Last week the topic of women lifting weights was discussed and the perception of weightlifting making females bulky and manly was debunked.
Following that publication, I received numerous emails and comments from readers and I must say that the overwhelming feedback was most welcome.
I will continue this week with observations on women and weight training and with debunking a couple more myths.
In the past when I walked into gyms I couldn’t help but notice the gender segregation: the majority of men were in the weight room, whereas the majority of women were doing cardio. Admittedly, it’s still like that in a lot of gyms. As I pointed out before, a lot of women use light weights with high reps for a ‘toning’ approach, and some don’t even include any form of weight lifting in their workouts at all for fear of becoming huge and hard like a guy.
These are the uninformed ones who are scared that they may one day wake up and look huge and bulky with shredded muscles like a man or a woman bodybuilder.
But that’s changing.
In in today’s society, more and more women know better and are breaking free of the stereotypes.
Women want to be strong and fit and these are the women who, more and more are ditching the treadmill, the stationary bike and the elliptical machine and picking up a dumbbell. This is a great development, not only in regard to their image, but also their health and fitness goals.
For the vast majority of women, putting on lots of muscle is very difficult, even if that was their actual goal. If your goal is to have a toned and fit body, let me reiterate that strength training is actually the best way to achieve that. After all, what are you trying to tone? Your muscles. So you’re likely going to need some of those.
Drop the common misconception that weight training will make you muscular and masculine and pick up a barbell.
The other big misconception that I want to address this week is another common one among women: that doing crunches and side leg raises will slim or tone your stomach and legs.
The fact is that you cannot decrease body fat in an isolated area by only working on that area. Spot reduction is actually a myth that fitness professionals have been debunking for years. You simply cannot lose fat in one area. We lose and gain body fat as a whole, we do not get to choose where we lose and gain it.
Yet, women continue to articulate that they only want to lose belly fat or love handles and they are targeted by aggressive but misleading marketers. These women would then join a gym and just target their core, doing numerous crunches and other abdominal exercises to no avail or to just make the situation worse. Remember your abs are muscles and the more you work them, the more they will grow. Growing your abs equals a thicker waistline. Think about it.
If you want your midsection to become more toned and visible, you have to burn the layer of fat over it. Doing thousands of crunches, sit ups or whatever ab exercise you see advertised is simply not the solution.
Your time would be much better spent doing an actual strength workout, not only would you be gaining the muscle that you need in order to look toned, but you would also be burning more calories than you possibly could by doing crunches and side leg raises. You actually burn way more calories since strength training takes more out of you than sit ups.
Remember, heavier weights equal a higher metabolic rate. With heavy weights, you will be working against a high degree of resistance. In so doing, you create tiny muscular tears throughout your body. You will expend a greater number of calories post-workout to repair those tiny tears and this increases your overall calorie loss.
So come on ladies, for at least two workouts a week, ditch the elliptical machine and pick up the barbell. You will be amazed at how your body will respond to strength training, and how strong you can become.
Stay tuned friends.
Email questions or comments to emmersoncampbell@gmail.com
