Lean Women Train Like Men

Different personal trainers tend to attract different kinds of people. Statistically around 90% of all of my regular clients happen to be women. I am going to generalize, but most women when goal setting will describe pretty much the same ultimate goal but all will be beginning from different starting points in order to achieve it. The common aspirations are to lose weight, and “tone up”, particularly in the Oestrogen hormone sites, the legs, bum and triceps (lose the bingo wings). Some may wish to lose stomach fat too. The word “tone” needs to be clarified with the client first, although I am pretty sure that by now I have mastered that the female meaning of wanting to be more toned, means to be leaner and firmer, with the absence of flab/fat. A male definition of being toned means that ones muscles are more defined and visible without need for tension due to having low body fat around the muscle. Effectively in order to become toned, one must reduce ones body fat mass and at the same time retain or increase their bodies muscle/lean mass. If, lets say for example that someone has both fat to lose and lean mass to gain, the general female assumption, and in some cases men too, is to head straight for the bike or the treadmill. This is because there is an unwritten social norm in our society that all the free weights are there for the boys, to make them nice and muscular, and that the cardio machines and the classes are for the girls. This ever-present barrier often makes it difficult for women to feel comfortable or feel slightly intimidated by trying to lift weights in the free weight section of the gym amongst all the big strong men. This is perhaps, why almost 100% of my circuit training class that I run is made up of girls and why Body Pump classes also have a predominantly female attendance in our gym. Women often believe that the thing that they should be doing is lifting lightweights when they do resistance training. This is mostly the fault of the media and women’s health and fitness magazines, which show a girl who is in perfect shape, showing the reader how they can look just like her by demonstrating a few exercises, all involving a nice pink Swiss ball, a purple Yoga mat and two 3kg dumb bells. People tend to go along with this, because it sounds like something that girls are told they should be doing, as well as sounding like something that one might want to do, ‘lifting a heavy weight seems like hard work, but its fine because the magazine told me I don’t have to do that.’ Training methods do not vary from men to women. Becoming toned means to increase muscle, the same training methods of muscle building a man would do to achieve this is exactly the same to that of a women. The only difference is the physical results that will occur from it. Men will get bigger and women will become leaner, this is because ones hormones, women do not have the same levels of testosterone as men to get really big from resistance training. The muscular women that women are scared that they might end up looking like are taking steroids or other drugs. I never thought initially that my career as a Personal trainer would involve such an element of female enlightenment and liberating women from the belief that they are physically weak, and can’t become stronger. In most aspects of our lives today, women are regarded and regard themselves as equals. When it comes to physical ability, many women still hold a rather patriarchal view of their physical condition. All of my clients do different forms of resistance training, the girls amongst them become leaner and slimmer as they wanted and it didn’t come from them using light weights. They start off with lightweights, mostly to build their confidence even if I am 100% convinced they could have lifted more and progressively they become stronger, and in some exercises they are stronger than some of the men that I train. Women have a lot more strength than they think they have or want to think that they have. It is invoked by the fear that they may end up with big muscles. It will take a significant amount of training for women to become that big. I train men who do have the testosterone levels to become that big and they struggle to bulk up, even when they are bench pressing 80kg for 8-10 reps or dead lifting 160kg for 3 reps. This should serve as an indication that by women increasing the weight to above 10kg will not make them look anything like Schwarzenegger. They will end up looking more like the women below. Aside from the fact that women will not only become leaner and more toned from resistance training, there is another reason why everyone including women should engage in strength training and building muscle. From the age of 25 onwards our bodies lose around 10% of muscle per decade. As well as a decrease in bone density and become frailer. Consequently as we become older we tend to gain weight. This weight gain is often said to be that our metabolism is slowing down, as we get older. The cause of this slowing down of ones metabolism is in part to do with ones loss of muscle mass. The more lean mass that our body carries the more calories our body burns. A decrease in lean mass means a decrease in calories burned and therefore a slower metabolism. This chain of events can however be reversed through engaging in resistance training and by building muscle. There is no men’s activity or women’s activity when it comes to training, other than individual confidence that one may have in doing something that they believe society dictates is not for them, or not the fashionable thing to do. Some people do find certain forms of exercise to be more enjoyable than others but may not be what is required in order to achieve ones goal. Getting lean triceps to avoid the development of Bingo wings will not come from a spinning class. Nor will building strength and lean mass in ones legs come from punching pads. Enjoyment is important, particularly when one is new to exercising, as one is more likely to quit if the training isn’t fun. But at the same time I believe that people ultimately want to see results. Success comes through finding the balance between being taken out of ones comfort zone and doing something that one may find quite difficult and unfamiliar whilst at the same time find it challenging, rewarding and enjoyable.

Posted on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 09:29PM by Alex Carson PT Website Link: http://alexcarsonptrainer.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/lean-women-train-like-men/ Tags: Lean Women, tone up, resistance training, lifting weights

Spread the Word

Sign up for FREE health and fitness blog updates and news from Fitness Blogger UK what are you waiting for its FREE...

The Obesity Epidemic Obesity: What you need to know Obesity is a disorder in which a person has abnormal or...

Interval training for fat loss! Interval training for fat loss! Without question, High Intensity Interval Training is one of the...

Sandbags For Strength Originally published in T-Nation Is the sandbag the key to elite strength and...