Four Truths Regarding Women & Weights

I’d like to take you back, if I could, to your first high-school party. Do you remember how the space seemed to be under the influence of an invisible forcefield that pushed the boys to one side of the space and the girls to its opposite? I believe this rift was formed by the initial misconceptions that each gender held about the other. As we learned to understand each other, barriers were broken down until now - formal functions are no longer divided by gender.

This morning, I noticed a similar phenomenon occuring at the gym. Only this time, the genders were separated by their use of either cardio or strength-training equipment. No matter which gym facility I train at, this seems to be an all-too familiar story. However, I believe that this too stems from certain misconceptions.

Having an understanding of the benefits strength training has for health, fitness and even longevity - I’d like to trying to break down the barriers preventing a lot of women from engaging in a form of exercise that will be ultimately of more benefit than a elliptical machine ever can.

Exercise Myths Commonly Held By Women:

• Let’s do some ‘toning’

The body does not target fat loss. It just loses it … You must focus on fat-loss as a whole to see the results in your individual ‘problem’ areas.

• Eating Protein Will Make Me Muscular

Having a protein enriched diet does name increase muscularity in women, it just helps to increase leanness. It takes years and years of hard work to achieve a muscular physique and, regardless, the female body just is not built to get ‘bulky’ without the use of anabolics.

• I’ll Run To Tone Up

To look ‘toned’, you need to combine low levels of body fat with muscular development so that you can see the shape of the muscle under the skin. Considering cardiovascular exercise tends to break down muscle this effect is rarely ever achieved through the combination of diet and cardio, without the inclusion of weight training (see below). 

• Weight training will make me bulky and masculine

THIS IS A PHYSIOLOGICAL IMPOSSIBILITY. The hormone testosterone (which is significantly lower in women than men) is responsible for a muscle’s ‘bulk’. The low levels of testosterone found in women therefore make it impossible for a woman to attain any real bulk without the assistance of anabolic steroids. Because muscle is denser than fat, weight training actually makes muscles shaplier, and will help give you the curvaceous, feminine physique to which many aspire.