why do my muscles always look soft?

[rez]

im lean and dont weight a lot, but i can never seem to look cut enough. Im not wanting to do a BB comp, but i really want defined muscles.
do u think it involves increased training or tweekin the diet?

i have mainly low carb mod fat hi protein diet..so its not really an issue to reduce carbs..what gives?

stats;
female, 22yrs, 5"6, 104pounds, 17%bf

 

[SteelWeaver]

Low carbs is the problem. Carbs suck up water into the muscle cells, filling them out and making them appear big and hard and cut. If you've ever done a workout, especially arms (easy to pump) soon after eating a big carb meal, you'll know what I mean - your muscles just blow up - so tight and hard you think the skin's gonna split!

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure if a pump in the gym and carbs are directly connected- I just know I can't get a pump on low carbs, and everyone on here always says they get the hugest pumps the day after a carb-up, so I guess all the glycogen in the blood gets rushed to the muscles when the blood goes there.

AND, lots of bodybuilders do a carb deplete then load a couple of days before their comp in order to fill the muscles out. It works a treat. The difference is dramatic and easily visible to the naked eye.

 

[Haz]

Rez, its much more difficult for women to get a low enough bodyfat to appear cut. Most of the gals have to follow extremely strict diets. Try asking brickgirl on the women's board, she knows how to get totally ripped to shreds.

Personally, I just follow a low-moderate carb diet, high protein, and low-moderate fat. I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day, and thats enough for me to get cut. Its all in the diet.

 

[swimmar]

I'm not sure how this applies to a female, but to a male, I would say....

Taken from http://www.testosterone.net/articles/214rip.html:

"So what am I trying to say? If you weren't born rock hard, dieting down to low levels of body fat isn't going to give you the look you want (by itself). It may get you lean, but it won't get you ripped. If you want to look dense and striated, you have to train heavy. Here's why:

Although higher-rep training (i.e. 8-12 reps) will "fill you out" through hypertrophy and proliferation of such things as the sarcoplasm, mitochondria, and capillaries, only heavy training (i.e. 7 reps and under) will improve your muscle density [i.e. myogenic tone (2,3,4)] through growth of the contractile proteins myosin and actin.(6,7,9) After all, the contractile proteins are by far the densest components of skeletal muscle, and causing hypertrophy of these proteins will translate into a denser, harder look… even at rest!

Another "muscle tone" benefit that can be attributed to heavy training is increased neurogenic tone (i.e. tone when movement or contractions occur) through the sensitizing of alpha and gamma motor neurons.(5) Now, although some individuals will try to tell you that increasing the sensitivity of motor neurons will enhance your "tone" by keeping muscles partially contracted even at rest; don't be fooled; this isn't possible. (1,2,3,4)"

I believe the author's correct. When I was doing an HST-style program with higher reps, I got bigger, but the added mass wasn't "dense." I've switched over to a strength-oriented 5x5 program for the past 6 weeks and I've noticed some pretty good results.

 

[valerie]

The quality of the protein you are eating can make a big difference. Seems like you don't weigh much for your size. Sounds like you don't have much muscle. I'm 5'6" as well but am leaner and carry more muscle. If your #'s are correct your lbm is only 86 lbs. No wonder you don't look as you want to. your calories may (must) be too low. You may be a skinny fat person. The soft look comes from fat covering the muscle. Don't lower your calories- I would suggest eating more quality proteins, good complex carbs and of course adding some of the essential fatty acids. You should be eating at least 1200 cal per day. Good Luck-Valerie

 

[PatBateman]

Low carbs is the problem. Carbs suck up water into the muscle cells, filling them out and making them appear big and hard and cut. If you've ever done a workout, especially arms (easy to pump) soon after eating a big carb meal, you'll know what I mean - your muscles just blow up - so tight and hard you think the skin's gonna split!

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure if a pump in the gym and carbs are directly connected- I just know I can't get a pump on low carbs, and everyone on here always says they get the hugest pumps the day after a carb-up, so I guess all the glycogen in the blood gets rushed to the muscles when the blood goes there.

AND, lots of bodybuilders do a carb deplete then load a couple of days before their comp in order to fill the muscles out. It works a treat. The difference is dramatic and easily visible to the naked eye.

well said