September 14, 2012
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The Alison McWeeny Story
She lost a leg in a boating accident on a July 4th vacation trip with friends. Her leg was amputated below the knee. That’s bad enough, but before the accident she was a competitive powerlifter.
Most people will try to find any reason to stop pursuing their goals. They have the case of the “I don’t wannas” or “There’s not enough time” or even “It’s too hard”.
Do you think Alison ever gives those kind of excuses?
Don’t let obstacles stop you from doing what you love or achieving your goals. You have to break down those barriers and overcome the adversity placed before you. You are as tough as you allow yourself to be.
This is motivation. This is Alison McWeeny’s story.
adidas presents Take The Stage: Monique travels to the World Powerlifting Championships
Monique may not look like a power lifter who can lift three times her own body weight. But her strength is inside her. Follow her journey as she tilts for glory at the World Powerlifting Championships in Latvia.
03/20/12: Follow Friday - The Birth of Athena
Introduction
I have decided that another way I can help spread the truth about nutrition and fitness to as many people out there reading as possible would be to start a weekly blog post dedicated to other websites and bloggers that are fighting the good fight. By this I mean that they too are doing their best to give out accurate and supportive information.
The only websites or blogs that I will ever support are going to be those run by people that truly do “get it”. Not only will these websites, bloggers and their respective pages promote good information, but they will be run by whom I feel are good people. I never will knowingly point you in the direction to check out a page for someone that is rude, disrespectful, unwelcoming or unsavory no matter how intelligent they are and accurate their information is in the fields of nutrition and/or fitness.
Not all websites or blogs are going to be a fact source or place full of article after article. I’m just simply going to point you in the direction of what I think is good information, an enjoyable read or good people.
Hopefully through this you will be able to find new websites and blogs to read, people to follow and information that you can find useful.
Alright, so now with the introduction to my weekly Follow Friday blog post out of the way, without further ado I give you my first recommendation.
Website/Blog & Link
The Birth of Athena - http://missdeejers.tumblr.com/
What is it?
Blog on Tumblr featuring a wide variety of posts.
Who runs it?
Danielle AKA Miss Deejers
Why should you follow it?
There are so many reasons, but simply put is because it is one of the best blogs I’ve come across on Tumblr. Not only is her blog great, but Danielle is an awesome person. She’s approachable, brutally honest, intelligent, well-informed and passionate about what she does. Not only that but she lifts (powerlifter, see video below), understands a great deal about nutrition and has one of the most epic duck face pictures floating around on the internet that has ever been seen by mortal eyes.
Her blog has always been spouted off as one of my ‘must follows’ to anyone asking for recommendations on good Tumblr blogs to check out, not just looking for good female run blogs.
I, honestly, could go on and on about the reasons why her blog is great and I could generate a lengthy list detailing why she is an awesome person, but I will let you discover all of that on your own since that is part of the enjoyment in following a new website or blog. The last thing I will say is that if you aren’t already following her (which I would be shocked if there were a lot of people that weren’t) then you really need to hurry up and get over there and bookmark her page or hit the follow button on Tumblr and if you end up not enjoying the blog and her then you are incredibly dumb.
Picture
Other
Here’s a video of her 2nd attempt deadlift of 259 at 119lbs during the WA State Championships PL meet this year.
Ten Good Reasons Why Women Should Stay Away From Weights ⇒
1. You might break a nail.
2. You could even bruise a male ego or two.
3. You’ll eat properly and still be able to lose fat. Work of the devil!
4. You’ll look more like an athlete and less like a runway model. Skeletal is sexy, right?
5. You’ll be able to lift heavy things without asking a man for help, thus upsetting the balance of the universe.
6. You will be seen in public without high heels.
7. You’ll grunt, sweat and feel sore. So unladylike!
8. You’ll be proud of your pert bum instead of being self conscious about it like a normal woman.
9. You’ll be more active and confident instead of sitting around looking pretty. What are you, some kind of feminist?
10. You’ll be stronger, leaner and sexier – and we all know where that can lead!
The Birth of Athena: What a Year of Lifting Heavy has Taught Me. ⇒
Danielle has put up a brilliant post about what she’s learned over her year of lifting heavy in the gym.
I encourage everyone that comes across this post, and not just the ladies, to read it immediately. Read it. Print it out. Read it again.
After reading it I’m sure you’ll understand why there are absolutely no limitations for what she can do not only with her training, but in her life.
The past year has taught me a lot about myself and my sport.
Goals are important.
