Monday, October 12, 2009

Facts and Myths and Weight Training for Women

By Nadine Valcourt

Picture in your mind walking into a gym. You see all the women in the aerobics room doing their step aerobics and all the men in the weight room pumping huge amounts of iron. As a woman it was often intimidating to pick up a pair of free weights and start doing arm curls with the guys.

It was a misconception that women had where they believed that if they started pumping iron with the guys in the weight room that soon they would start to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Luckily times have changed and we have smart beautiful women like Kelly Ripa, Brooke Shields, Sheryl Crow and Sarah Jessica Parker just to name a few as spokeswomen for strong ripped muscles. And know that they work very hard to get those toned muscles and they are by no means gorilla shaped!

Weight training for women will not bulk you up for a few reasons. You certainly could increase your muscle size if you were to spend 5 hours a day in the gym pumping very high weights. Even women bodybuilders are not huge; they are just ripped to the hills.

The male hormone testosterone, is not present enough in the female body for her to bulk up the way a male can so this accounts for reason number one. Number two is that women don't do the amount of high volume repetitions it takes at very high weights in order to bulk up.

In order to get fantastic looking muscles women can challenge their muscles with weights that become difficult to do after 15 reps. For example try doing 15 reps of arm curls with 10 or 15 pound hand weights. Do 2 or 3 sets. You should not be able to finish the third set if your weight is heavy enough.

Weight training doesn't just leave you with a gorgeous physique. Weight training for women will build strong bones that will help you avoid osteoporosis and bone breakage later in life. It will also create a muscle burning machine because muscles continue to burn calories long after your workout is finished. This will help you maintain a healthy body mass.

Whichever way you choose to start weight training, whether at home or at the gym, will benefit you for years to come.

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