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11 June 2013

Will Women Get Bulky If They Lift Weights?

By Howe Russ


There is not a girl in any fitness center who hasn't wondered at least once during a workout, 'Should women lift weights or will it make us big and bulky?' This is one of the most commonly asked questions in the fitness industry and today's article will help you to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

If you are female it is highly likely that you have already encountered several different opinions on this very topic, resulting in you heading online for a more scientific verdict.

This myth originates from the late 1970's, when the sport of bodybuilding suddenly burst into the mainstream and every guy wanted to build bigger arms as quickly as possible. Seeing huge guys such as Arnold Schwarzenegger lifting heavy dumbbells for set after set was a great inspiration for most guys to aspire to, but it had the opposite effect on ladies. The general assumption was that ladies should only do resistance training if they wanted to look like a bodybuilder. The 1980's VHS era made this situation worse, telling ladies that they needed to stick to long, drawn out cardio workouts and avoid resistance training completely.

Why did this happen? It was like adding 2 and 2, but getting 5. People presumed that if you touched weights you would automatically end up looking like a bodybuilder, because they famously training regularly with weights. of course, now we know differently, but this myth still exists in gyms today. If it were that easy to pack on lean size, every guy in your local gym would have the Rambo physique.

Written below are a few of the major benefits to using resistance workouts as part of your fitness routine. Back in the early days a lot of opinions were based on very little evidence because it was all still relatively new, whereas nowadays we have the massive benefit of hindsight and years of scientific advancements.

* In order to build a toned, lean physique you simply need some kind of resistance training.

* One of the major benefits of building more lean muscle is that your body will burn off unwanted fat more effectively. This will help you to reach your goals faster, as well as making you look even better once you reach them!

* Your overall fitness will greatly increase, as will your metabolism.

* Like HIIT, which is great for bringing your body fat percentage down, resistance training also has many fat loss benefits.

The four points above should be enough to get you on the resistance machines the next time you hit the gym, but now we answer the top concern ladies have on this subject. Is it going to make you grow big muscles and appear bulky? No, it is not. Female's simply don't have enough testosterone in their body's to do that, which is why those who become female bodybuilders need to get their diet in check, figure out what supplements to take and consume things like testosterone boosters on a regular basis.

Lifting up a dumbbell is not going to automatically put you on the road to the next Mr. Olympia contest, so don't worry about that at all.

Should women lift weights? Absolutely. In fact it is one of the best ways to get in shape even if your overall goal is weight loss. The myth that ladies should stick to cardio is as old as time itself, it can be one of most confusing aspects of fitness alongside learning what supplements to take or which how many times per week you need to work out for maximum results.




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