It is a common belief that if women work out with weights their bodies will become bulky. Why?
Truth is we tend to see everything black and white instead of all the shades of grey in between. We see a skinny model and assume she only does cardio and see the professional weightlifter or Crossfit athlete as the definition of a woman who weightlifts.
Weightlifting will give you a body like that if that’s what you want and work for, otherwise weights will help you: burn fat more efficiently, strengthen muscles, reduce symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, back pains, and depression, and help you sleep better. Now…. Do you really want to skip on having all those benefits because of the unsupported fear of having a man’s body?
Bulky women work very hard to look like that, they have a very specific diet and take various supplements. So the average girl won’t get bulky only by including weights to her routine.
Think of your body as a house. The bones are the iron rods needed to keep it up, and the muscles are the concrete. If that concrete is hard, they provide the strength needed to keep the rods up if they start wasting away. So our muscles are one our best assets, they are a potential Plan B if your bones start to degenerate.
For example, if you suffer from scoliosis, having a strong abdominal and back help you maintain the condition under control!
It is proven that weightlifting burns more calories than cardio training (although both are equally as important for overall health and performance) and it sculpts the body. While cardio will help lose weight, weights will help tone and sculpt your body.
Weight training burns fat, cardio also burns fat but also burns muscle, and if you’re trying to look your best, you don’t want to lose muscle because muscles are responsible for those curves you love! Yes, squats really make butts better!
And the last argument I’m going to bring to the table to motivate all you girls out there: Weight training helps you burn more calories when you’re sitting on your couch. YES! Since weightlifting requires your muscles to recover afterwards, your body uses more energy to repair that fiber, therefore, burn more calories while doing NOTHING!
So weightlifting should stop being your nightmare and start being your best friend!
xoxo,
C.
