Why should women do weight training?
I want to, you know, tone up.
A lot of the people I talk to about fitness have a lot of major misconceptions about fitness: bicep curls should be done in the squat rack, squats are bad for your knees, the more instability you introduce the better, and my personal favourite: -> there are workouts for men and workouts for women. It amazes me that there is a vast majority of women who think they need to do 1000 reps with 2lbs and that will make them sexy. For the guys, well that’s another story for a different post, but mostly it involves a disbelief in stretching, core work and cardio.
I listen to a lot of fitness pro radio shows and podcasts, and the advice ranges from great, to terrible, to dangerous, to just plain silly. A common theme in questions women ask is how to lose weight without bulking up. I want to address some of the concerns and objections women often have with weight training.
1. Objection: I know my body; As soon as I start lifting weights, I get really big really fast.
My Answer: If it’s within the first 3 months that you’re “bulking up”, then don’t worry about it. Really. What happens is that your muscles are being Bend through weight training and your body, with the intention of repairing your muscles, sends more blood to the area to fix it and get more nutrients to the muscle. Think about sports injuries, when you sprain your ankle it swells up, right? Same shit. Your body is adjusting to a new entrance. Stick with your weight program for a minimum of three months.
If you’ve been working out for a while and you’re still afraid of increasing the weight you’re lifting, I’m going to share a BIG secret with you. This objection is usually followed by something like this: “I don’t want to look like one of those bodybuilders.” This is frustrating for me. Do you know how much WORK those chicks put into it? Do you know how much focus they have? You have to be stoned to think that without that much determination you’re going to bulk up.
For 1, women don’t have enough testosterone to get really bulky. It is not a secret that many bodybuilders use steroids, including women. For 2, it takes YEARS to grow naturally. If you train consistently and are madly motivated to be bigger than yourself I might get there in a year or two. Otherwise you should stop thinking that you are going to get “bulky”.
2. Objection: I don’t want to do weight training, I just want to lose weight.
My answer: Are you serious? there will be two enormous reasons why you need to lift weights.
1. The more muscle you have in your body, the more fat you will burn. Without going too deep, 1 pound of muscle will burn an extra 50 calories every day without you doing anything extra. So if your goal is to lose weight, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you burn. doing nothing. If you don’t lift a single weight and only do cardio, you’re destruction your overall results.
Oh, and PS, a pound of muscle is denser than a pound of fat, which means it’s smaller for the same weight. Get it?
2. Posture. A stooped, skinny girl is not as attractive as a more muscular, well-proportioned woman with her posture. cardio does not a thing for your overall appearance as well as fat loss. If you want to stay healthy longer than you need to exercise your muscles, get bigger and improve not only your appearance, but also the way you hold and move. Cardio does none of that.
Objection 3: Lifting weights makes me look fatter
My Answer: If you have more than 20 pounds to lose then yes, lift weights. I might make you look fatter for a while. Let’s go back to my last answer, you burn more calories with more muscle. What does that mean? You lose weight faster! Live! So it may seem like you’re gaining weight for the first 2-3 months, but overall you’ll reach your goals at least 10 times faster.
Oh, and here’s why you can trust me besides the fact that I’ve helped countless people lose weight: Would I want the people who say they read my blog to look fat? That’s right, I want you to look sexy.
-kian
