By: Rita Myers
It can be quite tough for women who want to enter into the world of fitness – particularly in the realm of weight lifting or building some muscles.
This is partially because of a stigma that is associated with women and weights and the whole thing being “un-ladylike”. Add in the notion that building muscle means building huge, bulky muscles, and you’ve got women running scared.
But if you have fitness goals and want to change your body, don’t be derailed by bad information. Do your research and learn about the actual facts behind some of the most popular myths you hear. Let’s go through three of them right now.
MYTH # 1: LIFTING WEIGHTS WILL MAKE YOU BULKY AND MASCULINE
You’ve heard it before – heck, you’ve probably even said it yourself, “But if I lift heavy weights, I’m going to get big, muscular, and look like a man!” You’ve probably even heard stories of trainers not letting women lift heavier than 3 or 4 pounds, and honestly, that’s kind of ridiculous.
I’m pretty sure the books you carry around in school all day, or the baby you bring with you while carrying groceries, or even your handbag for that matter is heavier a lot than that, so why be afraid to pick up heavy weights?
Here’s the reality: Lifting builds muscles and makes them stronger. The truth is that if you pick up heavy things (aka weights), your muscles get stronger, but not necessarily bigger.
Those larger muscles you might see on some women in the world of bodybuilding come from a specific type of training, diet, and supplementation program in order for them to look that way. Not to mention they have been working at it for years to attain that specific physique.
If you want to look at female bodybuilders as a model of this myth, you’ll see that their physiques vary. Take for example the lean Ashley Kaltwasser, to the athletic Erin Stern, all the way to the muscular Dana Linn Bailey. Even with the obvious differences and wide range of their physiques, you want to know what they have in common. They all lift heavy weights.
The way your body will end up looking will depend most in part on your DNA and the rest on how you actually train and the food you choose to eat. You can lift as heavy as you want, but if you don’t eat to make your muscles grow big, your muscles won’t grow big – simple as that. You’ll just notice that you can lift more and more weight, signifying that your muscles have gotten stronger.
There is more to building big muscles than simply lifting heavy weights, but that’s for another time.
MYTH # 2: YOU SHOULDN’T TRAIN LIKE A MAN (BECAUSE YOU’RE A WOMAN)
I’m sorry, but what does that even mean? Is there some kind of exercise I missed that says “for men only?” The only time this statement becomes only slightly true is if those “for men only” don’t suit your fitness goals.
I’m assuming that when people refer to “training like a man”, they’re talking about big, compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench press, cleans, and so on.
But do you want to know a little secret? Those big compound movements will burn you the most fat. Those big squats you might be afraid are for men only, will build you nicely shaped, strong glutes – and don’t we all want that?
The fact is that your fitness program should support whatever goal you may have. If your goals are to build strength, then go for those big lifts! If you’re going for a power lifting competition, aim for your one rep max! But if your main goal is weight loss, then you don’t necessarily have to go for the heaviest weights.
Like I said, your program should support your goals and not be dictated by what is for “men only” or “women only”. It’s the 21st century, really, is there even such a thing anymore?
MYTH # 3: YOU CAN SPOT REDUCE FAT
You need to understand that to build muscle and actually make them appear, you need to burn the layer of fat that’s covering them. But the most common statement I hear all the time is that you can spot reduce fat.
The thinking is that, if you do a thousand sit-ups every day, you’ll lose fat only in your tummy and your abs will show. Or if you do hundreds of bicep curls a day, you’ll lose that annoying fat hanging from your arms every time you lift them.
Here’s the reality: Your body cannot spot reduce fat.
The truth is that your body will get rid of fat when you work out in the places it wants to first and in an order it wants.
Why? Genetics, of course. When you start to work out and lose weight, your body will choose where it will burn that fat, and really, there isn’t anything you can do about it.
If you want to get rid of those flabby arms, big tummy, or fatty legs, the way to do it is by building the muscles through strength training using compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, bench presses, etc. which burn more calories.
Then you work on losing fat in general through a bit of cardio (even something simple, like hiking or outdoor adventures) and a proper diet. You won’t reduce fat in one specific place, but you’ll look a hell of a lot better all over!
DON’T BE AFRAID
There is a lot more to building muscle than meets the eye, and as women, we need to stop listening to what we hear in whispers and do a lot of backed research instead.
There are tons of resources online that provide real research dispelling many of the things that make us worried to go to the gym in the first place. Do your research, outline your goals, know yourself, and don’t be afraid to push hard to get the physique you want.
Even though the gym used to be the gathering place of men in the previous years, more and more women have begun picking up those heavy weights and we’ve seen amazing results from it.
Just look at female fitness models, pro-athletes, bodybuilders, physique, and bikini competitors – each with varying physiques, but all strong and amazing.
Don’t be afraid of muscles, because nowadays, strong is the new beautiful and strong is the new sexy.