Getting Fit: Weight training has many benefits for women
OK ladies, now is the time to get serious about changing the way your body looks.
I know that there are a lot of women out there who think that lifting weights will make you look like “She-Ra the Warrior Princess.” Well, I’m here to tell you that lifting weights and heavy weights will not add bulk and size to your body. I recently switched two ladies here at USA Gym from machines to free weights. While out in the free weight room one day, they asked me how much I lifted on the leg press, and when I told them, they were shocked. One lady made the comment that my arms and legs were not huge, but thin and slim. The fact is that lifting weights and truly challenging your body in combination with watching what you eat, will change the way your body looks. Don’t you want to lose several sizes and change your shape?
Just look at Angelina Jolie, Janet Jackson, Brittany Spears, and Gabrielle Reece, they all have lean, slim, healthy looking bodies, and what female didn’t want Linda Hamilton’s arms in the Terminator. All of these women spend time in the gym lifting heavy weights. If you don’t challenge that muscle, you’re just wasting your time. Yes, it takes time, it’s not gonna happen overnight, and yes, your body is going to get sore, but isn’t losing a dress or pant size worth it? Or how about getting rid of that excess fat around your middle?
Many women avoid weight training because they don’t want to get bigger. They see these women body builders on magazine covers while standing in line at the grocery store or they see their husbands, boyfriends, or even co-workers add size because of lifting heavy weights and think that will happen to them. I’ve even seen some of these female body builders and thought — oh my gosh! Fact is that women do not have enough testosterone in their bodies to ever think of looking that way, and the women that do look that way take or inject male testosterone in the form of anabolic steroids into their systems. That is the only way a women will ever look like that!
The truth is that by challenging your muscles with a weight training program you can improve your muscle tone, lose fat, lose inches, and get that sleek slim look without gaining bulk and size.
Scientists started doing studies on women and the effects of weight training more than 30 years ago and their results were that rather than gaining size, women actually lost fat and gained some muscle. That’s right, they lost fat! How else do you think that you’re going to get rid of that layer of fat on your thighs and belly?
NEWS FLASH:
Here’s an example of a women living in McMinnville, she lost 37 pounds and has kept that layer of fat off for 6 years now by doing a combination of weight training, cardio, and eating smart and healthy, her name is Dorinda Walker.
Dorinda Walker joined USA Gym on May 1, 1998, just two months after the birth of her second child. Dorinda was weighing in at 169 pounds, her goal was to get down to around 130 pounds. Dorinda started off slowly, as we do with all of our beginners in our Nautilus Room, with one set of 15 repetitions building to 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Next, she added step aerobics 2-3 times per week. She eventually switched to free weights, and this is where Dorinda really began to challenge her body.
Dorinda also controlled her eating habits by throwing up her hand (like speak to the hand) when friends would tempt her with chocolate. Through hard work and controlled eating, Dorinda lost 37 pounds in six months time. Now, six years later, Dorinda has managed to keep off that 37 pounds by maintaining her weight lifting program two to three times per week and eating smart. We all know the sour cream and butter you plop on that baked potato is bad for you. A moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips. Dorinda has even had a third child and still maintains that same weight loss.
Weight training will make the simple tasks in life easier, for example: Carrying in groceries, lifting your children, taking the lids off jars, and being able to play with your grandchildren. Building muscle boosts your metabolism so your body burns more fat. Muscle in your (female) body makes you look smaller, firmer, leaner, not larger and bulkier. Muscle tissue is denser than fat therefore taking up less space in your body.
Studies show that women who weight train while they diet, have far better results in the loss of size, than women who diet only. Women who lose weight by diet alone have to deal with flabbiness and excess skin. Also, losing weight through diet alone slows down your metabolism and makes it easier for more weight gain later. That is why the average American Female goes on a diet two or three times per year. She has slowed down her metabolism and therefore sabotaged her own efforts to keep the weight off, and so she diets again and again and again, trying to get that weight off. If she just changed the way she ate and combined that with a weight training program, she might just lose that weight and keep it off — look at Dorinda Walker’s results.
Like I said last week, permanent changes in your lifestyle (eating habits and exercise program) results in permanent changes in the way you look. Change the what you eat and way you eat.
So go ahead and add more weight to your exercise routine and stop using light weights with no results. Every two to three weeks try to increase what you’re lifting by five pounds. Weight training will not add bulky muscle, but it will improve not only your physical look and appearance, but also your health.
Remember is you have a question that you would like answered, please send it to me at Paige Northcutt, P.O. Box 7281, McMinnville, Tenn., 37111, or e-mail me at Ljnorthcutt@ Charter.net. Be sure to label it “fitness question.”
Please feel free to stop by USA GYM anytime and personally discuss with me any question that you may have.
Until next week, go out and have a healthy and fit day!