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Never-ending debate: Should women lift weights? (Reviled)

Even though it was almost proven that weightlifting is probably by far the most beneficial exercise for one’s body, there are many myths and misconceptions about women and weightlifting. Some of them are concerned with the end results and whether or not it is all worth it. With this in mind, we will try to give a clear and concise answer to the question of whether women should lift weights and why. We will also try to address, as much as possible, some of the numerous popular beliefs concerning women and weightlifting.

Becoming too bulky

First off, it is a common fear that by lifting weights you will get bulky in no time. When observed from strictly physiological and anatomical side this is as wrong as it gets. Because of the lack of testosterone, it is significantly harder for women to build up their muscle tissue than it is for men. This means that while exercising, you will significantly lose out on your fat tissue without getting bulky. If you take a closer look, women in bodybuilding are (unfortunately) a rare commodity. For them it takes a lot of work and effort to reach that stadium so it is more than absurd to believe that after a few months of causal weightlifting you will look like that as well.

Substitute for yoga

Another urban belief is that there are some exclusively female forms of exercise, such as Pilates or yoga and that women should stick to that exclusively. However, recent studies showed that while yoga strengthens your body, its results are rarely visible. This means that in order to get into shape and become fit, you will have to find another form of exercise. In fact, the look that some famous actress or model achieved with “yoga” is most probably the result of either weightlifting or intensive cross-fit sessions.
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Becoming stronger

There is an interesting phenomenon about female weightlifting that serves to everyone’s benefit. Contrary to men who need to get bigger in order to get stronger, according to a personal trainer from Dubai, the stronger the women becomes the leaner she is. The best way to describe this would be as a clean win-win scenario, one of the few there are in life. Not only is intensive weightlifting good for strengthening your body, but for weight loss as well.

Losing weight

The worst myth about losing weight is that there is an easy way out. Dietary pills are never 100% safe and severe diets can exhaust or even damage your body. Therefore exercising is the only completely harmless way of achieving the physique of your dreams. Even though most people recommend cardio as the ultimate weight losing tool, weightlifting can be even more effective. Not only that, but because of the way running pressures joints, and sometimes even takes place on uneven terrain, the risk of injury here is significantly higher.

It is not self sufficient

If you plan on losing weight by weightlifting you need to be aware of one thing. It is not just about lifting weights several times a week, it is about much more than that. First, you are required to introduce a revolution in your lifestyle, to match your gym efforts. Chances are that you have already invested a lot of time and effort into this, so why not optimize the results by finding a diet to follow. Creating a holistic eating regime will only benefit you further and restricting yourself to an ideal daily calorie count will make all the necessary difference.
As you can see, there is nothing to fear in lifting weights. The only way for you to get bulky is to actually try to get bulky, but even then it takes an insane amount of effort to do so. All in all, weightlifting is a completely harmless, effective and fun way of getting into shape of your dreams. You only need to know how.
Author Bio : Samantha has a B.Sc. in nutrition, and has spent two years working as a personal trainer. Since then, she has embarked on a mission to conquer the blogospere. When not in the gym or on the track, you can find her on at or in a tea shop.

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