Photo courtesy Living Beautiful Radio
I thought I'd take some time to debunk some common misconceptions about women and weight training. Most women think: "Eeek! I'm going to look like The Hulk if I start training!!!"
Er... no ladies, you will not. That is unless you EAT like The Hulk. Here's why:
- Women do not have nearly as much testosterone as men. Women have about 15 to 20 times less testosterone than men. Testosterone is the reason men develop muscle mass. Because men have more testosterone, they are much more equipped to gain muscle.
- The perception that women will bulk up when they begin a strength training program comes from the chemically-altered women on the covers of bodybuilding magazines. They are most likely pumped full of some extra 'juice'. This is why they look like men.
- For women, when the muscle is developed through training, their bodies becomed more 'toned' in appearance. This is essentially bodybuilding without testosterone. Since the testosterone is not present in sufficient amounts, the muscle will develop, but it won’t gain a large amount of mass. The 'toned' appearance comes from removing the fat that is covering a well-developed muscle.
- Muscle bulk comes from a high volume of work. The repetition range that most women would prefer to do (8–20 reps) promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth). BUT... a typical bodybuilding program will have three exercises per body part. For the chest, you'd have flat bench for three sets of 12, incline for three sets of 12, and decline bench for three sets of 12. This adds up to 108 total repetitions. A program geared towards strength will have one exercise for the chest—flat bench for six sets of three with progressively heavier weight. This equals 18 total repetitions. High volume (108 reps) causes considerable muscle damage, which in turn, results in hypertrophy. The considerably lower volume (18 reps) will build more strength and cause minimal bulking. So girls, you don't have to workout as hard or as long to get stronger!
- Heavy weights will promote strength not size. When lifting weights over 85%, the primary stress imposed upon the body is placed on the nervous system, not on the muscles. Therefore, strength will improve by a neurological effect while not increasing the size of the muscles.
- Bulking up is not an overnight process. Many women think they will start lifting weights, wake up one morning, and say “OMG! I’m huge!” This doesn’t happen. The men that you see who have more muscle than the average person have worked hard for a long time (years) to get that way.
- What the personal trainer is prescribing is not working. Many female athletes come into a new program and say they want to do body weight step-ups, body weight lunges, and leg extensions because it’s what their personal trainer back home had them do. However, many of these girls need to look in a mirror and have a reality check because their trainer’s so-called 'magical toning exercises' are not working. Trainers will hand out easy workouts and tell people they work because they know that if they make the program too hard the client will complain.
- Bulking up is calorie dependant. This means if you eat more than you are burning, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you are burning, you will lose weight. Unfortunately, most female athletes perceive ANY weight gain as 'bulking up' and do not give attention to the fact that they are simply getting fatter. Squats don’t bulk you up. It’s the ten beers a night that bulk you up. If you’re a female and training with heavy weights (or not), you need to watch what you eat.
- Most of the so-called experts are only experts on how to sound like they know what they are talking about. Most of the people who 'educate' women about training and nutrition have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s face it—how many people do you know who claim to “know a thing or two about lifting and nutrition?” Now, how many people do you know who actually know what they’re talking about, have lived the life, dieted down to make a weight class requirement, or got on stage at single digit body fat? Invariably, so-called experts are also the people who blame their overweight on poor genetics.
- Lift Heavy. When you are lifting heavy and trying to lose fat you are doing two things: you are preserving muscle tissue so that you will burn as many calories as possible when you train, and you are igniting your fat burning mode by taxing your body in a way cardio will never do.
Muscle is like a five year old; it never gets tired and consumes all your energy. It has high energy demands and unless you are really challenging it with sufficient amount of weights it's the first thing in your body to throw a fit! When muscle isn't challenged enough it is the first thing your body will waste away...way before those ugly fat cells you are sporting.
Fat is like Jabba The Hut. It just sits there barely doing anything, looks like crap, and is hard to move. Your body is going to hold onto fat before and above all else. That's why when you eat in a calorie deficit you HAVE to strength train heavy or you lose more muscle and the ugly fat obstinately remains.