I find goals to be the ultimate inspiration. You can dream about being stronger. You can wish you were thinner. You can resolve to get in shape. But those things do not matter unless you have goals. Dreams, wishes, and resolutions are just arbitrary thoughts regarding your current state of being. Actually visualizing your goal and you accomplishing that goal will get you a whole of a lot farther than looking at numerous pictures of hot people you wished you look like. Goals provide focus and force someone to acknowledge their current state in correlation with the state (whether physical or mental) they would like to achieve.
And not only do goals provide inspiration directly related you, but they also provide a framework by which to work towards that goal. Having a larger goal allows one to develop microgoals.
Goals provide focus. In order for you reach a goal, you have to take small baby steps for progress. No one is able to jump from being a couch potato do deadlifting 2x body weight overnight and having a goal makes one realize that everything, including changing your body, takes time. To run a marathon, you have to first run a mile, and then 3 miles, and then 10 miles, and so on, until you are able to run the entire 26.2 miles.
Having goals really forces a person to look inside themselves and figure out what they truly desire and the steps they will need take to make it there.
Stop wishing and make some goals. Your dreams don’t work unless you do.
Sometimes, you have to train smarter…
If you get serious about lifting, or any other physical activity, chances are you will hit a plateau. For example, my bench shot up like a rocket until 115 lbs. It took about a month to squeak it to 120 lbs. And then I was stuck at a 120 lbs. For my 1 rep max for almost 4 months. It was emotionally debilitating. I went from dreading bench days to refusing to do them. Benching just made me angry and frustrated.
After some moping around, I finally let some wisdom sink into my skull: You have to switch it up. In order to blast through any plateau, and any problem where the answer is not obvious, you have to go at it from a different direction. Up until that point, I had been continuing the 5x5 rep scheme on all of my lifts. If I made all my lifts for 5 sets of 5 reps, I would then increase my weight by 5 lbs the next time. This routine was not working for me any longer and I needed to change what I was doing.
After some tinkering, my training partner and I finally settled on Smolov Jr. for bench. We were given recommendations to try this program from some people we trusted. We were a little wary of what people claimed it was doing to their bench, but decided to give it a try anyway. What could it hurt? We had both been stalling for quite some time and at least, trying something new would alleviate some of the boredom we had from our normal rep schemes.
Well, Smolov might be a motherflippin’ genius. I was able to put 10 lbs. on my bench in just 3 weeks! All-in-all, it really does pay to do your research, instead of repeatedly bashing your head against a wall.
…And sometimes, you have to work harder.
Squats have been my nemesis from the get-go. I have had some issues with my tailbone and sciatic nerve due to falling on my ass one too many times, as well as a severe lack of flexibility in my hips due to too many years of sitting on my ass in school. And, when I started, I couldn’t even hold the bar on my back. I had to start my squat journey with two 20 lbs dumbbells. And, so, I worked.
I worked on building flexibility. I worked on building up my back muscles so that I could hold the bar on my back without it resting on my bones. I worked on my form. I worked on getting stronger. I worked.
But as one would suspect, I would frequently plateau on my worst lift. And it got frustrating. And in response, I would try to switch up my routine. I tried different rep schemes. I tried squatting more. I tried squatting less. Nothing worked.
The only thing that has worked for me to improve my squat (form and weight) was to just work harder and harder. Sometimes, you just have to repeatedly hit your head against the wall until the wall crumbles.
Have a strategy.
Fuckarounditis is not a good strategy to take with anything in life. Not with school. Not with relationships. Not with life. And, especially not with lifting. If you want to win, you must formulate a plan of attack. Plan a strategy.
You are stronger than other people think you are.
I remember my first squat 1RM attempt. I was hoping to hit something like 165 lbs. I was in the power rack and my boyfriend/training partner was putting weights on the bar.
165 lbs went down and up. Easy peasey. Next, 175 lbs. And then 185 lbs. And THEN 195 lbs. While my form wasn’t perfect, my boyfriend was blown away. Neither of us had expected me to move anything near that much weight. Especially not for my first 1 RM.
Yesterday, even, the guy who was training me guessed that my deadlift max was around 250 lbs. When I told him that is was actually 275 lbs, he responded “That is pretty darn good.”
For better or for worse, people will underestimate you (especially if you are female). Use this to your advantage. It is to your advantage to know what others think you are capable of doing. The key is to know what they think, but not to believe them. Use their ignorance regarding your abilities to shine, not only in the gym, but in all aspects of your life. It feels really great to surprise people by surpassing their expectations of you.
