Clearing up the Myths about Resistance Training and Women

 

 

September 30^th marks National Women’s Health Day, the largest health promotion for women of all ages. The event focuses attention on the importance of regular physical activity and health awareness for women. The goal of this day is to encourage women to take control of their health and to learn the facts needed to make smart health choices and to make time for regular physical activity.  Let’s take a look at what the research has to say and then some of the common resistance training myths for women.  Here we go!

 

The Benefits

The number of benefits of resistance training is extensive.  Here are a few:

 

• It improves your mood, confidence and self esteem
• It helps you sleep better
• Enhances bone structure to increase strength and reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis which is extremely important over the course of aging
• Increases resting metabolic rate (RMR) due to an increase in lean muscle tissue, which can burn 5 to 7 calories per pound per day. Adding 5 pounds of lean muscle mass can increase the RMR by 25 to 35 calories per day or 175 to 245 calories per week. The more muscle added, the greater the number of calories burned while the body is at rest (1)
• It may reduce your risks of cancer

 

Despite all the research demonstrating the benefits, there are still a lot of myths surrounding women and resistance training.  These myths seem to cause women to fear and ultimately not participate in a training program.

 

Let’s take a look at the most common myths.

 

Women should not lift anything over 3 pounds. Women do not produce the same amount of testosterone as men. Adding resistance training will increase lean muscle mass, but it won’t add bulky muscle. Women do produce more growth hormone which helps metabolize fat and aids in reducing of effects of the aging process- that’s a good thing!

 

Women should not use weights because they will become bulky. It takes years of training, proper nutrition and supplementation to get the physique of bodybuilder. A couple of days of resistance training with heavier dumbbells will not make you big.

 

Light weights and high repetitions help you ‘tone up’. Light weights don’t stimulate the muscle fibers responsible for growth and definition. The most effective way to create muscle growth and definition is to activate type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers using heavy weight or explosive movements. (2)

 

Women should train differently than men. While women and men have differences in the structure and physiological functions of their bodies, muscle functions exactly the same in both genders. Women and men are able to gain relative strength at the same time. Due to the structure and muscle mass of the upper back and shoulder region, men can achieve higher levels of upper-body strength. However, when it comes to the lower body, women and men are closely matched in terms of relative strength. (1)

 

So, Here’s A Little Science

 

What’s more important to determining how your body will respond to resistance training are what makes up the ‘physiological you’.  We’re going to look at two factors that help determine what makes you, you.

 

Do you know what your body type is?

 

There are 3 body types and all women fall under one of the three or a combination of two of them.

 

1. Mesomorphs: tend to be muscular and respond to resistance training by building muscles mass much faster than ectomorphs.
2. Endomorphs: are more rounded and voluptuous and need to lose body fat in order to see a change in size or shape
3. Ectomorphs: are slim or linear in shape and are less likely to build muscle mass but will become stonger as a result of resistance training (3)

 

What are the Fiber Types?

 

For the purpose of explanation there are 2 different types of fibers in the body, slow twitch (Type I) and fast twitch (Type II).  There are really more then 2 different types, some hybrid ones, but ignore those for now and just go into reading the next two paragraphs under the impression there are two.

 

1. Slow-twitch fibers: produce energy using oxygen and are used to sustain long periods of muscle work, they contract slowly and are able to hold a steady paced twitch for long durations without fatigue. You commonly see these fibers at work with long distance runners.
2. Fast-twitch fibers: are capable of producing more force in a shorter period of time because they produce energy anaerobically, or not needing oxygen to complete the movement. These muscle fibers are used in such activities as sprinting and powerlifting so when it comes to muscle definition, the fast-twitch fibers are responsible for that response.

 

Developing muscle and becoming stronger are just a couple of benefits to women as they participate in a strength training program. Take September 30^th to evaluate your goals, participate in some form of exercise and celebrate your achievements. If you have any questions on how to start or maintain an exercise program, contact us!

 

 

References:

1. “How to Convince your Female Clients that Strength Training is the Key to Losing Weight and Toning Up”. Accessed 16, September 2015. The American Council on Exercise. https://www.acefitness.org/prosourcearticle/5016/how-to-convince-your-female-clients-that
2. “4 Myths about Strength Training for Women”. Accessed 16, September 2015. The American Council on Exercise. https://www.acefitness.org/blog/5040/4-myths-about-strength-training-for-women
3. “How Women Build Muscle”. Accessed 18, September 2015. The American Council on Exercise. http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/fitness-fact-article/2656/how-women-build-muscle/
4. “What is National Women’s Health Fitness Day?”. Accessed 16, September 2015. Fitnessday.com http://www.fitnessday.com/women/
5. Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net