Barely a week goes by that I don’t hear a female say, “I don’t want to do weights because I will only bulk-up and get too heavy.” And this comment comes from all age groups.
Well here is some good news for you girls……..resistance training (weight training) won’t give you big biceps and is far more beneficial for you than you have probably ever thought possible. Even more so as you get older. Check out this article I wrote to find out the full story: Why Strength Training is SO Important as you Start Aging.
Weight training for women is one of the best forms of exercise you can possibly do…….especially as you get older and start suffering from the problems caused by sarcopenia.
When it comes to working out there are some vast differences between the fitness goals of men and women, and one of these tends to be that women want to slim down but maintain femininity, while men want to bulk up and obtain more muscle mass.
In the past, this has caused women generally to forgo weight training and stick to cardio and basic exercises like crunches to lose weight and tone, but experts have begun warning against this, and have urged women to maintain a more balanced exercise program by including weight training as well as cardio.
Debunking the Myth of Weight Training for Women
The main reason weight training for women is often avoided is they are afraid of bulking up and that they will end up looking the way some women fitness models do in muscle competitions and on the covers of fitness magazines.
The thing to remember about the women in these photos is that they work on their physique constantly, eating very specific foods at specific times, training three or four times a day, and sometimes using hormone enhancement to obtain their goals……not something I recommend.
This is not something the average woman will ever need to worry about by lifting weights three or four times a week. MediWeightLossClinics.com explains:
“Strength training helps you tone and strengthen your overall body, but it does not build muscle bulk. In fact, women don’t have an adequate amount of the hormones needed for true muscle bulk, mainly testosterone. Everyone needs to be involved in some type of strength training to help increase lean muscle mass and improve overall strength.”
Aside from the hormonal significance that keeps women from bulking up, you should also realize how much muscle aids in weight loss.
When you want to slim down, building muscle through strength training two to three times a week can actually help you burn calories; it will increase your bodies percentage of muscle tissue compared to fatty tissue which in turn shifts your body composition in favour of energy-hungry muscle cells.
It is said that muscle cells consume way more calories than fat cells when you are at rest. A kilogram of muscle will burn anywhere from 50 to 100 calories each day compared to 5 to 7 calories a day for a kilogram of fat. That has to be a good enough reason to go and throw a few weights around.
So in other words, this means you can sculpt and tone your body, but you will actually find yourself becoming leaner, not bulkier with weight exercises.
Finding the Right Exercise Mix for You
The key to any form of cardio, weight training, or even nutrition is to take everything in moderation, and in the correct combination. You know that protein is healthy and an important component in the building blocks of your body, but if all you ate for the rest of your life were chicken and beef, you would get sick pretty quickly.
For you to develop a healthy body, you must include all of the things that work toward its health, and, just as your heart requires cardio workouts, your muscles require weight training to tone and strengthen.
Boston University has this to say: “Fear of morphing into a muscled mastodon is only one reason behind the skittishness many women feel about weight lifting. Just 17.5 percent of American women—and 20 percent of college-age American women—meet the aerobic and strength training recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people of all age groups and genders use weight training as a regular form of exercise.
This can help stave off obesity, arthritis, muscle pain, and even neurological conditions, such as depression and more recent research has added Dementia and Alzheimer’s to that list too.
Trusting Your Personal Trainer
It all comes down to working with a trainer who knows how to tone and slim your body through weight training for women in combination with other training methods and nutrition plans which are all essential to a well maintained and healthy body.
Whether you want to lose weight, tone your arms, or firm up your butt, your trainer can help you achieve this by tracking your progress, and applying these results to your training regimen to create the perfect outline for your workouts.
Read what Steve of Nerd Fitness says: “I’m sure there are actual psychological reasons behind why this works, but I know that I get better results when I exercise if I know EXACTLY what I need to lift or how fast I need to run to get stronger and better.”
Sure, you can step on the scales and take note of whether you gained a kilo or lost five, but your trainer is going to do a lot more than this. Trainers, like me, will take into consideration your overall BMI, fat to muscle ratios and body measurements. You will find your nutrition and portions being monitored as well as the improvements you need to help make to reach your overall goals.
Cheers – John – your Active Ageing Mentor and Coach.
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