And you are stronger than you think you are.
Both mentally and physically.
I cannot tell you how many times I have entered them gym and told my training partner, “I doubt that I will be able to do all of the planned sets. The weight feels really heavy today.”
I also cannot tell you how many times I have said those words only to blow through all of my planned sets. I am stronger than I frequently give myself credit for.
One day, I was fretting over my upcoming job interview. I asked for some advice to calm my nerves via Tumblr. The best response that was given to me? “You can deadlift 250 lbs. This will be easy.” I have taken this piece of advice and turned into my own personal pep-talk. “I did 4 sets. 4 sets remaining. This will be easy.” “I can do 12 pull-ups, talking to this stranger will be easy.” “I can deadlift 275 lbs, pitching this idea will be easy.”
It is easy to doubt oneself. It is easy to set limits on the things we think we can accomplish. My favorite quote and motivation is from Maryanne Williamson:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
If we learn to trust ourselves then there is no saying what we can accomplish. If you are willing to push yourself and your limits, to step outside your comfort zone, you will be surprised with how much you can accomplish.
Having a community is necessary.
Everyone needs support, tips, advice, and sometimes, a little motivation. A community, whether it is one person or a thousand, provides these things.
Mind over body.
Will power is key. There have been countless times when the weight just felt as though it was glued to the floor.. Countless times when my body was shaking and my breaths were ragged. Times where I felt as though it was too hard and that there was no way I would be able to do it. But I pushed. I pulled. I willed myself to do it because I would not accept failure. The mind is a really powerful device. Use it.
70's Big Females: Lift Heavy, Be Sexy ⇒
Stumbled upon this post somehow today that was written on 70sbig.com. I enjoyed a few quotes from it and the overall theme of the post to tell women to lift heavy and get sexy.
Here’s a small excerpt from the article:
The following post was written by Cori and Ellee from Safe Fitness in Chicago. They are sick of the lack of leadership in the female 70′s Big community, specifically the need for better and bigger asses.
What does it mean to be a 70’s Big Female?Easy answer, ass size must be greater than 38” around. Why does this matter? Having a big ass means you can move and squat heavy weight, preferably at least your body weight. You might ask, well what about having a fat ass, does that count? No. Being a 70’s Big Female is not just about having a dumptruck on your backside, but you must also be able to haul that dumptruck wherever life may need it to go. Example: chin ups, pull ups, overhead squats, etc. It is more about having a GREAT ass.
In Cori’s 24 years of life on this planet – nearly all of them spent in a gym (playpen positioned right next to the chalk bowl, barbell in hand) – she has seen many women who would qualify as a 70’s Big Female, but has also seen many who would not represent. These women prefer to be skinny rather than strong. SKINNY = FAIL! What they don’t understand is that training hard, squatting heavy, and lifting serious weights is sexy.
Hopefully this does not come off in any other way but as promotion of lady lifters in a positive light. I really felt the need to bold that last sentence in the paragraph. In fact, I really felt the need to copy that paragraph and e-mail it out to some of my favorite female gym rats.. which I did.
It has dawned on me that I’m not quite sure if the ladies out there really recognize how sexy it is to men, women that train hard and lift weights is. Not just to men either. Hell, I know women that just find lifting for themselves sexy. It’s not about lifting for men anyways, but I just wanted to point that out.. Also, just to put it into perspective I would say that it is mind-blowingly sexy.
Women, ladies, girls.. you will not bulk up. It’s an impossibility given the levels of testosterone you have comparatively to men. You can, however, get strong, build lean muscle mass and lose fat from lifting heavy weights. I mean, there’s really no reason not to.
I have the utmost respect and admiration for any women that make the choice to pursue a healthy, active lifestyle.. but to me personally, absolutely nothing beats the attractiveness of a girl that lifts weights.
All of your excuses are now invalid.
This is motivation to the nth degree. No more excuses, no more complaining. Get in and get it done. Do what you should do when you should do it whether you feel like it or not.
Top 10 Reasons Heavy Weights Don’t Bulk Up Women
1. Women do not have nearly as much testosterone as men. In fact, according to Bill Kreamer in Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, women have about 15 to 20 times less testosterone than men. Testosterone is the reason men are men and women are women. After men hit puberty, they grow facial hair, their voice deepens, and they develop muscle mass. Because men have more testosterone, they are much more equipped to gain muscle. Because women do not have very much testosterone in their bodies, they will never be able to get as big as men.
