Hey ladies, want to get “toned?”
Let’s get right to it.
I will start by saying that the most common question that I hear from women when performing a personal training session is: “But won’t I get big and bulky from lifting heavy weights?”
That is the question that bugs me almost as much as “what exercise can I do to get rid of this?” whilst grabbing at their mid-section with a look of disgust on their face. That question will take a whole separate article to cover, so hold tight, I will try to get to it the next time.
Back to women lifting weights. When women come in and say, “I want to get toned” this tells me that the individual would like to have some muscle definition, or what we like to refer to as an “athletic look”. That is what I am assuming because everyone has his or her own definition for this word “toned.”
To have muscle definition, or an athletic physique, you must;
(a) Perform any sort of muscle building exercises using your body weight or (heaven forbid) weights
(b) Reach a low percent of body fat
For these two possibilities to become a reality there is a lot of hard work required. I am not going to lie. Lifting weights is hard work, performing cardio training at 100% effort is hard work, and a keeping a clean diet in check is also hard work. None of these are for the weak-minded. Results will not occur overnight either. You must work hard, consistently, for a long time. This is obviously why we don’t see all kinds of wonderfully “toned” middle age women walking around like it’s nobody’s business.
Now, don’t let me discourage you. Let me enlighten you. By challenging yourself and lifting heavy weights, you are putting out great effort and, in turn, burning loads of calories and building muscle at the same time. And as you may already know, muscle burns more calories when the body is at rest than our friend fat does. (Up to 50 to 100 calories more per day)
For women to become bulky by lifting weights, they must want this to happen. By this I mean that they are taking a testosterone supplement to help them build muscle beyond what the female body is capable of. For the average woman, the existing low levels of testosterone in our bodies will prevent us from building muscle like our manly counter-parts, and this also makes it tougher for us to maintain a lean physique. Heck, there are men who even have trouble putting muscle mass on their skinny frames. If a woman was to train as hard and heavy as the strongest man in the gym, chances are she still wouldn’t have the athletic physique that she desired. Of course, there are obviously going to be the exceptions. Some women are lean and sport the athletic look without the help of regular exercise. Let’s not hold this against them. Yes, it would be nice to be able to sit on the couch and not be able to develop a muffin top or bat wings, but this isn’t a reality. Most of us have to do it the hard way. Exercising and lifting weights can actually be an enjoyable past time. The rewards of lifting weights and regular exercise are too many to be listed.The results of a sound, healthy body image are far more rewarding when you have worked your ass off in the gym to get them. Not everyone who is thin, is healthy, and don’t ever forget that.
Take any long-term personal training client at Ultimate Fitness and ask them if they enjoy their time with us. We use primarily free weights and body weight exercises in our sessions, and of course, a lot of hard work. Guaranteed our clients at some point will mention that it isn’t easy, but they will also tell you that they feel like they are in the best shape of their lives. Seriously, ask any one of them. I am confident that they will tell you the same thing I did. With all of our clients, confidence levels are increased in all aspects of life, and there is always a personal record to beat in the gym. With this I mean any record that you have set for yourself individually, or a maybe even putting up a number on one of our gym-lift record boards. Having a record board with everyone’s best lifts provides a competitive edge that pushes people to try that much harder in whatever it is that they are doing, just to get their name displayed in front of all the other members. It is a great feeling to achieve.
So, bottom line ladies, lift weights, get stronger, and don’t be afraid to put the men in the gym to shame. I take great pride in doing so myself, I won’t deny it.
You know, it is self gratifying to be physically strong and not have to ask your partner to open the pickle jar for you. With some hard work, soon enough he will be asking you.
Get your name up on that record board.
Sarah
