Females and Lifting

With the likes of Julia Ladewski, Jen Comas Keck, Nia Shanks, Molly Galbraith (if you are a female and don’t know who these girls are do yourself a favor and go look them up) and other females making a push for girls to become strong both mentally and physically, I still on a daily basis get a handful of females saying they don’t want to train with weights because they don’t want to “get big.” This statement is common and understandable. If I were a female I would be confused and have a similar mindset. Lifting weights is typically associated with well getting big. But have no fear ladies because I am here to ease your mind.

 

You may open a magazine and see these buff women amongst the pages. Or maybe you have attended a women’s bodybuilding competition and you see these women who just don’t look like women. But ladies guess what you cannot put on muscle size like this without the help of anabolic steroids. Anabolic simply means to build or make bigger and a steroid is merely an organic compound that contains four cycloalkane rings. Steroids include cholesterol, estrogen, testosterone, progestogen, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. So as you can see that the word steroid refers to many different types of hormones and not all of them are anabolic. People generally use the word “steroid” and associate it with only muscle building but now we know that isn’t the case so feel free to correct the next person that uses the word incorrectly.

I’m sorry if I just burst your bubble ladies but its true. You can’t get “big” and “bulky” because you don’t have testicles! You are in fact testicle free and being that way means you do not produce enough natural testosterone. Talk to any man who has tried putting on muscle without the use of anabolic steroids and they will attest to how difficult this task is. So now imagine how difficult it is for YOU to do the same. Testosterone is the primary androgen hormone (simply means primary male sex hormone KEYWORD IS MALE) that interacts with skeletal muscle tissue. So here comes a bit of research done by some scientists; women have about 15 to 20 fold lower concentrations of testosterone than men. There has not been a study to show any kind of increase in testosterone following weight training in women and if there is any type of increase it is most likely extremely small.

Most women come to us here at The Spot Athletics saying, “I want to tone up” which is great! We love to hear that but what exactly does it mean to “tone up”? When we strength train we are stressing the muscle fibers which in turn will increase the muscle fiber size and as this fiber increases in thickness the shape of the muscle slowly starts to change, getting thicker in the belly of the muscle. This will then result in a change in the shape of the muscle. Without a sufficient amount of weight the muscle will not change nor grow so sorry ladies using those pink five pounders aren’t the ticket. In order to “tone” you need to stress the muscle enough by lifting some heavy weight.

Ladies there is no reason you should not be strength training. As mentioned in the video we posted earlier in the week muscle is much more dense then fat meaning that a pound of muscle takes up less room then a pound of fat. Which is why muscle looks better then fat. But what happens when some women train is that they may go up in weight on the scale yet look thinner! Well the reason for this is because your lean body mass has increased but your body fat has decreased.  The scale may not change but if you were to look in the mirror after a 12 weeks of consistent solid training you will see some of changes you are seeking. Muscle accounts for almost a third of the average woman’s weight, which in turn has an effect on your metabolism. Muscle actually burns more calories because muscle is metabolically active or it requires calories to maintain itself. Meaning you will burn more calories throughout the day if you have more muscle.

 

Some of the benefits you may see from strength training include:

 

Less fat

More muscle

Decreased body fat at the same body weight

Increased bone density

Better blood circulation, which helps to combat cellulite

Stronger mentally and physically

Boost your stamina

Sharpen your foucs

Decreased risk of osteoporosis

Improved athletic performance

Increase feel good hormones

Fight depression

Improved metabolism

Resistance to injury

You’ll look awesome

 

Gaining strength will have an empowering effect on you. The process of setting and achieving goals will give a boost to your self-esteem and confidence. So the choice is yours ladies. Strength training is not complex nor is it time consuming. It will easily fit into your schedule. You can spend days on those silly cardio machines or you can actually see the results you are looking for. So when you’re ready to increase muscle mass, decrease body fat and increase strength come in and talk with one of our trainers and see how we can help you reach your goals. Lets us help you.

Any questions comments jokes or one liners leave them in the comment section below.

NB

 


http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00423247?LI=true

http://jap.physiology.org/content/75/2/594.short

http://www.stumptuous.com/ebben.html

http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/strength-training-during-menopause-offers-multiple-benefits

http://www.girlsgonestrong.com

http://www.negharfonooni.com

http://mollygalbraith.com

http://allimckee.com