“Training heavy will make me bulky or woman shouldn’t have muscle”
Over the years the big thing in gyms is every guy wants to gain muscle and strength and woman want to lose weight, with every generalisation like there are exceptions to the rules, however at this time I’m talking about the women’s goal. I’m going to address the one I get asked most which is how to lose weight.
Science and other fitness professional have done the hard work and found effective ways to do this and have wrote on it plenty of times. I’m going to try making it easy and straight forward.
An Effective Way to Lose ‘Weight’
If you want an effective way to lose weight and change body composition then lifting weight is the way forward. When I say lifting weight I don’t mean 2-3 kg I mean to challenge your body. For beginners lifting 2-3 kg or doing body weight is where to start but once you get use to it move on push it. Our body will adapt, hence why we change programs or use heavier weight.
For the women who is afraid to lift heavy due to the fear of looking BULKY. Unless you are on some performance enhancer like steroids or juice you will not be able to bulk like men. The simple reason we lack testosterone or at best we not have the same level of this male hormone. This hormone promotes muscle growth and several other functions however due to the simple fact we don’t produce enough we shouldn’t worry about it.
That bulky look that comes to mind is dated; it’s the 80s-90s female bodybuilder who has tried to look this way with steroids and very hard work over the course of several years not an hour in the gym three to four times a week.
Lift.
The roundness or bulky look will come when you do lift is; you’re not eating correctly. As you lift more our body needs more fuel (simple) so the next part is to fuel it with the correct food. Not just reward eating because you think your getting away with it due to the fact your training harder and heavier. Clean eating will help keep body fat down. When I’m talking about reward food, I’m not talking about a cheat meal, I’m talking about that sneaky snacks of bars, biscuits and eating larger unclean meals.
Other point which I have heard is I don’t like women with muscle. Personal opinion so I can’t ague too much on it but my opinion is why not? STRONG be the New SKINNY. I’m not talking bodybuilding
I’m talking near to elite athlete look, we see some women at the Olympic and they are at their best.
They aren’t hungry or too skinny these women are strong and healthy. Some still have enough body fat to look feminine and not starved to death like most runway models.
Simple Facts:
We don’t produce enough testosterone to get big muscle gain like men
We need to eat clean
We need to be happy with our bodies
Karen Fitzpatrick is a coach and physical therapist based in Sphere Fitness Maynooth.
