Perth Personal Trainer Debunks Myths About Women Doing Strength Training

As a Perth boot camp instructor and personal trainer I have been asked by many women about the value of strength training. Very often, many ladies who exercise are worried about becoming larger and heavier from regular strength training. Especially in the area of weight loss, many people do not see how strength training can help in this area. When it comes to weight loss, most people would first think about doing aerobics exercises to burn as much calories as possible to induce weight loss. However, strength training had been a very underrated compliments to cardio training in the success of weight loss, shaping and overall fitness in women. With this article, I shall dispel the most common myths of strength training with women.

Strength Training Can Cause Women to Put on Huge Bulky Muscles

This is the most common strength training myth among women. The truth is, women who do strength training will not get bulky muscles as seen in men. This is due to the fact that women have about 15- to 20-fold lower concentration of a muscle-building hormone called testosterone than men do. Without this muscle-building hormone, it is impossible to develop any sort of muscles bulk.

Muscle Gained from Strength Training can Convert to Fat when Training Stops

Muscle cannot be converted to fat. Muscle can only shrink due to detraining. Very often, the increased girth sizes in the body are due to increased fat tissues or deposits on the body. This is due to poor diet and lack of exercise in general. In fact, strength training helps increase lean muscle tissue that has a direct influence in the metabolism. With higher metabolism, the body burn more energy in general leading to fat loss.

Women Should Avoid Strength Training with High Load

There is no reason for a woman not to train with high load. In fact, the strength training would be deemed as ineffective if insufficient load is imposed on the body. There will no adaptations required in the body to increase more lean muscle tissue, bone mass and connective tissue around the joints. Unfortunately, many women believe that lifting light weights with high volume of repetitions is the way to go for body toning.

Women should do a different Strength Training Program than Men

As women are perceived as the weaker gender, it is often suggested that women should stick with weight machines and slow tempo weight lifting to avoid injuries. It is totally untrue as women adapt physiologically to strength training similar to men and no evidence shows that they are more predisposed to injuries just because of gender differences. In fact, women should engaged in similar sort of strength training program if they have similar training goals. The only difference here is that women do not bulk up like the men.

In conclusion, women should never be afraid to train hard with weights because there is no evidence to show any adverse effects of weight training. In truth, there is many benefits for women to do strength training. The benefits range from improved toned, strength to increased metabolism.