Women And Their Fear Of Weights

Women Are Scared To Look “Big”

“How do I get nice and toned?” asks almost every woman I’ve ever met.

“Well, you have to lift heavy weights. Think less reps but more weight,” I reply.

“Oh, but I don’t want to get big,” the women respond and…1, 2, 3, I lose my head yet again!

WOMEN WANT TO LOOK “TONED” NOT “BIG!”

“I want to look toned, not big…”

I have heard this come out of countless women’s mouths a countless number of times and I don’t know how else to put it other then to say that I am beyond frustrated!

My own wife is guilty of saying this…oh I don’t know…about 100 times over our last 18 years together. AND, EVERY SINGLE TIME, WE END UP IN A HUGE FIGHT…or a very heated discussion…even if I am the only one heated….THE POINT IS THAT NOT EVEN MY OWN WIFE BELIEVES ME!

THE MYTH

To be quite frank, nothing gets to me more then to hear a woman say, “well, yeah, but I don’t want to look ‘big’…you know like a body builder…so I do lower weight higher reps?”

You see, ever since the heyday of body building, people have thought that getting “toned” meant lower weight and higher reps…BUT IT DOESN’T!

For some reason or another this mindset has stuck around for over the last 30 years and has brainwashed 98% of the world and about 100% of all women…at least the 100% I know.

FORM IS EVERYTHING

So, though the Original Gangsta’s had their hearts in the right place, they actually started an uncontrollable brush fire that has burnt the wrong approach to body sculpting (I say “body sculpting” in hopes of not scaring off women by calling it “body building”) into the minds of almost every man and woman on planet earth.

The low weight/high rep approach is a good one because it’ll help one focus on good form, which is everything in weight lifting…BUT IT WILL NOT LEAD TO A “TONED” BODY COMPOSITION.

The key to getting “toned” is to hit no more than 6-8 reps MAX with good form!

IT’S TIME TO LET THE OLD MINDSET GO – THE SCIENCE DOES NOT BACK IT UP!

HOW TO GET “TONED”

Back in the day they thought that by doing more reps with less weight you’d be targeting a specific muscle a bit more.

Okay, you might be targeting that muscle because a lighter weight enables you to focus more on for, BUT GUESS WHAT? The secret to getting toned is not about high reps.

GETTING “TONED” IS ALL ABOUT BURNING FAT AND BUILDING MUSCLE!

THE TRUTH of the matter is that, though THERE IS NO modern-day science backing up the low-weight/high-rep approach to getting “toned.” THERE IS science linking a heavy-weight/low-rep approach to weight training and fat burning…which helps get you “toned”!

If we think about this it makes sense.

Heavy Weights Low Reps = Fat Burn + Muscle Growth = “Toned”

Building muscle requires energy before, during, and after a workout.

And, here’s the kicker, the more muscle you have the more energy you’re body will use to maintain that lean mass…assuming you continue using that lean mass at least 3-4 days a week.

So, by lifting heavier weights we break down more muscle fibers and therefore use more energy to repair the muscle…and this helps us get “toned”…And FYI, by energy I mean carbs + fat and by “toned” I mean muscular…wait, did I say muscular? I mean “toned” ladies…What’s in a word you ask? A lot! But more about this in another post.

Much like running up hill, or running with weights, lifting heavier weights increases your blood flow, which makes your heart pump more, which means your burning more calories over a shorter period of time. BUT REMEMBER, a cardio workout does not a heavy-weight-lifting session make!

THE SECRET TO GETTING “TONED”

TONED = BURN FAT + BUILD MUSCLE

Step 1 | Burning Fat

Burning fat is all about using more calories than you take in so that your body eventually utilizes the stored energy you have chilling around your love handles, inner thighs, lower belly…you get the picture.

So, to do Burn Fat there are two solutions;

Reduce your caloric intake (diet)
Do More Exercise

Step 2 | Build Muscle

Building muscle is all about breaking down and repairing muscle fiber. And, sorry to say, lifting heavier weights less times enables more muscle growth than lifting less wight more times.

“BUT WON’T I GET ‘BIG’ INSTEAD OF ‘TONED’?”

Answer the 5 simple questions below to find out!

1. Are you weight training 3-4 days a week using heavy-enough weights to max out at 6-8 reps (even a 4-rep max out with good form is acceptable)?

2. Are you lowering your total or net caloric intake either by dieting or extra exercise sessions at least 3 days a week?

If you answered “YES” to questions 1 & 2 proceed to questions 3 – 5.

3. Are you eating a minimum of about 2,500 – 3,000 calories a day?

4. Are you eating your weight in grams of protein per day?

5. Are you taking supplements to help spur on muscle growth?

If the answer to questions 3 – 5 were all “NO” then…

….drum roll please….