EVE MUST LIFT! LET ME TELL YOU WHY.
Don’t lift that dumbbell woman, you’ll grow muscles like a man!!! You shouldn’t push weights, it may have an impact on your procreative system! Just get on the treadmill and sweat it out!
This has been going on since the inception of earth!
I believed this for the longest time ever. Most of us are on the same page and have no idea what goes behind it.
As you know, I was someone who was a part of the pack, doing the regular stuff day in and day out, had no clue on the science behind lifting. In the initial days, as I was the only one in my family who would lift, I became the closest point of reference for my friends and family with regards to fitness guidance . Giving advice to youngsters and elders alike, I would do it like a pro. And, everyone followed what I preached. It was obvious, wasn’t it?
Is lifting weights harmful for women? Will it make them big like men in the long run? Do men and women need to train differently? These are some questions running through the mind of today’s women. If I were to answer this say a decade ago, I would have said, just a run is fine, don’t bother about the weights. Won’t help. Do a bit with a 10-pound dumbbell and that’s it. Why? That’s ‘cause women don’t lift, well at least not like men. Sounds sexist? Well, that was never the intent, honestly, I was only communicating what is widespread and commonly practiced. Now, when I reflect on some of these things, it just shows the lack of knowledge I had and how, with confidence, I preached the preconceived notion over facts. Why didn’t I bother to check or verify? Well, the answer is simple, majority of the population who lift, or, wants to lift for that matter are males, hence, no one has cared much about women and weightlifting together. It’s about time we bust the myths and highlight the advantages.
Weight training is no different for a woman than a man. I might sound crazy to a lot of you people out there, especially to all the bros preaching their bro science all the time. But that is the truth! Both men and women tear muscle fibers the same way and experience increase in the size of muscle cell, however, genetically men are prone to building bigger muscles than women. Why??? Well, the answer is TESTOSTERONE!!! The female body produces very small quantity of testosterone, the growth hormone, hence the size of the cells will never expand in a similar manner for a woman like it does for a man. No matter how hard you try, you will not grow big and muscular like men in the sweat room. Unless you take some sort of testosterone enhancement drug. Just the thing you wanted to hear, right? Also, there are hormonal differences between men and women which makes each respond differently to exercise. So, you need to stop worrying about getting muscular and include strength training in your program. I am not saying cardio will not help the process of burning fat, it’s a good way to keep your heart healthy and build endurance, however, carrying more lean muscle mass is always better. Why? Well as discussed in my earlier articles, carrying more muscle mass is better than being fat or skinny fat(result of cardio only). Muscle is metabolically more active and burns far more calories at rest than fat.
So, as established, lifting weights, eating clean and getting enough rest to ensure recovery will lead to best results for women and men alike.Lets dig this further and list out six reasons why women must lift.
- Improves BONE HEALTH
Menopause- this is a period when a woman’s body no longer secrets estrogen. As a result of this, they are at a high risk of osteoporosis. What is Osteoporosis? it is a bone disease that occurs when the body loses too much bone mass, hence the bones become extremely weak. Strength training is one of the best ways to reverse this. Lifting weights with intensity decreases the risk of bone degeneration. How? it improves muscle mass, connective tissue strength and makes your joints stronger. This prevents the risk of falling and breaking your bones. As we get older we get unstable due to bone degeneration and connective tissue problems. Weight training delays this process and helps us lead a better and more productive life.
- Well-toned body equals to an Hour glass figure
Cardio will help you lose weight. I know most of you ladies out there want just that. But hang on, there is more than what meets the eye.
Lifting weights will change the shape of your body. When it comes to loosing body-fat and sculpting that booty or, for that matter, getting an hour glass figure, you need to lift weights. For e.g. when you squat with weights, it impacts all major muscle groups like your thighs, core, hamstrings and glutes. Your butt takes shape due to the stress caused by the pressure of the weight when you go up and down on the squat rack. Your posture improves and your physical self under goes a complete makeover. The roundness and curves you see in most of the models is a result of a combination of strength and endurance training. Strength training changes the anatomy of your physique which is caused by tearing of muscle fibers and expansion of muscle cells. Cardio alone will not do that. In fact, lengthy sessions of cardio vascular exercises get your metabolism out of gear, leading to fat storage. It might look like you’re dropping weight, however, your body fat goes up. This makes you look skinny fat. So, if you want the curves, lifting is a no brainer.
- Improves your HEART HEALTH
The architecture of a woman’s heart as compared to man is very different. This is due to the difference in physical size. On an average, a woman’s arteries are smaller in size than that of a man. Lack of physical activity may lead to women contracting heart related problems much earlier than men do. As a result, performing a corrective procedure on women is far more complex than men due to the size of the organ, its much smaller. This is one of the main reasons why coronary fatalities are higher in women than men. Strength training will reduce the risk and improve your heart health to a great degree. You will lower your LDL (bad cholesterol) and increase HDL (good cholesterol).This further improves your blood pressure and resting heart rate. A healthier heart means better oxygen supply and a more active lifestyle.
