Monday, August 5, 2013

Do Women Get Big Muscles If They Lift Weights?

By Howe Russ


There are a few fitness myths which are almost as old as fitness itself. One of those topics refers to the question should women lift weights and today we will answer this for you beyond all doubt.

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.

Naturally, if building muscle was as easy as simply lifting up a dumbbell a few times per week then most guys would be completely ripped. However, common sense did not prevail at first and for many years there were countless ladies who avoided exercises which could have helped them to reach their goals faster.

Written below are a few of the major benefits to using resistance workouts as part of your fitness routine. Back in the early days a lot of opinions were based on very little evidence because it was all still relatively new, whereas nowadays we have the massive benefit of hindsight and years of scientific advancements.

* In order to build a toned, lean physique you simply need some kind of resistance training.

* One of the major benefits of building more lean muscle is that your body will burn off unwanted fat more effectively. This will help you to reach your goals faster, as well as making you look even better once you reach them!

* 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 been shown to have very similar effects to HIIT in terms of it's ability to burn off body fat.

There's four reasons why every lady in your local gym should be working out with barbells and dumbbells. But what about the number one fear - Will it make you bulky? Actually, no. The female body does not release anywhere near as much testosterone as the male body, therefore making it very difficult to get big and bulky unless that is specifically what you are trying to do. The next time you see a female bodybuilder don't presume that she just lifted a slightly heavier dumbbell, she has had to tailor her diet to suit her needs and what supplements to take to help her body grow.

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.




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