2. The perception that women will bulk up when they begin a strength training program comes from the chemically-altered women on the covers of bodybuilding magazines. These “grocery stand models” are most likely pumped full of some extra juice. This is why they look like men. If you take the missing link that separates men from women and add it back in, what do you have? A man!
3. For women, toning is what happens when the muscle is developed through training. This is essentially bodybuilding without testosterone. Since the testosterone is not present in sufficient amounts, the muscle will develop, but it won’t gain a large amount of mass. The “toned” appearance comes from removing the fat that is covering a well-developed muscle.
4. Muscle bulk comes from a high volume of work. The repetition range that most women would prefer to do (8–20 reps) promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth). For example, a bodybuilding program will have three exercises per body part. For the chest, they will do flat bench for three sets of 12, incline for three sets of 12, and decline bench for three sets of 12. This adds up to 108 total repetitions. A program geared towards strength will have one exercise for the chest—flat bench for six sets of three with progressively heavier weight. This equals 18 total repetitions. High volume (108 reps) causes considerable muscle damage, which in turn, results in hypertrophy. The considerably lower volume (18 reps) will build more strength and cause minimal bulking.
5. Heavy weights will promote strength not size. This has been proven time and time again. When lifting weights over 85 percent, the primary stress imposed upon the body is placed on the nervous system, not on the muscles. Therefore, strength will improve by a neurological effect while not increasing the size of the muscles.
And, according to Zatsiorsky and Kreamer in Science and Practice of Strength Training, women need to train with heavy weights not only to strengthen the muscles but also to cause positive adaptations in the bones and connective tissues.
6. Bulking up is not an overnight process. Many women think they will start lifting weights, wake up one morning, and say “Holy sh__! I’m huge!” This doesn’t happen. The men that you see who have more muscle than the average person have worked hard for a long time (years) to get that way. If you bulk up overnight, contact us because we want to do what you’re doing.
7. What the personal trainer is prescribing is not working. Many female athletes come into a new program and say they want to do body weight step-ups, body weight lunges, and leg extensions because it’s what their personal trainer back home had them do. However, many of these girls need to look in a mirror and have a reality check because their trainer’s so-called magical toning exercises are not working. Trainers will hand out easy workouts and tell people they work because they know that if they make the program too hard the client will complain. And, if the client is complaining, there’s a good chance the trainer might lose that client (a client to a trainer equals money).
8. Bulking up is calorie dependant. This means if you eat more than you are burning, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you are burning, you will lose weight. Unfortunately, most female athletes perceive any weight gain as “bulking up” and do not give attention to the fact that they are simply getting fatter. As Todd Hamer, a strength and conditioning coach at George Mason University said, “Squats don’t bulk you up. It’s the ten beers a night that bulk you up.” This cannot be emphasized enough.
If you’re a female athlete and training with heavy weights (or not), you need to watch what you eat. Let’s be real—the main concern that female athletes have when coming to their coach about gaining weight is not their performance but aesthetics. If you choose to ignore this fact as a coach, you will lose your athletes!
9. The freshman 15 is not caused by strength training. It is physiologically impossible to gain 15 lbs of muscle in only a few weeks unless you are on performance enhancing drugs. Yes the freshman 15 can come on in only a few weeks. This becomes more complex when an athlete comes to a new school, starts a new training program, and also has a considerable change in her diet (i.e. only eating one or two times per day in addition to adding 6–8 beers per evening for 2–4 evenings per week). They gain fat weight, get slower, and then blame the strength program. Of course, strength training being the underlying cause is the only reasonable answer for weight gain. The fact that two meals per day has slowed the athlete’s metabolism down to almost zero and then the multiple beers added on top of that couldn’t have anything to do with weight gain…it must be the lifting.
10. Most of the so-called experts are only experts on how to sound like they know what they are talking about. The people who “educate” female athletes on training and nutrition have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s face it—how many people do you know who claim to “know a thing or two about lifting and nutrition?” Now, how many people do you know who actually know what they’re talking about, have lived the life, dieted down to make a weight class requirement, or got on stage at single digit body fat? Invariably, these so-called experts are also the people who blame their gut on poor genetics.
These so-called experts are the reason you see so many women doing sets of 10 with a weight they could do 20 or 30 times. They are being told by the experts that this is what it takes to “tone” the muscles. Instead, they are only wasting their time doing an exercise with a weight that is making no contribution to the fitness levels or the development of the muscle.
