C2K Mythbusters - Women & Weights

Myth #1

Women shouldn’t lift weights...

This is one of the worst ‘fitness myths’ floating around the old rumour mill. The fact is women NEED to do weights more than men. It will build bone density, increase metabolism and aid fat-burning.

The fear is that doing weights women will gain muscle bulk, and yet most women want a toned body. How do you tone your muscles if you don’t work them?

Resistance work (lifting weights) is broken down into:

* Reps (how many times the exercise is performed)

* sets (how many times we do that amount of reps) and

*resistance (weight)

How we utilise these 3 factors that controls the results we get from our resistance routine.

By maintaining a low resistance, high amount of repetitions and moderate number of sets muscle tone will be built without gaining ‘bulk’.

See a Personal Trainer for more information on toning and the benefits of resistance training.

Cheyne Rees | C2K Senior Personal Trainer | 16 Mar 2009