The Women's Muscle Myth
I’m always surprised at the lack of good informationon the internet concerning women and lifting weights. (Note: if you’d like to know what I’m talkingabout, trying googling anything with Tracy Anderson. Seriously, what in the world is THIS!?) Further, I’ve written inprevious blog posts that women need to lift weights, but I haven’t reallytouched on why.
Well for starters, the health benefits are enormous. In fact, there's probablytoo many benefits to list in a single post, but one of the more important ones isthat it decreases your risk of bone density loss in your later years. Yet,many women fear lifting weights because a) they’re intimidated, or b) they fear that coming within a two footradius of a weight larger than 20 lbs will “put on too muchmuscle.” While I don't think any single blog post will quell the former, the latter is just an excuse that has no scientific merit.
First, let’s touch on actually “buildingmuscle.” It’s really tough to do! If putting on muscle was easy, then I’mpretty sure every non-hipster guy would look more like Arnold Schwarzenegger,and less like the 30 year old Pillsbury dough boy. Plus, I’m still waiting to get to the pointwhere I have “too much muscle.”
Also, it’s pretty well known that one of the many hormones responsible for building muscle is testosterone. Now, why is that important? Because women can have as little as 1/20thof the testosterone floating around their bodies that men do, although thiscan vary depending on age, stress level, etc. I like to say that testosterone and all the other hormones are "fuel" in the muscle building engine. Women clearly have less of this fuel than men, indicating that they simply can't pack on muscle like a guy.
Next, the ability to gain muscle is largely dependenton genetics. Want to know the reasonArnold Schwarzenegger looked like he did? Well he picked the right parents…and also the right illegal substances. Nevertheless, there’s no way he would havebeen Mr. Olympia if he wasn't genetically gifted with a low body fat percentage and a unique physique.
Lastly, and anecdotally, having had the opportunityto work in the fitness world has enabled me to know quite a few stronggirls and there’s trend I’ve noticed: the strongest girls tend to be the thinnest, while the weakest tend to be on the other end ofthe spectrum. While I could probablytake a stab at the science behind it (increased metabolic rate and probably a few other correlating factors), I’ll just leave it at that.
We all know that one woman who others call “jacked,”but realize that she probably worked her tail off to get there and wants to look like that. Odds are that 95% of women willnever reach that point of "jackedness," so it’s time to stop using this silly reasoning as anexcuse. It’s time for the women of the world to crushsome weights!