Strength & Conditioning Myths - Debunked! Part 1

Myth #1 - Serious strength training will make a woman "bulky" or "too big."

I hate this myth with everything in me because I see it reinforced in every god awful Pilates marketing campaign and on every stupid late night fitness disinfomercial.  My feelings aside, this is a very common fear for women when they enter the gym, thinking that they will lift a challenging weight and wake up the next morning looking like a Ms. Olympia competitor.

Don't worry about ending up like this.

What most women don't realize, is that female bodybuilders at the highest level have been training for years.  Equally as importantly, they have also been using large amounts of anabolic steroids to increase their muscle mass.

You see, a normal, healthy female just doesn't have enough testosterone flowing through their veins to ever come near that level of muscularity.

Testosterone is the male sex hormone that is responsible for mediating a lot of the processes that cause muscle growth.  Women produce a small amount of this hormone, but it is about 1/10 to 1/15 the amount that men produce.  

Female bodybuilders will inject or injest anabolics, including synthetic testosterone, to make up the difference and allow their bodies to build much more muscle mass.  This has many deleterious effects, including deepening of the voice, masculinization of facial features, unwanted hair growth, and more.  This is the main reason why the lady above doesn't look so pretty any more.  She is literally turning into a man!

Drugs aside, it can take decades for a hard-training man to gain an appreciable amount of muscle mass, even with all of the natural testosterone that we are blessed with.  For a woman to think that she'll get "too big" just by looking at a weight is just unrealistic.  The women that do train hard without drugs have to bust their asses for every ounce of lean tissue they can get.  It's not as easy as simply walking in the gym and picking up a few weights.

Do not be mistaken though, women can make very good gains when following a well designed strength training program.  They usually end up looking pretty good, too. 

 This is what a highly trained, steroid-free female looks like.  Big difference.

There are a multitude of benefits women can experience from a consistent, well-designed strength training program, including:

• Increased resting metabolic rate -  This is the result of increased muscle tissue and simply means that your body will burn more calories at all times than it does now.

• Increased bone density -  This is one of the most important aspect for women who are at risk for osteoporosis.  Strength training stresses the bones as well as the muscles, and the body will build stronger bones as an adaptation to that stress.

• Injury prevention - This is especially important for female athletes.  Women are much more likely to tear an ACL from participating in sports than are men.  Strength training will strengthen the stabilizing muscles around the knee joint, resulting in a decreased likelihood of injury.

• Looking better, not just smaller - The traditional modes of weight loss for women (dieting and cardio) often have the effect of just making a woman look smaller instead of better.  By this, I mean that you will fit into a smaller size, but without your clothes your body will look virtually indentical to the "before" picture only at a slightly smaller size.  With consistent strength training, you are able to change your proportions altogether, resulting in an actual body transformation.

• Improved posture - This is an often overlooked benefit that can make a huge difference in how you look.  Strengthening the weak postural muscles in your upper back can have a dramatic effect on the way that you carry yourself.  You will project confidence instead of age.

• Increased self-confidence - This is also overlooked most of the time.  Obviously if you look better, you will feel better about yourself.  But, I'm talking about a different kind of confidence.  The confidence that comes from being able to pick up 200 lbs off the ground with ease or from pushing the Prowler in the hot sun is not something that a lot of people have.  It is knowing that you can do just about anything you set your mind to.  It is the feeling that you are in control of your body and physically capable of great and difficult things.  This kind of confidence is something that can't be replicated or substituted for.  It doesn't come from starving yourself and running on a treadmill like a hamster.  It takes a special kind of person to be able to earn this confidence.  Are you one of them?  Then click here!