4 myths that keep women from weight training

Posted under female workout

Strength training or weight lifting is often associated as a manner to achieve manly looking muscles that deters most women from lifting weights.  The importance of weight lifting is seen and read in numerous television reports, magazine articles, and radio shows.  Yet, so many women seem to be refraining from this anaerobic exercise.  It is time to debunk the myths that keep women from having a firmer body and find out why it is important to be involved in a strength training program.

You may be appalled to see women who look manly with big and bulky muscles.  It makes you scratch off weight lifting off your work out session. Hold that thought and know the three reasons why some women have bulky muscles:

1.  These people are an extremely small percentage of the population.

2.  They normally spend 4 to 5 hours a day in a gym pumping out iron.

3.  Most of them are using performance enhancing durgs such as steriods to end up having a bulky physique.

What you get from weight lifting

The benefit you get from weight lifting is pretty simple.  The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest or activity.  when you burn more calories then the easier it is to lose weight.  A scenario showing how benefit would yield is by comparing two women.  Two women are watching a TV show and sitting on the couch.  The first woman strength trains thrice a week but the other woman does not.  An hour went by, guess who will have burned more calories?  The first woman burned more calories than the other woman even though both of them are at rest.

The popular myth of developing big muscles from lifting weights remains a myth.  Muscles weigh more than fat.  In fact, muscle is much more compact than fat.  It takes up lesser space than fat due to its density.  Fat, on the other hand, is very soft and jelly like thus occupies more space than muscles.

The weighing scale is your worst enemy

Most female, regardless if she is a teenager or woman in her 30s, often weigh themselves like it is part of their daily routine to check if they lost or gain weight.  Let me tell you that the weighing scale is the worst indicator of losing fat.  For example, you lost 12 pounds of fat and replace it with 12 pounds of muscle.  When it comes to the weighing scale, you freak out seeing you gained weight despite the fact that your clothes are looser on you.  It is advisable not to use weighing scale which can make you less motivated on your fitness regimen.

Here are four myths that you should disregard and think about.

“I’m too old to lift weights.”

Some women hold back from lifting weights because they think they’re too old for it. The truth of the matter is you are never too old to strengthen and tone your muscles. You can start with lighter weights and relatively low intensity program. Studies have proven that people as old as 80 can still benefit from weight training who increased their strength for up to 200% in over period of one month.

“I’ll lose my flexibility from weight training.”

Weight training will actually help you become more flexible. These exercises help you become more flexible through a full range of motion especially with stretching of muscles following each repetition. Stretching exercises make you less prone to injuries.

“I’ll develop bulky and big muscles.”

Women are not born to produce huge amounts of testosterone as a major growth hormone to give you that bulky finish. It is possible for women to develop big muscles if and only if they use supplemental means like steroids and growth hormone. Weight training will make you firm and toned but will not by any means make you look manly.

“I would rather join aerobic classes than lift boring weights.”

You have the choice to make exercise boring or fun. Weight training can be done with a friend. You can listen to music while you pump iron. The best thing about it is you can mix different exercises into your routine and change up your routine from time to time. To top it all off, you will become noticeably stronger and tone, definitely not manly looking with bulky muscles.

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