Female Fitness Myths

Women have been fed a lot of rubbish about health and fitness over the years. It’s time to set things straight.

Myth 1: You can “tone” muscles

The promise that certain exercises “tone your body” has become a common and enticing catch cry in the fitness world. We are led to believe that exercises such as tricep dips will tone our arms, which in our minds means the muscle will go from soft to hard and become firmer and slimmer.

However, the firming of our bodies is achieved due to an increase in muscle tissue (e.g. by lifting weights) often combined with a decrease in body fat (with a nutritious diet) which allows the muscle shape to be seen. Repeating an exercise over and over again at a low weight is not going to create tone, it just wastes your time. Which brings me to my second myth….

Myth 2: Low weight, high reps creates tone. High weight, low reps creates bulk

You’ve probably heard the age-old theory that men need to lift heavy to get huge and women need to lift light to get “toned”. This is not the case. First of all, as per Myth 1, toning is not really a thing. Secondly, lifting weights is simply a way to place your muscles under stress in order for them to adapt and increase in strength. The goal is to reach fatigue so the muscle can respond to the stressor: how heavy the weight is, or how many reps you perform, is not all that relevant.

Simply going through the motions with a light weight will produce little if any results because the muscle is not being stressed enough in order to adapt and change. Generally, training with a resistance that produces fatigue between 8-12 repetitions works well. If you can do more, increase the weight. If you struggle to get to 8 reps, drop the weight.

Myth 3: Lifting weights creates bulk

Following on from Myth 2, many women are concerned that lifting heavy weights will cause them to become too muscular. Unless you are training in a very intense, specific way with diet modification, this simply won’t happen..

The hormone testosterone is a significant factor in the development of muscle bulk and strength. On average, women produce about only 5-7% as much testosterone as men, therefore bulking up is much less likely.

Myth 4: Lifting heavy weights is dangerous for women

I would suggest that NOT lifting weights is much more dangerous than lifting weights. Lifting weights improves a woman’s strength, agility, stability, co-ordination, bone density, metabolism, mental health, ability to sleep and reduces their risk of chronic disease. Obviously, it is essential to have a professional guide you through your training program focussing on correct form and increasing the load in a sensible manner. However, there is no reason at all why women should avoid strength training. In fact we should lift weights, often.

Myth 5: Exercise lengthens muscles

I’m sure you’ve all been told in a Pilates or Barre class that a certain exercise will create long, lean muscles? I know this is a wonderful thought, but unfortunately it’s a load of rubbish.

While your muscle fibers do have elasticity that allows for them to stretch and shorten in order to move, they also have a fixed origin and insertion point. You can’t change where muscles begin and end, these are anatomically predispositioned. You can increase the length of individual muscle fibres with activities such a plyometric exercises, or shorten the muscle fibres with inactivity. However, unfortunately those longer legs we may dream of are out of our reach.

Myth 6: Cardio is the best way to lose weight

While there’s no question cardiovascular exercise is good for you, and does help with burning fat, it is only a part of the big picture. If women are wanting to lose fat, weight training is essential, if not more effective that cardiovascular training, especially long term. Research shows there is a greater post exercise calorie burn during the 24 hours after a weight training session compared to cardio. Lifting weights also increases your muscle mass, which speeds up your metabolism because muscle burns a high percentage of energy even while at rest.

In conclusion, the best way to lose weight is to do a combination of strength training, cardio training and eat real food.

Myth 7: Skinny is healthy

Many years ago when I was working at a local gym, I had a lady come to me quite upset. She was waiting for her turn on a treadmill (they were all being used) and pointed to a slim lady and said ”tell her to get off, she doesn’t even need to be here”.

The insinuation was that if you are slim, you must be healthy and therefore don’t need to exercise. This is completely false. I have trained very slim people who found it difficult to walk up a hill without stopping, and larger clients who can run 10kms without any trouble. Health is not just about how you look. It’s so much more than that. As women, we need to encourage and support each other no matter what size or shape we are. Get out there and make each day a little healthier than yesterday.

by Angie Black