Catchy title for this post eh? I wonder how many ladies came in here all pissed off like, "I am not weak! What does this guy know!?"
No women are most certainly not weak, however the general consensus is that women aren't overly strong either. This is also wrong. We've seen people come in with all types of limitations. From bad knees, slipped discs, hernias, week ankles all the way up to amputees, but by far the worst limitations a person can put on themselves is the notion that they cant do this or they cant do that. It's painful sometimes how people will sell themselves short. As a trainer, I'm pushing someone to be better then when they came thru my door. For women, lifting...and lifting heavy is something that can be down right terrifying and next to impossible.
"No thanks, I have my pink 5 pound weights that I curl 26 reps at a time"
....Please put the toy weights down madam and trust yourself some.
Women, not all women, but most want to look neat and toned. Not overly muscular, not rail thin, but somewhere in the middle. Lets keep the feminine figure. First off, ladies need to understand that high rep, low weight lifting is not the way to get toned. Its 100% a myth. On the flip side of things don't be trying to deadlift 600lbs...even I would not be walking away from that.
"There are two types of muscle tone ; myogenic and neurogenic. Don't get thrown off by the sciency words; the first simply refers to your muscle tone at rest. It is affected by the density of your muscles; the greater the density of your muscles, the harder and firmer you will appear. Heavy training increases your myogenic tone through the hypertrophy (growth) of the contractile proteins myosin and actin (myosin and actin are by far the most dense components of skeletal muscle).
The second aspect of a muscles' tone is neurogenic tone, or the tone that is expressed when movements or contractions occur. Again, lower rep training comes out on top as training with heavy loads will increase the sensitivity of alpha and gamma motor neurons, thus increasing neurogenic tone when conducting even the simplest of movements (i.e. walking, extending your arm to point, etc). " - Body Building.com
You don't need the 30 day squat challenge, Butt Burner workouts with so and so personal trainer you found in a bin at Wal Mart. You need compound movements like the deadlift and front/back squats. If you are a novice at lifting, and you're intimidated by the weights hands down the best way to learn is a hiring a personal trainer. You will learn the lifts, develop your technique as well as your strength and with the strength comes the confidence. Confidence that you CAN do it after-all.
So ladies, in closing. Lose the pink weights, the knee pushups and your squat challenges paper you got from a friend at work and put some time in with the Barbells and Dumbbells. Don't be afraid of putting another plate on each end, don't be afraid to progress. You CAN do it. You ARE strong.
-Keep calm, Punch Harder
Knockout Boxing and Fitness.
