloading trucks, swinging a sledgehammer, and the like), but I doubt if I could do what they’re doing with those weights. The bodybuilders, on the other hand, creep me out. Male and female. They’re making their bodies into some weird sculpture that goes far beyond anything I could ever be sexually attracted to (I’m straight, so I guess I’m mostly talking about women, but the male bodybuilders creep me out too). That becomes doubly true when steroids enter into the picture. There’s no doubt that the drugs have a masculinizing effect on women when used at that leve. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/91 "2012-07-14T18:32:51Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I find her unattractive (but not repulsive) in the OP but she’s great in the video you linked. I seriously doubt the girl you see in that video walks into a gym, works out for several hours and comes out looking like she does in the picture in the OP. More likely the pictures were taken at least months apart at different points in her training season. It’s exactly what **Ambivalid** is always harping on about, with bodybuilders going from alien-looking to normal-looking when they’re in off-season or whatever. It’s possible. I don’t know the dates of the picture vs. the video. But I do know that [this before and after shot of a dude](http://imgur.com/j7htN) spans only 5 hours. You’d be surprised at how quickly a body can lose definition. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/92 "2012-07-14T23:44:19Z")
1. I think the point is that muscles that would be unusually large and defined on a male strike many of us as hypermasculine. From past threads it has been apparent that hypermasculine is not even considered attractive on males to many women (masculine, yes, hypermasculine, no). 2. This does not mean that an attractive woman cannot remain attractive even with those features. Obviously attraction is more than one physical aspect or even just physical aspects. Or that fit is not attractive. 3. All that said I also wonder what degree my male insecurity might factor in. Is there any role to my feeling threatened by a woman who looks stronger and more masculine than I do? I have no problem being the family cook, cleaning up in equal amounts, and taking on other so-called traditionally female roles, and no problem loving a woman who I think is in most ways my intellectual equal and my better in some … but physically more masculine than me? That could play a role in the distaste as well. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/93 "2012-07-15T00:26:05Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > It’s possible. I don’t know the dates of the picture vs. the video. But I do know that [this before and after shot of a dude](http://imgur.com/j7htN) spans only 5 hours. You’d be surprised at how quickly a body can lose definition. Those are some very deceptive “before and after” pics. They aren’t the same shot; one is a full-on frontal and the other is a side profile. One is of the guy oiled and tanned and the other is of the guy pale, hairy and **purposely** pushing his gut out. You’d be surprised how easily pictures can be manipulated. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/94 "2012-07-15T00:34:46Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > It’s exactly what **Ambivalid** is always harping on about… What, handicap parking? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/95 "2012-07-15T00:47:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Those are some very deceptive “before and after” pics. They aren’t the same shot; one is a full-on frontal and the other is a side profile. One is of the guy oiled and tanned and the other is of the guy pale, hairy and **purposely** pushing his gut out. You’d be surprised how easily pictures can be manipulated. 😃 Oh yes, I’m quite familiar with the process. It’s from [this video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M957dACQyfU) The point remains the same that you can’t look at a picture of someone and assume that all that musculature is necessarily permanent. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/96 "2012-07-15T03:24:12Z")
At the level in the picture: just unattractive. Not repulsed in any way. If you step it up much further, though, it becomes repulsive. To get to attractive, you need to tone it down to just, say, legs and arms, and maybe a [del]six[/del]2-4 pack when you suck your tummy in. I am attracted to women who look soft. Speaking of soft, I’ve noticed that muscular men tend to look softer than muscular women. This seems like it would be the opposite of normal–that women, with their larger layer of subcutaneous fat, would look softer. Then again, maybe they overcompensate. Or use steroids. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/97 "2012-07-15T03:27:46Z")
I voted “attractive” but want to qualify that I find most women attractive, muscular or not. The woman in the OP photo is probably on the edge for me - extreme bodybuilder-type physiques would not do anything for me. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/98 "2012-07-15T03:44:53Z")
I said indifferent rather than “very attractive,” but honestly, all things being equal, I like a lean woman. And the woman whose pic is linked in the OP, wow, she’s amazing looking. So, yeah, maybe I voted wrong is what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/99 "2012-07-15T03:54:23Z")
I voted ‘repulsive’ because of the specific picture in the OP, but just as she is over the top as far as ‘muscular’ goes IMHO, so is ‘repulsive’ not accurate as a term for most women I think of as muscular. Give me, for instance, the entire US women’s soccer team, except I suppose the gay ones. One at a time, please! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069/100 "2012-07-15T04:59:20Z")
Forgot to mention the first thing I thought of when I looked at the OP post. It was a couple of lines from _The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo_ trilogy – a description of the giant thug who felt no pain. “What did he look like?” “Like a blond tank.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscular-women/628069.md?page=6)