Female Bodybuilding Myth #1 - Weightlifting makes you look bulky.
Due to the fact that women do not and cannot naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity.
In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #2 - Exercise increases your chest size.
Sorry girls. Womens breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue. Therefore, it is impossible to increase breast size through weight training. As a matter of fact, if you go below 12 percent body fat (which I do not recommend doing), your breast size will decrease. Weight training does increase the size of the back, so this misconception probably comes from confusing an increase in back size with an increase in cup size. The only way to increase your breast size is by gaining fat or getting breast implants
Womens Weight Training Myth #3 - Weight training makes you stiff and musclebound.
If you perform all exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase. Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #4 - If you stop weight training your muscles turn into fat.
This is like saying that gold can turn into brass. Fat and muscle are two completely different types of human tissue. What happens many times is that when people decide to go off their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop the diet as well. Therefore bad eating habits combined with the fact that their metabolism is lower due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the subjects muscle is being turned into fat while in reality what is happening is that muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #5 - Weight training turns fat into muscle.
More alchemy. This is the equivalent of saying that you can turn any metal into gold; don’t we wish! The way a body transformation occurs is by gaining muscle through weight training and losing fat through aerobics and diet simultaneously. Again, muscle and fat are very different types of tissue. We cannot turn one into the other.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #6 - As long as you exercise you can eat anything that you want.
How I wish this were true also! However, this could not be further from the truth. Metabolism for an individual is determined by how many calories we burn while we exercise and while we rest. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. The myth may have been started by people with such high metabolic rates that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they rarely meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day unless they put their mind into reaching that goal. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #7 - Women only need to do cardio and if they decide to lift weights, they should be very light.
First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. One needs to do weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very light weights, this is just more nonsense. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change.
Women Should Train Hard Myth #8 I have trained with girls that train as hard as I do and they look nothing but feminine. If you want to look great, don’t be afraid to pick up the weights and lift hard!
About the Author - Expert Keishon Martin who writes for http://www.bodyguidepro.com where you can get the best weight lifting / weight loss program on the internet. also check out http://www.newmoneycredit.com
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Thanks for dropping by!
This is a really interesting read and debunked a lot of the myths I’d heard (and believed!) for years.
This was very interesting to read. I knew some of the facts when it came to women weight lifting but there were a few that I was unaware of. Thanks for sharing this article.
I have to tell you…
When I was into bodybuilding I didn’t use anabolic steroids and STILL built some pretty awesome cuts. If you take the time to manipulate your diet using a glycemic index and block out all the warnings for others, you can build some awesome and feminine cuts.
Even the male bodybuilders are smoother in their daily life than they appear in competition. They have dieted down, removed hair, oiled up and used tanning solutions to create what you see during competitions!
A girlfriend told me about twenty years ago that she had a sister-in-law who was a competitive body builder. That sounded like the strangest thing in the world to me! Since then there seem to be more and more women who go in for body building. I like the look when they use it to tone their arms and calves, but I can’t say that I like the look of the more muscular ones, IMHO.
The muscles have to be “pumped up” to look the way they do in competition. Otherwise, there are gentle, firm curves and definition when at rest.
SageMother, good for you!
It just proves that with proper diet and fitness regime, you don’t need anything artificial to get you in the best shape possible.
Wow, I’d love to hear more about your bodybuilding days! I always watch the competitions on tv and wish that I could go in it….
mollyL, I think it is definitely sexy to have a more toned body, but I don’t think I would want to have too much.
I saw this lady the other day and she had the sexiest legs, and toned arms. I was thinking that I should aim for that.
There is another bonus…..
You are stronger. There is nothing quite as satisfying as the look on the face of some guy who has under estmated your muscle strength at a crucial moment.
SageMother, LOL!
I’d really like to know what your experiences on what that time would be
But you are so right. It is very good for your body. Being stronger also means that you probably will be keeping your body healthy and in tip top shape.
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