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akn
06-07-2014, 08:31 AM
By Anita Ramsey

Women, Weights and Bodybuilding Oh My! In the average gym you will find almost everyone that will give you bad information and down right lies in regards to women’s weight training. People are full of bad ideas and advice about women and weights. So, who is out there giving this misinformation? Well, there are the many infomercials and then there is the media this is a huge one. I’ve compiled a list of myths that even now in the 21st century are still floating around regarding women, weights, and muscle. My hope is this gets through to a few.
Myth: Weight training will make you masculine.
This is not a myth. This is a lie. The worst lie ever. People look at women bodybuilders and say, “Oh My God, they look masculine! If I lift anything heavy I’ll look like that!” Nope. Can’t. If it where true I’d be HUGE! Since I can do dumbbell-rows with over 140 pounds on a regular basis and biceps curl more then most men. It’s a rare woman that can become a competitive bodybuilder, and she has to combine genetics, extensive long-term training, strict diet, and supplementation (legal or otherwise). Women and men have exactly the same skeletal muscle composition. It would not be possible to tell biological sex from muscle tissue alone. And besides, muscle doesn’t make a man. I see many men that are smaller then me and I only weight 160 pounds. So, if a man is 160 pounds or less does that make him a woman? I see HUGE over weight women that make rude comments about my look yet are bigger than my 300-pound husband who is a powerlifter and ex-football player. You’re not going to wake up after a heavy weight workout and be huge. In all actuality you will tone up and get tighter quicker then doing that 25 pounds on the leg press for 10 reps and curling those 5 pound weights that weight less then your purse or your youngest you carry around all over the place.

Myth: Men train, women tone.
To be serious about strength training, understand that lifting a tiny weight for a hundred reps is a waste of time and energy, plus it doesn’t stress your muscles enough to shape them or make them stronger. You know how they say, “More isn’t better?” Well, more is better, when it comes to weight training, shaping, toning what ever you want to call it, it’s all the same. There is muscle mass, strength gain, and fat loss, and that’s it. What you assume to be “toned” actually means having muscles, which are not hidden by a layer of body fat. In other words, there is no reason why you should waste your time on the stupid little weights when you could be getting a hard body.

Myth: Toning and firming are different.
Did you not read what I said? There is no such thing. There is only building muscle mass and losing body fat, nothing else. Please STOP asking how you can tone or firm or whatever. Do what NIKE say’s “Just Do It!”

Myth: Women should stick to machines and stay away from free weights.
Why? If some self-proclaimed expert or wannabe wants to explain the thoughts to this thinking process I’m, all ears.
Myth: After you stop lifting your muscle turns to fat.

Sorry to burst your bubble girls, but that is physiologically impossible. What really happens is, well, let me ask, have you ever broke a bone and had to get a cast? When you took the cast off, the area looked like it shrank? It atrophied.
Myth: Men are Masculine and Women are Feminine.
Who posted these labels on us? So, if my arm is bigger then the lazy armchair quarterback I’m “masculine?” The average arm size for a man is 14 inches and the average arm size for a woman is 12 inches. That of course is the average. We just did a contest where arm measurements were involved for both men and women and guess what the average size of the arm for guys who were weighing anywhere from 165 to 230 was 12 to 13.5 inches. The average size for the women weighing anywhere from 110 to 145 was 11 to 13.5. None of these women were fat and none were bodybuilders, however according to these numbers and the myths out there these women would be considered masculine since if you take weight and height into consideration these girls had more muscular arms than the guys. Again, muscle does not equate to masculine or feminine.

It is quite unfortunate that there are so many miss-educated people out there, but I do hope some of you got something out of this and learned that muscle does equal toned and firm. I hope you also learned that muscularity does not define masculinity or femininity. So, don’t be afraid of lifting some heavier weights, putting on a bit of muscle and having that nice hard body you have always wanted.

bigdaddyo1617
06-07-2014, 09:42 AM
I think a woman that trains is sexy I seen some ugly ducklings go train hard now that there body like wat am having second thoughts lol