There is not a girl in any fitness center who hasn't wondered at least once during a workout, 'Should women lift weights or will it make us big and bulky?' This is one of the most commonly asked questions in the fitness industry and today's article will help you to get to the bottom of it once and for all.
The unfortunate thing about the health and fitness industry is that everybody, even non-professionals, have an opinion on what people should and should not be doing. Many of those opinions don't take any scientific research into consideration and this often leads people down a path of confusion.
In the early 1970's, during the heyday of bodybuilding characters such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, many mainstream gyms were to blame for starting a trend of encouraging ladies to stick to cardiovascular exercise while men hit the weights section. This was then set in stone with the emergence of home circuit style workouts which were released on VHS, encouraging ladies to use nothing more than a bottle of water or very light dumbbell as resistance.
Why did this happen? It was like adding 2 and 2, but getting 5. People presumed that if you touched weights you would automatically end up looking like a bodybuilder, because they famously training regularly with weights. of course, now we know differently, but this myth still exists in gyms today. If it were that easy to pack on lean size, every guy in your local gym would have the Rambo physique.
There have been many scientific studies performed on male and female exercise enthusiasts over the last four decades which confirm that women should indeed be performing regular resistance training for a number of important reasons. They are listed below:
* If you only perform cardiovascular workouts you will not build the lean physique most women want to achieve. Resistance training plays a major role here.
* Not only will your body build more lean muscle, you'll actually burn off more fat in the process.
* Your metabolism will rise dramatically, which is a good thing for those who are trying to burn off calories and drop pounds.
* Resistance training has similar fat burning and lean muscle building effects to high intensity interval training.
While those 4 points are all great, there is one major concern which almost every woman has. Is it going to make you look bulky? The answer is no. You cannot achieve a bodybuilder physique without living a bodybuilding lifestyle, which means learning what supplements to take and how to structure your diet to match your goal. Female bodybuilders find it even harder, because they need to supplement with testosterone boosting products as they don't have enough natural testosterone in their system to support as much muscle growth as men.
A lot of thought has to go into that type of lifestyle. It's not something you need to worry about, as it certainly cannot happen without deliberately aiming for it.
So what is the final verdict? Should women lift weights or should they avoid them? Of course, every lady who wants to lose weight or get leaner should really be performing resistance training at least a couple of times each week. Alongside learning what supplements to take this is probably one of the biggest sticky subjects in gyms around the world. Now you know the facts.
The unfortunate thing about the health and fitness industry is that everybody, even non-professionals, have an opinion on what people should and should not be doing. Many of those opinions don't take any scientific research into consideration and this often leads people down a path of confusion.
In the early 1970's, during the heyday of bodybuilding characters such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, many mainstream gyms were to blame for starting a trend of encouraging ladies to stick to cardiovascular exercise while men hit the weights section. This was then set in stone with the emergence of home circuit style workouts which were released on VHS, encouraging ladies to use nothing more than a bottle of water or very light dumbbell as resistance.
Why did this happen? It was like adding 2 and 2, but getting 5. People presumed that if you touched weights you would automatically end up looking like a bodybuilder, because they famously training regularly with weights. of course, now we know differently, but this myth still exists in gyms today. If it were that easy to pack on lean size, every guy in your local gym would have the Rambo physique.
There have been many scientific studies performed on male and female exercise enthusiasts over the last four decades which confirm that women should indeed be performing regular resistance training for a number of important reasons. They are listed below:
* If you only perform cardiovascular workouts you will not build the lean physique most women want to achieve. Resistance training plays a major role here.
* Not only will your body build more lean muscle, you'll actually burn off more fat in the process.
* Your metabolism will rise dramatically, which is a good thing for those who are trying to burn off calories and drop pounds.
* Resistance training has similar fat burning and lean muscle building effects to high intensity interval training.
While those 4 points are all great, there is one major concern which almost every woman has. Is it going to make you look bulky? The answer is no. You cannot achieve a bodybuilder physique without living a bodybuilding lifestyle, which means learning what supplements to take and how to structure your diet to match your goal. Female bodybuilders find it even harder, because they need to supplement with testosterone boosting products as they don't have enough natural testosterone in their system to support as much muscle growth as men.
A lot of thought has to go into that type of lifestyle. It's not something you need to worry about, as it certainly cannot happen without deliberately aiming for it.
So what is the final verdict? Should women lift weights or should they avoid them? Of course, every lady who wants to lose weight or get leaner should really be performing resistance training at least a couple of times each week. Alongside learning what supplements to take this is probably one of the biggest sticky subjects in gyms around the world. Now you know the facts.
About the Author:
Next step: Russ Howe PTI answers the query should women lift weights in the gym today. He also teaches you what supplements to take to achieve your goal in his latest new material which is available online.
