Lifting weights specifically weight training has not only shown many benefits for both women and men, and I debunk the myths that many women have when it comes to incorporating strength training in their overall fitness training.
If I had a dollar every time a woman asked me “I am going to get bulky by lifting weights?” I would be a billionaire. It’s the number 1 question I get from women and it’s one of the biggest myths in the fitness industry. The fact that women think this can or will happen to them in my opinion comes from a whole mixture of things including some really poor education out there as well as some deceptive advertising on social media.
Lifting weights & Testosterone
The female body doesn’t naturally produce enough testosterone as a male body would so it isn’t possible for a woman to look like some bulky bodybuilder unless she took a performance enhancement drug like an anabolic steroid or Human Growth Hormone. This in turn would synthetically increase a female’s testosterone level higher than any average male and the result would be looking like an extremely muscular bodybuilder.
So why would weight-lifting be good for a woman’s body or for any body, period?
Weight training or strength training using weights increases your metabolism which is called your (RMR) – your Resting Metabolic Rate. The leaner muscle mass you have on your body, the faster your metabolism will be. The only way to preserve your lean muscle mass is through weight training and resistance training. Aerobic exercise is good, but it is not enough when it comes to increasing your metabolism.
Burn baby, burn!
Also, weightlifting helps to burn calories after the workout more so than aerobic exercise. That after-burn effect is called (EPOC)- Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption. Most of your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) comes from your resting metabolic rate, (RMR) and that is 60-70% of it. Increased muscle mass leads to fat loss over time and increases your TDEE and the result is a leaner body.
So, is Weight Lifting bad for women? Weight training will improve the bone density of women, and women need this particularly more so than men because of Osteoporosis. Once a woman goes to their menopause phase after 50 their estrogen levels drop, and they are susceptible to bone fractures and the level of their bone density deteriorates. The only way to combat that is for a woman to incorporate weight training and strength training into her fitness and workout routine.
Will lifting weights tone my body as well?
Weightlifting and resistance training will shape your body and make it firmer and tone it up, something you won’t attain from aerobic exercise alone. So, if you want to firm your glutes, arms, legs, and back, the only way to do that is weight training. And trust me – you won’t get bulky as you don’t have the type of male hormones that would allow that to happen.
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Take care,
Obi Obadike
