Women & Weights!
BodyWorX Myth busters!!…
Walk into a gym, and you may see the men grunting in the weight room while the women slog through another hour on the cardio equipment. The female preference for cardio over strength training is nothing new, as the fear of weightlifting has been ingrained in women’s psyches for decades. The result is that women neglect the exercise that will get them the results they want, out of fears based on myths that simply don’t apply.
You’ll Bulk Up
The most popular myth regarding women and weights is that weightlifting will turn you into a bodybuilder. The truth is, it won’t, unless you try very, very hard. Women don’t have the right hormone balance to build enormous muscles, and even those who are genetically predisposed to do so must train in a very specific way and follow a very particular nutrition plan to make it happen. In fact, some naturally skinny women may not be able to build bulky muscles without steroids no matter how much they want to. What weightlifting will do is tighten up your body, improve your physical function and make you look better in a bathing suit. So FRET NO MORE!!… You will NEVER BE THE NEXT TERMINATOR!!
Light Weights/High Reps
Some women who have reluctantly given in and begun to train with weights stick to the philosophy that women should only use light weights and lift them many times. It takes a single look at their muscle tone to see that it isn’t working. To strengthen your muscles, you must stress them. To stress them, you must use heavy weights and lift them fewer times.
The term “heavy” doesn’t imply a particular number — everyone is different, so you must go by what’s heavy for you. Trainer John Berardi recommends that women use weights heavy enough that they cannot lift them more than three to six times.
Toning Versus Muscle Building
Gyms and fitness gurus who market themselves to women use the term “toning” when referring to strength training. This leaves women confused, wondering what the difference is between toning and strength training. There is no difference. It operates on the same principle, and is done the same way.
It is frequently used to refer to the long, lean muscles of dancers, but they train for strength like everyone else. They still stress their muscles, but they focus on compound exercises that work entire muscle groups, rather than exercises that isolate muscles and work them individually. This leads to improved functional strength, but won’t necessarily get you the showy “ripped” muscles most people associate with weight training.
Fat Turns Into Muscle
Women who are trying to lose weight often shy away from weight training until they lose the excess fat. Their reasoning is that if they start lifting weights while they’re still overweight, the fat will turn into muscle and they will end up bulky. This is impossible. Muscle and fat are completely different tissues, made up of completely different cells.
In fact, adding lean muscle mass can actually accelerate weight-loss progress by increasing the number of calories the body burns, even when at rest. This means that even without cutting further calories, you are actually increasing your caloric deficit, which leads your body to metabolize fat.
So ladies… get the word out!!… Fear no more!… Weights are key to getting a toned, strong and lean physique and if that isn’t already enough, the reality is, the more lean muscle you have the faster your body will metabolise fat!… So in plain and simple English let us put it like this!!…. If you fancy that chocolate cake… let’s go lift some weights! 