There is not a girl in any fitness center who hasn't wondered at least once during a workout, 'Should women lift weights or will it make us big and bulky?' This is one of the most commonly asked questions in the fitness industry and today's article will help you to get to the bottom of it once and for all.
If you are trying to build a better body in your local gym it can be very distracting if you are always being told different things by different people. Lots of the fitness industry is based on pure opinion, which is why there are so many conflicting pieces of information. However, if you want to look at the rock hard scientific evidence on this particular subject you will find it a whole lot easier to understand.
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.
There have been many scientific studies performed on male and female exercise enthusiasts over the last four decades which confirm that women should indeed be performing regular resistance training for a number of important reasons. They are listed below:
* 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 overall fitness will greatly increase, as will your metabolism.
* Like HIIT, which is great for bringing your body fat percentage down, resistance training also has many fat loss benefits.
While those 4 points are all great, there is one major concern which almost every woman has. Is it going to make you look bulky? The answer is no. You cannot achieve a bodybuilder physique without living a bodybuilding lifestyle, which means learning what supplements to take and how to structure your diet to match your goal. Female bodybuilders find it even harder, because they need to supplement with testosterone boosting products as they don't have enough natural testosterone in their system to support as much muscle growth as men.
That's a lifestyle you certainly couldn't live by accident. Unless you are deliberately trying to look like a bodybuilder, you will not look like one.
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.
If you are trying to build a better body in your local gym it can be very distracting if you are always being told different things by different people. Lots of the fitness industry is based on pure opinion, which is why there are so many conflicting pieces of information. However, if you want to look at the rock hard scientific evidence on this particular subject you will find it a whole lot easier to understand.
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.
There have been many scientific studies performed on male and female exercise enthusiasts over the last four decades which confirm that women should indeed be performing regular resistance training for a number of important reasons. They are listed below:
* 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 overall fitness will greatly increase, as will your metabolism.
* Like HIIT, which is great for bringing your body fat percentage down, resistance training also has many fat loss benefits.
While those 4 points are all great, there is one major concern which almost every woman has. Is it going to make you look bulky? The answer is no. You cannot achieve a bodybuilder physique without living a bodybuilding lifestyle, which means learning what supplements to take and how to structure your diet to match your goal. Female bodybuilders find it even harder, because they need to supplement with testosterone boosting products as they don't have enough natural testosterone in their system to support as much muscle growth as men.
That's a lifestyle you certainly couldn't live by accident. Unless you are deliberately trying to look like a bodybuilder, you will not look like one.
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.
About the Author:
Need Help? Russ Howe PTI answers the question should women lift weights in the gym today. He also shows you what supplements to take to achieve your target physique in his exclusive free guide which is out right now.
