Weight Lifting and Women: Three Common Myths

Weight Lifting and Women: Three Common Myths
By Jennifer Humphries

People always seem to be looking for ways to improve their bodies. They try diets, fasting, pills, liposuction, and plastic surgeries, to name a few. None however are as effective in changing our bodies as weight lifting. People weight lift to lose weight, to gain muscle, and to improve their health. Men love to lift weights because it makes them look and feel more masculine. Women, however, despite the many benefits, are often reluctant to enter the weight lifting world because of three common myths that they have come to believe.

The first myth is that women will become too muscular if they lift weights. The fact is women can not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Men have an abundance of a hormone called testosterone which acts like steroids and helps men build muscle. Women, have only one tenth the amount of testosterone that men do (Benson 4). When women see bodybuilders with huge muscles they automatically assume that weight lifting is the causes of the muscles. This is only one of the causes. Professional female weight lifters spend hours a day in the gym lifting very heavy weights. They often use illegal steroids to overcome their natural, low levels of testosterone to develop such physiques. Weight lifting does build muscle, but without testosterone the effect on women is to make them stronger and fitter, not bulky.

A second myth is that muscle tissue turns to fat if weight lifting is stopped. When a person stops weight training, muscle tissue does not turn to anything. It is physically impossible for one kind of tissue to turn into another kind of tissue (Weight lifting for Women). When resistance training ceases, muscles slowly adapt to a lower level of activity and shrink in size to match the new level of activity (Benson 42-43). With smaller muscle mass, and lower physical activity the body cannot burn as many calories and may then store those excess calories consumed as fat. This gives the appearance of muscle turning into fat, but that is not what is happening.

A third myth is that weight lifting is dangerous. It is in fact one of the safest forms of exercise to engage in (Portuges 135). Weight training is an important part of an exercise program that helps strengthen muscles and tendons which will, in the long run, help prevent injuries (Portuges 135). Strength training is even helpful when you have been injured and is even used by physical therapists for their patients who already have injures to help speed recovery.

Women have many reasons for staying away from the weight lifting. They don’t want to bulk up; they are afraid that if they stop all their hard work will go to waste, and that they might become injured from lifting weights. All of these are myths that have no basis in fact. Women can benefit greatly from weight lifting because it will develop a slimmer figure and stronger body.

Work Cited

Portuges, Gladys and Joyce L. Vedral, Ph.D. Hard Bodies: Express Workout. New York: New York 1988

Benson, Anna and Cynthia. Firm for Life. New York: New York 1998

“Weight lifting for Women: Let’s get the facts straight about what weight training can and cannot do.” 15 November 2006. http://www.building-muscle101.com/weight-lifting-for-woman-myths.html