Womens Weight Training: 5 Common Myths and Realities

     Weight training and Men have always been the norm since the start of time, women who enter weightlifting or any other strength portraying activity had always been portrayed as masculine and taboo.

However, nowadays weight training is an important part of keeping healthy and a lot of women are practicing it and since it is a male-dominated field most myths are based on the male's anatomy and women think they will get the same results as their male counterparts.

Here are some examples of common myths about women's weight training:

Common Myth #1- Exercise Increases Your Chest Size.

I'm sorry ladies (and gentlemen) but breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue and fat can never turn into muscle. Thus, it is impossible to increase breast size through weight training but instead, if your body fat goes lower than 12 percent your breasts will become smaller.

The Reality Is: Weight training increases the size of your back and this creates the misconception of confusing a bigger "back size" from an increase in cup size. The only way to increase your breast size is to get fatter. It is after all composed of around 90% fat tissue.

Common Myth #2 - Weight lifting will make you bulky and muscular

This is one of those myths that derive from a male's result of weight training. Males and Females have different hormones and women don't and can't produce the same amount of testosterones as males do. Testosterone is one of the main hormones that build up muscle size and without this women have a hard time gaining big muscles.

However, most of the images being shown in television and other sources of media always portray female bodybuilders that are as muscular as men.

The Reality is: Most of these women use anabolic steroids along with other drugs and supplements to grow to their size. Some of them also have good genes and exceptional work ethic that allow them to gain muscle quickly when they workout and lift heavyweights for hours.

They did not get as muscular naturally. It is just physically impossible. Women who do weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness shows these days.

Common Myth #3 - If You Stop Your Weight Training Your Muscles Turn Into Fat. This is like saying that oil and water can mix. Muscle and fat are two totally different types of tissue. What usually happens is that when people decide to stop their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop their good balanced diet as well.

Thus, bad eating habits combined with lower metabolism due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the person's muscle is slowly turning into fat.

The Reality IS: While the muscle is being lost due to inactivity, fat is accumulated at the same time.

Common Myth #4 - Weight training will make you stiff and musclebound.

This is one of the most common myths, even with guys. Some people they will turn into robotic and lose their natural grace.

But Reality is: Most of those who are stiff musclebound people are already that way before weight lifting and that If anyone performs all the exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase.

Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged dead lifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.

Weight training will not only burn off excess fat but will tone and sculpt making a women's body curvy and sexy. So women if you want to look slimmer, toned and feminine, look into adding weight training as part of your fitness workout.

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