Don't be Resistant to Resistance

I recently ran a poll on the blog to find out whether people think woman should do resistance training or not, 87% of you thought they should. This would make one think that it is the case, however it’s not.

For years woman have been told to do a combination of cardio and low weight/ high rep gym program’s, but many recent journal articles and research articles suggest otherwise. Woman should be doing resistance training and yes that does suggest higher weights and lower reps, your training program should be more similar to a males training program than it should be different. It is common for woman to argue that, “I don’t want to get big and bulky”, this won’t however be the case. Woman are built differently to men, therefore when your muscles get stronger through strength training you wont end up looking like a man. Woman do not have high testosterone levels, so unless you are genetically special or taking a supplement or aid you are not going to get “big”, your body just wont allow you to. You will notice that men generally have poor form in a gym so that they can lift heavier weights, where as woman will lift light weights and have close to perfect form, so keep the form and increase your weights, you will see many positive results. Increased strength will improve your life in the long term; you will benefit dramatically when you are older from strength training now.

One thing women need to get out of their heads and a habit they need to break is that dreaded scale. Strength training might make you heavier on the scale, but if you look in the mirror you will see a different person, measure your circumferences rather that weigh yourself as this will show honest results. You might be heavier but you’ll be smaller, which is what you want. Strength training will increase muscle mass while decreasing adipose tissue (fat); because the more muscle you have the more fat you will burn. Strength training builds muscle so you will lose fat.

Don’t resist resistance, strength training is the way forward for woman who want to lose weight and have the body of their dreams. I recommend reading “The New Rules of Lifting for Woman” by Lou Schuler. If I haven’t been able to convince you, he will.

- Caron-lee