Weight training is something that we usually associate with guys loaded with bulging muscles and physiques that make them look like they are having a hard time breathing because of so many muscles.
We don’t associate weight training with females, simply because it is not feminine. We could never imagine really nice girls straining and lifting weights. But the reality is that men do not have a monopoly on weight training exercises. There are special forms of weight training that have been specifically developed for women. Because society has created a stigma about girls who engage in weight training there have been a lot of myths that have come to be accepted largely about girls performing this kind of exercise:
Weight Training Makes Women Look Masculine
Women who are engaged in weight training will not become muscle bound Amazonians who have no femininity left in them. Muscle bulk comes from testosterone which is a hormone that can not be produced by the female body in sufficient amounts to change their physique.
Chest Size
Some women are enticed into doing weight training because of the idea that it can increase their breast size. Unfortunately there is no scientific basis for this. The breast tissues are mostly made up of fat. Exercising will not make them grow larger.
Stopping Weight Training Converts Muscles into Fat
Muscles don’t turn into fat, period. In the same way that weight training will not turn fat in to muscle tissues.
If you think that you are ready to overcome the stigma of women doing weight training then here are some principles that you can follow when doing weight training for women to lose weight:
1. The principle of weight training is that you will be subjecting your muscles to weight that it is unused to in order to cause damage to the muscle tissues. Once the muscle tissue starts to recover it will be more adapted to the weight that you used in your training. This is why it is very important that you challenge yourself when doing weight training. But at the same time you have to challenge yourself incrementally not excessively.
2. You also need to change the amount of weight that you are using regularly. You have to increase it so your muscles will not be able to adapt to the load.
3. Losing weight and building muscles are two different goals in weight training. In order to gain strength you have to design your program to achieve that by using heavier weights, however, having more muscle helps you burn more calories so you want to build your strength or increase your muscle mass when you want to lose weight.
4. Rest is very important when you are doing weight training because this is the period when the muscles start rebuilding. It would be tempting to burn yourself out by working out everyday, but that would actually cause more harm than good and set you back on your efforts for using weight training to lose weight.
Warming up is very important before you start lifting weights as it prepares your body for the intense activity that you are about to do so you can prevent potential injury. Make sure that you breathe regularly when you are working out and keep correct posture.
Weight training can help girls shed weight and lose fat. You just have to know the proper way of doing it.