In case you haven’t figured it out by this point in the article, what is currently being done in fitness clubs to help female athletes tone their bodies is not working. It’s not helping these women get toned, and it is definitely not helping improve athletic performance. Maybe it’s time for a change. Contrary to the ineffective light weights currently being used, heavy weights offer many benefits for women including improved body composition, stronger muscles, decreased injury rate, and stronger bones (which helps prevent osteoporosis). Let’s try lifting some heavy weights and controlling our diet and watch this logical, science-based solution make the difference we’ve been looking for.
(via EliteFTS)
(Source: thespartanwarrior)
Deadlift PR Attempt
175lbs @ 132lbs BW
Don’t you ever give up.
Finish what you have started.
Top 10 Reasons Heavy Weights Don’t Bulk Up Women
1. Women do not have nearly as much testosterone as men. In fact, according to Bill Kreamer in Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, women have about 15 to 20 times less testosterone than men. Testosterone is the reason men are men and women are women. After men hit puberty, they grow facial hair, their voice deepens, and they develop muscle mass. Because men have more testosterone, they are much more equipped to gain muscle. Because women do not have very much testosterone in their bodies, they will never be able to get as big as men.
2. The perception that women will bulk up when they begin a strength training program comes from the chemically-altered women on the covers of bodybuilding magazines. These “grocery stand models” are most likely pumped full of some extra juice. This is why they look like men. If you take the missing link that separates men from women and add it back in, what do you have? A man!
3. For women, toning is what happens when the muscle is developed through training. This is essentially bodybuilding without testosterone. Since the testosterone is not present in sufficient amounts, the muscle will develop, but it won’t gain a large amount of mass. The “toned” appearance comes from removing the fat that is covering a well-developed muscle.
4. Muscle bulk comes from a high volume of work. The repetition range that most women would prefer to do (8–20 reps) promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth). For example, a bodybuilding program will have three exercises per body part. For the chest, they will do flat bench for three sets of 12, incline for three sets of 12, and decline bench for three sets of 12. This adds up to 108 total repetitions. A program geared towards strength will have one exercise for the chest—flat bench for six sets of three with progressively heavier weight. This equals 18 total repetitions. High volume (108 reps) causes considerable muscle damage, which in turn, results in hypertrophy. The considerably lower volume (18 reps) will build more strength and cause minimal bulking.
5. Heavy weights will promote strength not size. This has been proven time and time again. When lifting weights over 85 percent, the primary stress imposed upon the body is placed on the nervous system, not on the muscles. Therefore, strength will improve by a neurological effect while not increasing the size of the muscles.
And, according to Zatsiorsky and Kreamer in Science and Practice of Strength Training, women need to train with heavy weights not only to strengthen the muscles but also to cause positive adaptations in the bones and connective tissues.
6. Bulking up is not an overnight process. Many women think they will start lifting weights, wake up one morning, and say “Holy sh__! I’m huge!” This doesn’t happen. The men that you see who have more muscle than the average person have worked hard for a long time (years) to get that way. If you bulk up overnight, contact us because we want to do what you’re doing.
7. What the personal trainer is prescribing is not working. Many female athletes come into a new program and say they want to do body weight step-ups, body weight lunges, and leg extensions because it’s what their personal trainer back home had them do. However, many of these girls need to look in a mirror and have a reality check because their trainer’s so-called magical toning exercises are not working. Trainers will hand out easy workouts and tell people they work because they know that if they make the program too hard the client will complain. And, if the client is complaining, there’s a good chance the trainer might lose that client (a client to a trainer equals money).
8. Bulking up is calorie dependant. This means if you eat more than you are burning, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you are burning, you will lose weight. Unfortunately, most female athletes perceive any weight gain as “bulking up” and do not give attention to the fact that they are simply getting fatter. As Todd Hamer, a strength and conditioning coach at George Mason University said, “Squats don’t bulk you up. It’s the ten beers a night that bulk you up.” This cannot be emphasized enough.
If you’re a female athlete and training with heavy weights (or not), you need to watch what you eat. Let’s be real—the main concern that female athletes have when coming to their coach about gaining weight is not their performance but aesthetics. If you choose to ignore this fact as a coach, you will lose your athletes!
9. The freshman 15 is not caused by strength training. It is physiologically impossible to gain 15 lbs of muscle in only a few weeks unless you are on performance enhancing drugs. Yes the freshman 15 can come on in only a few weeks. This becomes more complex when an athlete comes to a new school, starts a new training program, and also has a considerable change in her diet (i.e. only eating one or two times per day in addition to adding 6–8 beers per evening for 2–4 evenings per week). They gain fat weight, get slower, and then blame the strength program. Of course, strength training being the underlying cause is the only reasonable answer for weight gain. The fact that two meals per day has slowed the athlete’s metabolism down to almost zero and then the multiple beers added on top of that couldn’t have anything to do with weight gain…it must be the lifting.
