As a personal trainer, I have heard a variety of reasons women give for not wanting to workout a certain way. Where these ideas even stem from, I have no idea. What I do know, is that these myths have stood the test of time and still loom the thoughts of most women entering the gym. I have compiled a list of what I think are the TOP 5 myths about women and working out. Hopefully this changes the training dynamic for women…
5) MYTH: “As long as I workout I can eat anything”
BUSTED: Your reward for a hard workout should be some lean meat and “good” carbohydrates, not cake. It is a fallacy that not only women, but a lot of people think about their workouts. If you just worked out for an hour and burned about 500 calories, fantastic! You are really hitting it hard! Then you say “now that I burned those extra calories, I can have a donut and maybe even some ice cream.” Well, all you would be doing is putting back on those 500 calories (probably more) onto your body with “zero nutritive” foods. You’d essentially be going right back to where you started…zero results. Good workouts should be rewarded with good nutrition and it is THE ONLY WAY you are going to get a slim waistline or a tight butt in the long run.
4) MYTH: “Weight training is dangerous”
BUSTED: Well, so is driving a car in rush hour traffic, eating raw fish, and drinking alcohol. I am sure we could all make valid arguments for why all those things are dangerous; and we probably do those things way more than weight training! The thing is, weight training can be dangerous; if you don’t know what you are doing (just like all the other things). Don’t be like the woman in the picture, who by the looks of it, has no clue what she’s doing. If you are weight training, you just need to make sure you are doing exercises with correct form and posture. Weight training not only builds muscle, but it helps increase you metabolism, strengthen joints and bones, improves energy and mobility, and even burns fat! It is probably the least dangerous of things of the said above examples and also has the most benefits.
3) MYTH: “If you are using weights, they should be light”
BUSTED: This is common recommendation given to women from all sorts of “expert” sources and even personal trainers. Look, this may have a shred of validity to it depending on the woman’s physical condition as well as a variety of key health factors. However, working out with soup cans is not quite going to cut it. With any weight training routine, putting a certain amount of “load” or resistance on the muscles is the only way for the body to change. If you are doing bicep curls with 8lbs for 20 reps with ease at the beginning and the same 2 months later, did you really make any progress? Probably not. Ladies, you CAN train with heavier weights. You CAN do the challenging exercises that men do too. There is no such thing as “manly exercises”. By challenging your body with more weight you are forcing your body to adapt to a tougher routine. And a routine that forces your body to adapt, you will attain more lean muscle and less body fat.
2) MYTH: “Weight training will make me bulky, I don’t want to look like those bodybuilding women”
BUSTED: As a trainer, and as a trainer who knows his stuff…I can’t even tell you how nuts this makes me. First, unless you are eating a colossal amount of calories, and I mean 3000-4000 with no problem (which the average woman would NEVER eat that much anyway), you are NOT going to put on size. Second, a females body just does not have the amount of testosterone as men do to synthesize proteins to form “huge” muscles. Biologically, it’s just not going to happen. And as far as those huge female bodybuilding competitors, they are possibly adding a little something extra to their bodies to get that way. With a progressive weight training routine with a proper load, women can get stronger, leaner, and lose more body fat than typically all other training methods. Which leads us to our final myth…
1) MYTH: “I don’t need to use weights to be skinny, i’ll just do cardio”
BUSTED: Your primary goal is to “lose some weight and get a little toned up.” This is the most common goal women have when it comes to working out, and usually said in that particular way. I feel as if doing cardio on a treadmill or elliptical is almost a preset in most women ‘s minds when it comes to working out and that it is the only way to get skinny. Not only with women but with most people new to exercise I feel as if they maybe correlate moving fast on a treadmill and being hot entails the “burning” of fat; that the fast paced exercise for a long period of time must have a useful effect because of how much they are sweating. Perhaps it is a psychological stigma that has been drilled into our minds about what we think we know about exercise. The fact is, in order for women to get skinny and toned, it takes a COMBINATION of both weight training and aerobic exercises. Doing an excessive amount of cardio alone will just end up burning both fat and muscle, and probably more muscle if you are not dieting correctly. Your cardio should be done to help burn extra calories while the weight training will enhance your muscle tone, definition, skin tightness, all while still burning calories and fat!
So, you are ready to tackle the weight room with a whole new perspective on weights! Now just don’t forget about the diet!