Weight Lifting, Weight Loss, and Women

Posted by Matt - August 18, 2008 on 2:52 pm | In Womens Fitness |

There’s a popular misconception among women health advocates that weight-lifting leads to being muscle-bound and masculine rather than strong, healthy and completely feminine. It’s not at all true. Unless you’re taking anabolic steroids which boost the levels of testosterone in your system, using weight training as part of your fitness plan will be completely beneficial, helping you tone and gain strength.

The myth of becoming muscle-bound isn’t the only fallacy associated with women and weight training. Here are three more:

1. Women Should Use Weight Machines:

Weight machines are great if you have issues gripping barbells, or to help you learn the basics of strength training, and they’re also safer if you’re working out without someone to spot you, but the reality is that given the choice, barbells and dumbbells are the way to go. Free weights give you greater results than machine training because you’re able to perform exercises that work many muscle groups at once, with a complete range of motion. This means that every set you complete with free weights will burn more calories than the same number of reps done on a machine. Additionally, using dumbbells and barbells for weight training enables you to work on balance and posture – things machines cannot help with – as well as help increase your bone density, which can decrease your risk of osteoporosis.

2. High Reps are Better for Toning:

The vast majority of strength training workouts ask women to do two t three sets of twelve or more repetitions each. While higher numbers of reps do have their place in a workout, it’s actually better to do fewer reps with a bit more weight, especially if you are also dieting. A workout that encourages three, four, or five sets of five-to-eight reps is actually more beneficial, because it keeps you in the zone where you’re burning fat, not muscle – and you need that muscle, because it helps you burn fat faster, as well as keep it off.

3. Lose Before You Lift:

The final myth about women and weight training is that you must complete the bulk of your weight loss before you begin a weight training program. This is patently untrue. It is true that women who lift while dieting are often discouraged by numbers on the scale, but this is because they are building heavier muscle even while losing fat. Use the scale as a guide, but note the differences in the size of your arms, legs, and waist, and in the way clothing fits, and you’ll see marked improvements. Studies confirm that weight lifting is beneficial to a weight loss program, with greater results attained when lifting is combined with an aerobic exercise program and a diet, than with either diet alone, or even diet and aerobics, but no weights.

The goal of weight lifting for most women isn’t to be one of those super-muscular people in competition lifting. Instead, it is a source of strength, balance, and personal power – and it will help maximize your weight loss results.

 


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