Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Should Women Avoid Lifting Weights?

By Russ Hollywood


Should women lift weights in the gym? This is one of the most commonly asked questions in fitness circles and today you will find the answer. You'll also find out what supplements to take if you are a lady trying to build a lean, toned physique.

The world of exercise and fitness has moved forward incredibly quickly over the last twenty years. Every year there are new developments in sports supplements and training methods, as well as new scientific research on previously unproven theories. It's barely the same world we lived in just 20 yeas ago. Yet despite all of this, there are many people who still have the same mentality which was floating around health clubs and gyms two decades ago.

They'll tell you that women will get big and bulky if they touch weights. They will advise you that carbohydrates are to be treated as the enemy. They'll ignore recent scientific proof in favor of following routines laid out by their favorite television celebrity. Usually, they'll also struggle to see any significant long-term results. []

For some reason, huge amounts of exercise enthusiasts are unaware that many of the age old theories and myths surrounding weight loss and muscle building have been scientifically researched and now have either evidence to back them up or evidence to disprove them. Sadly, most people still stick to advice like the things you can read above, which date back decades and have no academic foundations.

Lifting weights is great for weight loss. That may shock you because it goes against the old wives tales you may have heard in the past, but it is indeed 100% true. If you are a female trying to achieve a leaner, toned physique then lifting weights is better still.

But won't you get big and bulky like a bodybuilder?

No, you will not. Imagine if building lean muscle was as easy as simply picking up some dumbbells a few times per week. Every guy in your workplace would own the physique of Rambo! It's not that easy, and bodybuilders only obtain that type of muscular physique by dedicating their lifestyle to their craft. If you want to bring out the definition in your muscles then you need to start doing some form of resistance training on a regular basis.

You certainly do not need to worry about getting big and muscular, because the female body does not have the testosterone levels to create a bulky physique without the outside influence of supplements. For this reason, you also don't need to be afraid of aiming for relatively low repetitions in your sets. You'll often hear that women should do sets consisting of 25 or more reps, but this is old advice which has been proven incorrect.

If you can work on developing a good technique with the major compound exercises, such as deadlifts, lat pulldowns and squats, you will notice excellent physical results.

A good supplement plan is very simple. It's easy to over complicate the whole procedure here and end up eating pills with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The truth is when you have a solid diet in place you do not need an endless array of additional products. Ensure you get a top whey protein, but everything else is optional. If your goal is to build more lean muscle than you have right now then you should also look towards adding a creatine monohydrate and glutamine product to that list.

Learning what supplements to take is nowhere near as difficult as it's sometimes made out to be. If your diet and exercise routine is good then you can get great results without needing to take dozens of pills throughout the day! So, should women lift weights? Absolutely.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment