If you walked into your local gym right now, what would you see? In what area of the gym would you see the most men? How about for women? In most cases, you would go straight to the back weight benches and see a plethora of men lifting weights and doing what men do. To find the women, you would look towards the cardio machines and wahh-laaa! There we are, running or doing the elliptical, aiming to burn as many calories as possible.
Why don’t more women venture over to the weight machines area and bang out a few sets? I have asked many a woman the very same question, only to hear a variation of the same answer: “I don’t want to get bulky”.
MYTH: Weight training will make me look too muscular like a man.
FACT: It is extremely rare for a woman to achieve enough muscle mass to look like Vin Diesel. This is because women lack testosterone. You would need supplements, injections, and ALOT of time and hard work to look like him. The fact is, muscle can accentuate your womanly figure in ALL of the RIGHT places.
MYTH: All I need is cardio to lose weight. Weight training makes you gain weight.
FACT: While cardio is a great way of burning calories and fat, adding a strength training regimen into your workout routine will burn even more calories and help you keep the weight off in the long run. The trick is achieving a balance. Plus, do you know how hard it is to put on 5 lbs of muscle? Pretty damn hard.
Now that we’ve gotten the myths out of the way, we can talk about the benefits of weight training. There are many benefits to lifting weights, but here are a few of the most noteworthy:
1. Muscle burns calories! The more muscle you have, the more calories you body will burn at rest (i.e. sleeping, watching TV). It increases your metabolism, and promotes weight loss. Some studies have shown a 15% increase in calories burned per day! Who wouldn’t want to burn more calories? This alone should sell you. Seriously.
2. Muscle fights gravity! We all know what happens as we age. Gravity slowly pulls our “assets” towards the ground, and things start SAGGING. We also lose muscle mass (3 – 5% per decade, after the age of 30). Good muscle tone will help keep things pointing in the right direction.
3. Muscle improves posture! Bad posture, both seated and standing, can have some pretty bad effects on your health. Tension headaches and chronic back pain are just a few of the health issues associated with having bad posture. Weight training strengthens muscles you need for better posture.
Still not convinced? Watch this video!
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