When it comes to weight training or any exercises that involve weights, most women tend to dismiss the idea of including it in their fitness routine due to popular misconceptions surrounding it. For some, they believe that weight training can make them bulky.
Others believe that no woman can pull it off while others also think that weight training is ineffective for weight loss and fat loss. Before this article debunks these widespread misconceptions about weight training, you need to understand first the true definition of weight training.
Definition Of Weight Training
Weight training is a variety of strength training that requires a person to use weights for resistance. Doing this regularly will create stress in your muscles and eventually enable them to become stronger, toned, and more activated, the same way aerobic exercises improve your heart health.
Your weight training depends on your preferences and technique. Some may use free weights (e.g., dumbbells, barbells), weight machines, resistance bands, or train with your own body weight.
Common Misconceptions About Weight Training For Women
With the true meaning of weight training uncovered, it’s time to discuss one by one and shake off the common errors about the subject for women. You might realize that weight training is an integral part of everybody’s fitness routine for both men and women.
Here are the five biggest misconceptions about weight training for women:
1. Weight Training Can Make Women Bulky
This is perhaps the most prevalent misconception surrounding weight training. Many women are hesitant in doing weight training exercises for the fear that they may look and become bulky the same way some guys look at the gym. This is a common fear, especially for women whose primary goal is to simply lose weight and reduce body fat.
But the truth is, weight training won’t make your muscles appear bulky or not as easily and quickly as men. That’s because women have low testosterone levels compared to men, which means that muscle growth will be significantly lower and a lot slower.
The possibility that you’ll be bulky is still there, but only when you do it purposely such as eating extra calories, spending longer gym hours, and doing lots of weight training exercises every single day. To simply put, achieving bulky muscles isn’t something that can happen by accident unless you put in extra hard work and make it an actual fitness goal.
Now that you know weight training won’t make you bulky, there’s no harm in including it in your fitness routine. In fact, weight training can help you gain muscle mass and achieve a more defined, leaner, and toner physique.
To get the best results from weight training, make sure you do weight training exercises at the right intensity, volume, and proper rest periods between sets. Don’t forget to pair it with a nutrition plan. You can also order ready-made workout meals from WorkoutMeals or other ready-made gym meal packs within your area to save time from food preps after your weight training sessions.
2. Weight Training Is Dangerous For Women
Another misconception that led some women to dismiss the idea of doing weight training is that it’s dangerous for them. This myth has probably been rooted in the concept that weight training means lifting heavy weights, something that women aren’t strong enough to do so.
Weightlifting has also been stereotyped as a sport for men only. But to break off this myth, weight training is designed for men and women, and it’s not dangerous when done correctly and appropriately. Most importantly, women can also excel in weightlifting equally as men athletes.
So, if you’ve decided to do weight training exercises in your fitness routine, you need to hire a personal trainer. They can teach you about the basics of lifting weights and guide you to perform it in the correct position, balance, and posture.
Weightlifting isn’t dangerous, even if you’re not a weight lifting athlete, as long as you have a personal trainer to guide and train you along the way. Weight training only becomes dangerous when done incorrectly.
Furthermore, pregnant women can also safely perform weight lifting. However, it’s only appropriate if the woman is already used to weight lifting prior to pregnancy. Furthermore, pregnant women must consult a doctor first to see if they’re physically fit to resume weight training exercises.
3. Weight Training Can’t Help Lose Weight
It’s a popular opinion that cardio exercises are the best methods to lose weight and burn fats. This opinion has led many women to believe that cardio exercises are enough to achieve their weight loss goals. But in reality, weight training is actually highly effective in reducing fat and burning calories as it boosts your basal metabolic rate.
For starters, this is the calories your body is burning while at rest after 48 hours since you finished your weight training workout. In short, after your weight training exercises, your body is still actively burning fat.
This is because after lifting weights, your body will begin to recover while burning calories in the process. On the other hand, your body stops burning fats and calories the moment you also stop doing your cardio exercises.
Furthermore, weight training can also help you achieve a lean physique. While you’re building and toning your muscles during weight training, your body uses more energy to maintain the muscle tissues, eventually increasing the number of calories you burn all day.
4. If You Stop Weight Training, Your Earned Muscles Turns To Fat
Despite the well-known benefits of weight training, some women are still skeptical about doing it as they fear that their muscles will turn into fat when they stop. To begin with, body fat and muscles are two different components, which means that when you stop weight training, your muscles will shrink, but there’s no possible way they can transform into body fat.
Gaining fat is only possible when you continue to eat the same amount of calories during the time when you’re still doing weight training. Since your body isn’t working out as hard as before, those extra calories you eat will eventually become fat.
5. Weight Training Is Scary
When you step inside the gym, seeing the athletes and other gymgoers grunt and growl while exercising in the weights room is probably intimidating, especially if the room has more men than any women.
Thus, some of you may automatically discard the idea of going inside the weights room with the thought that it’s only for men. As a beginner, walking inside the gym itself can be scary, but it shouldn’t scare you from doing weight training.
Weight training isn’t something you should be scared about. One way to overcome your fear is by finding a good gym coach. Your coach will help you ease into weight training, teach you about the basics, and monitor your progress.
Bottom Line
As you see, weight training is definitely for men and women. So, when you glance at the weight room, don’t just let go of the idea of including it in your workout. Check the facts first, verify the misconceptions, and start picking up some weights. If you’re unsure, don’t hesitate to approach a trainer, and soon enough, you’ll realize how doing weight training is one of the best decisions you’ve made for your health.
