Weight Training For Women:

Weight training areas are predominantly inhabited by men while the ladies congregate in the cardio area, huffing and puffing on the treadmills, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes. Walk into any gym in the world and you’ll see the same thing, Melbourne is no different!

The reason? Women have been conditioned to believe that the best way to lose weight is to engage in long slow cardio. Furthermore, the majority of women still have a lingering fear of weight training in the belief that it will transform them into a bulked up she-beast. Well, it’s time for a little bit of enlightenment. 

Myth-buster: Weight Training Will Make Me Bulky

 

The fastest way to lose fat, shape a muscle and create a tight, sculpted body is with weight training. Here are 3 reasons why you need to make the shift to the weight room;

(1) Weight training burns a ton of calories. Yes, calories. Most people don’t actually realize the energy it takes to get under a squat rack and bend up and down a dozen times with a sizable weight across your trapezius. Focusing on compound exercises such as squats, lunges, rows, presses and dead-lifts will have you puffing like a locomotive.

(2) Weight Training gives you a huge metabolic lift. In fact, just like High Intensity Interval Training, it produces the after burn effect, allowing you to burn more calories while at rest. In addition, there is a high energy cost in repairing damaged muscles cells as a result of your workouts. And any muscle that you build requires more calories to maintain.

(3) Weight Training sculpts your body. It puts you in control, allowing you to view your body as a piece of art. If you need to add a bit here or reshape a bit there, weight training is the tool with which you can do it.

Weight Training and Women Bulking Up

There is no doubt that weight training, when done correctly, is the best way to lose weight. Yet, still, many women are held back by that unrelenting notion that they’ll unwittingly turn themselves into some sort of mass monster if they hit the iron. Here’s why it won’t happen.

(1) To build muscle you rely on a growth hormone called testosterone. It is a male hormone and while women do produce it, they do so at only 10% of the rate that men do. That means that you will never be as strong or as muscular as your male training partner – it simply can’t happen.

(2) Weights are a tool. They allow you to build, shape and define muscle. As we’ve already discovered, they are the best way to lose weight and many people use them for that purpose. If you want to use them to build muscle – within the confines of your lower testosterone levels – they will do that. But you’ll need to work real hard on that singular goal and you’ll have to complement your training with a specialised nutrition and supplementation plan. You will never be able to build muscle by mistake.

Conclusion

The myth that weight training will make you bulky belongs in the dark ages. Don’t allow that misguided notion to rob of you the wonderful benefits that come from pumping iron.

The fact that weight training is the best way to lose weight is just one of those benefits. So, next time you hit the gym, skip past the cardio room and into the weights area – your (non-bulky) body will never look back.