[throwaway2037]

    > they're worried that muscle tone will make them look masculine

Yes, this is a common concern. It would be good to show women what it looks like to workout hard six days a week for more than one year. (My point: That is an unrealistic weight lifting schedule for 99% of women.) They still won't look very masculine. Very well toned, but not very masculine. My advice when women raise this concern: "If you get too big, just ease off. Maintaining is way easier than growing."

[Beretta_Vexee]

https://brokenclipboard.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/media-cover...

It's been done. It doesn't matter that you can't see the abs on 50% of the women on the Olympic team. Some think they'll get the physique of a professional body builder who's been abusing steroids for a decade anyway.

[drakonka]

Anecdotally, I have never heard this sentiment from other women I know. That doesn't mean they aren't _thinking_ it, though. Maybe it also depends on location - where I live it is very common for both men and women to do some form of strength training.

I've been lifting weights on and off for over a decade and although I do have visible abs, that's more by nature of low body fat percentage than lifting. The point is - no matter how hard I train, I've never even gotten close to what I would consider as "too big" for my preference. Even as your muscle mass increases, the end result just seems to be a more _compact_ and efficient look rather than "bulky" in any sense of the word.

[Beretta_Vexee]

The more you get to know athletes, the more you realize the reality of the physiques of both strength and endurance athletes.

The same applies to cardio, where the general population over-estimates the calories burned and imagines that all runners will become skeletons.

[cs02rm0]

Steroids have a lot to answer for when it comes to perceptions around exercise in general.