10. Most of the so-called experts are only experts on how to sound like they know what they are talking about. The people who “educate” female athletes on training and nutrition have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s face it—how many people do you know who claim to “know a thing or two about lifting and nutrition?” Now, how many people do you know who actually know what they’re talking about, have lived the life, dieted down to make a weight class requirement, or got on stage at single digit body fat? Invariably, these so-called experts are also the people who blame their gut on poor genetics.
These so-called experts are the reason you see so many women doing sets of 10 with a weight they could do 20 or 30 times. They are being told by the experts that this is what it takes to “tone” the muscles. Instead, they are only wasting their time doing an exercise with a weight that is making no contribution to the fitness levels or the development of the muscle.
In case you haven’t figured it out by this point in the article, what is currently being done in fitness clubs to help female athletes tone their bodies is not working. It’s not helping these women get toned, and it is definitely not helping improve athletic performance. Maybe it’s time for a change. Contrary to the ineffective light weights currently being used, heavy weights offer many benefits for women including improved body composition, stronger muscles, decreased injury rate, and stronger bones (which helps prevent osteoporosis). Let’s try lifting some heavy weights and controlling our diet and watch this logical, science-based solution make the difference we’ve been looking for.
(via EliteFTS)
Attention Ladies: Here’s PROOF that Lifting Heavy Weights will NOT make you Big and Bulky ⇒
Well over a month ago, I revealed the deception and some of the misleading information within the fitness magazines and media, specifically the publications directed toward women in my article I Don’t Want to Get Big and Bulky – Fitness Marketing and its Effect on Women.
In fact, as a result of publishing the article, I’ve discovered many women didn’t know anything more than what they’ve been told by the media. It’s no surprise, either. When the majority of our expert information is coming from trainers to the stars, it’s hard to imagine the information could be lacking or misleading.
However, as I mentioned in the previous article, these publications exist for one reason – to make a profit. I suppose their research suggests Americans (and the entire human race) are inherently lazy and that a quick-fix headline is sure to keep the revenue up.
Just looking at any other product being sold, especially those within the health/fitness/exercise niches, it all rings true – no one wants to work for the results if a shortcut is available.
If you can attain the body of a Greek goddess in 3 weeks without having to lift weights and while eating anything you want, why would you do anything different? The problem is the promises don’t deliver.
Month after month, women (and men) continue reading with hopes of the next best piece of information that will lead them to similar results of the cover model of their favorite publication.
Article Summary:
- Men and women do not need to train differently to see results.
- The biggest factor in a diet is calories in versus calories out.
- Hit your macronutrient targets.
- Essential fatty acids are vital to the proper functioning of your body.
By: Katie Lobliner & Derek Charlebois B.S. CPT
The primary concern women have when it comes to weight training is, “I don’t want to get big or bulky.” We are here to tell you that you won’t! The hormone testosterone is responsible for the large increases in muscle mass seen when men lift weights. Women’s testosterone levels are a fraction of men’s testosterone levels.
Normal testosterone levels in men are 200-1200 ng/dl while 15-70 ng/dl are normal in women. As you can see, men’s testosterone levels are significantly higher than women’s. Even if a man is at the low end of the men’s normal testosterone range (200 ng/dl), he still has more than twice the amount of testosterone as a woman at the high end of the women’s normal testosterone range (70 ng/dl).
If we look at the median or mid-range testosterone levels in men and women, men = 700 and women = 42.5. So on an average, men have 16.47 times more testosterone than women!
It is clear that women do not have the hormonal support (testosterone) to gain muscle mass like men. Therefore, the fear of becoming big and bulky and looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a ponytail is unwarranted.
Now you may be saying, “I have seen some women bodybuilders who are very muscular and look similar to men in their build.” The real reason they look like that is they are most-likely using exogenous testosterone injections and/or other anabolic steroids.
When women use exogenous testosterone/steroids they may show signs of hair growth on the face and chest, increased muscle mass, a redistribution of body fat from a female pattern of storage to a male pattern of storage, deepening of the voice, and other effects.
The point of saying this is that unless you are on exogenous testosterone or other anabolic steroids, you will not become big and bulky from lifting weights. This is not to say that you will not gain any muscle, you will, but you will not gain muscle like a man. Instead, you will become toned and shapely.
