Thursday, April 8, 2010

Should Women Lift Weights?

Many women avoid strength training because they’re afraid it will give them massive, Schwarzenegger-sized muscles. But while strength training might cause the number on the scale to inch up (muscle is heavier than fat, after all), it certainly won’t cause bulky muscles to burst out of your blouse. That’s because women lack the testosterone needed to fuel serious muscle growth. If you want to be a female body builder, you can give it a shot with an extremely rigorous, extremely specialized workout, but ordinary exercisers can’t get anywhere close.

So with that worry out of the way, here are some of the reasons why every woman should add strength training to her workout regimen:

• To preserve bone mass and stave off osteoporosis

• To reduce blood pressure

• To lower the risk factors for various diseases

• To create strong tendons and ligaments, thereby reducing the risk of injury from accidents or other activities

• To boost resting metabolism (the amount of calories your body burns when it’s not doing much of anything) and fight the creeping weight gain of advancing age

• To keep misbehaving men in line

Although the average woman won’t lift the same load as the average man, the strength training advice in this chapter applies equally to both sexes. That means that to get the benefits of strength training, you need to do it often enough (two or three times a week) and with the right weights (ones that are heavy enough to strain your muscles, but not so heavy that you can’t control your movement). And if you aren’t comfortable in the sweaty, testosterone-soaked atmosphere of the local gym, shop around until you find a more relaxed place that suits your style, or opt for a women-only fitness club.

Source of Information : Oreilly - Your Body Missing Manual

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