- You burn more calories at rest than you ever did.
As explained earlier, lean muscle is better than being skinny fat. why?
One pound of muscle versus a pound of fat-Lean Muscle is more active metabolically than fat. It burns more calories than fat when your body is at rest. Also, muscle takes up less space than fat as it is denser in nature. After strength training, your muscles are in a state of hypertrophy. Which means they have undergone tremendous amount of stress leading to micro tear in muscle fibers and hence, need to be repaired. Now, nutrition and adequate rest will fuel recovery. However, post strength training, your body rebuilds muscle tissues for the next day or two. Which means it uses calories and energy even when you’re at rest. This increases your metabolism and improves your body’s fat burning ability which is not the case in cardio.
So, it’s better to be lean and muscular than being skinny fat. As you strength train and become better, you develop lean muscle mass. Your body expends more calories and turns into a fat burning machine. For best results, follow a combination of cardio and weight training.
- Increases your appetite for sex!
Yup! That’s a fact. If you want a better sex life, get into the weight room.
Estrogen is the primary sex hormone women produce. There is also testosterone, the growth hormone, which is produced in small amounts in a woman’s body. Strength training boosts testosterone levels leading to better sex drive. It is a natural and most effective way to enhance your libido. It’s the best form of cardio you can perform and there is no need for a treadmill or a ground for it. As established earlier, the older you get, your estrogen level reduces. Strength training keeps your estrogen levels regulated which is directly related to sex drive. Strength training will uplift your mood and have positive effect on your sex life. Live it up.
- Confidence booster
Lifting weights doesn’t only make you feel and look better, it also boosts your confidence. No better feeling than completing a heavy set of squats, or press for that matter. After completing a good weight training session, you come out a lot happier. There is this great sense of achievement. It’s always a good feeling knowing that you’re strong and independent as an individual. You won’t have to depend on your male counterpart to do most of the physical things. Don’t need to build super human strength, however, building some strength can benefit all aspects of your life.
Few guidelines which will help you as you go along
- Do a combination of cardio and weight training. Training with weights 3 days a week is a good starting point. As you build strength and endurance, you could increase that to 4 days a week.
- Make sure to do multi-joint movements like squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press etc. more often. They target more than one muscle group at one time. This causes maximum stress to muscle fibers which in turn promotes the body’s ability to burn fat efficiently. Don’t be afraid of lifting heavy. Sort help from an instructor and push to your maximum potential. Remember, the larger muscles are stimulated only when you push something heavy. And when that happens, it leads to micro tears in muscle fibers and your cells expand. This leads your body to use more calories to repair the damaged muscle. Hence, your body’s potential to burn fat is far greater and more effective when you perform multi joint movements.
- As you go along training with weights, you will get stronger and your appetite will increase. Make sure to eat clean as much as possible. Choose good fats and low GI carbs like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa etc. over bad fats (oily food) and high GI carbs. This will keep your insulin in check and reduce fat storage.
- Eat more protein. As explained before, protein are the building blocks in our body. Training with intensity and not eating enough protein will lead you nowhere. Our body uses more energy to burn protein, hence its needs to work harder and uses a lot more calories. This keeps your metabolism up and you burn fat faster. Look to eat 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you want more info on protein and how to manage it in your diet, refer to my previous article ‘Should I WHEY myself”
- Your body can’t spot reduce fat from specific locations. If you have flabby arms, flabby thighs or fat around your waist, don’t do a lot of crunches or don’t go squatting every time. Get you nutrition on point. Strength training with a combination of clean eating, preferable a high protein diet, or carb cycling will help you burn fat better.
- Body-fat metrics- Body fat metrics for men and women are different.If you’re between 15%-22% body fat, you’re doing perfect and are absolutely healthy. In my opinion you do not need to cut any further.We can learn how to measure body fat with the help of body fat calipers. Image below. I always use a caliper as it is relatively cheap and easy and more or less accurate than all of the expensive machines in the gyms. Buy one from your local chemist and follow the instructions on the manual. The price is between Rs 200-Rs 250 or $6-$7 American dollars.
- I want to add here that learning about body composition is a good starting point, however, having low body-fat percentage is not the only indicator of a healthy lifestyle.Different people look completely different even if they are at the same body-fat percentage, however, It’s an important metric to understand when you’re planning a transformation. I will recommend taking a lot of pictures of your progress along with this as pictures never lie.
IDEAL BODY-FAT PERCENTAGE CHART | |||
DESCRIPTION | MEN | WOMEN | |
Essential fat | 2-5% | 10-13% | |
Athletes | 6-13% | 14-20% | |
Fitness | 14-17% | 21-24% | |
Average | 18-24% | 25-31% | |
Obese | 25%+ | 32%+ |
Its chest Monday! Get up, hit the gym and make sure you move something heavy today!
We lift, therefore we are!
Cheers!
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You’ve made it Rishi. All the best ! Fit to fitter ! Journey’s been remarkable ! 🙂
Thank you Souravi!
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