Myths about girls gym. Truths and myths about strength training for women

It is believed that gyms are usually visited by men. Moreover, the appearance of a girl in the gym can cause bewilderment, but the women themselves contributed to this.

The thing is that ridiculous myths pop up here and there. Being influenced by stereotypes, many girls are afraid of exercise machines, and only a few do strength exercises in fitness clubs. What keeps the beautiful half of humanity from these sports?

Myth 1

Being engaged in the "simulator", I will acquire the muscles of a bodybuilder and very soon I will become like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Somewhat exaggerated, true, but this is approximately how the first myth sounds to justify the fear of a fitness club.

Of course, it is possible to achieve certain results by regularly visiting the gym and intensively performing exercises. That's just going to have to do for a long time, for years! Moreover, muscle building requires a special protein diet and a very strong desire.

Considering the fact that you do not have such a desire, and you also do not want to subordinate your diet to such a diet, and everyday enhanced and targeted training is not at all about you, you should not worry about the reliefs. Because they simply won't. Remember how difficult it is to achieve a strong press without a single fat. And to build up the muscles of the arms and legs - so much so that they frighten with their appearance, is many times more difficult.

Believe me, coming to the gyms only 2-3 times a week and lifting light dumbbells for several minutes, not a single woman has yet been able to pump up muscles properly. Yes, and men too, given that in their body there is a fairly strong “assistant” for muscle building - the hormone testosterone.

In addition, an experienced coach will follow your sports achievements (namely, such people work in gyms), and by joint efforts you can adjust your figure in those places where it is necessary, and exactly as much as you need it. By the way, you can get a good chest shape only with the help of strength gymnastics and special simulators for working out the pectoral muscles.

Myth 2

By going to gyms, I will lose my femininity and plasticity.

It is easy to dispel such a myth - just look at the coaches and those who regularly work out in the gym. Do they remind you of wooden men? On the contrary, they, unlike you, most likely have something to boast about, for example, a toned stomach, beautiful posture, and an elastic gait.

Are you as capable as they are of doing a stretching routine? That's it.

Myth 3

Lifting weights in the form of dumbbells is very harmful.

Of course, a barbell weighing 80 kg for any woman (and men, perhaps, too) will be heavy and traumatic. But do gyms exist for people to get injured in them?

You should not think that if you come to a workout, and professional bodybuilders are around to lift heavy barbells, then someone will laugh at you with a 2-3-kilogram weight. Firstly, those who visit gyms know that each beginner has an individual training program with its own degree and intensity of load.

Secondly, not everyone comes to the gym to lift weights. For example, gyms and fitness clubs, in addition to serious strength training equipment, offer equipment for training the press, as well as fitness equipment: treadmills, exercise bikes, elliptical and rowing machines, etc. And, by the way, you can get injured anywhere, so you should remember everywhere about caution.

Myth 4

To find the perfect figure, just run on the street and do aerobics at home while watching TV..

It's definitely worth the run. It is advisable to run into a fitness club more often, which will allow you to harmoniously and comprehensively “sculpt” your figure. After all, it is no longer a secret, and it is known not only to professional trainers, that only by combining several types of training you can get the perfect result.

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The more popular women's fitness becomes, the more myths it becomes. It would seem that an increase in the number of girls who take care of their health and beauty should lead to an increase in the general literacy of people in the field of a healthy lifestyle. However, some misconceptions about women's fitness sit very deeply in the minds of mankind.

Unfortunately, the truth about women's fitness doesn't spread as fast as the myths. Non-specialized sites, silly broadcasts and advice from girlfriends gave the girls a lot of false information. Our task is to debunk the myths about women's fitness and provide professional knowledge to replace the refuted ones.

Do not eat after six in the evening

A few years ago, diets based on not eating after 6 p.m. were very popular. Today, many people practice this principle and claim that they managed to lose weight only because of this. In fact, this is one of the most persistent myths about nutrition.

Dangerous for the figure can only be the consumption of super-calorie foods an hour and a half before bedtime. Therefore, you can eat when you think necessary, and limiting this time to 18 hours can only be reasonable if you go to bed at 19 hours.

Fasting days help you lose weight

The Internet is replete with headlines of articles telling how you can lose an impressive amount of kilograms in a few days on a kefir, buckwheat or apple fasting diet. Unfortunately, many girls practice such methods, and in the worst case, even resort to mono-diets, which involve the consumption of one product for several days.

In fact, fasting days are not only not effective for losing weight, but vice versa. "3 days on buckwheat" or "Apple week" will slow down the metabolism, forcing the body to fall into the search for nutrients. As soon as you return to a normal diet, the weight will return and even become more than it was originally - the body will make reserves for future “fasting days”

Fasting is the best way to lose weight fast

A lot has been said about the dangers of fasting, but for some reason, girls are increasingly cutting their diet to 1000 or even fewer calories during training in order to lose weight faster. They rejoice in the loss of a kilogram a day and think that they are losing fat.

Reducing the diet by more than 30% is dangerous for the body - it begins to suffer from a deficiency of substances, without which normal life is impossible. The weight lost during fasting is muscle and water, not fat. Weight will return, but not in the form of muscle and water, but in the form of fat.

Some foods can help you lose weight

Few of the girls have not heard of products with a "negative calorie", eating which you can lose weight without effort. According to legend, in order to assimilate these products, the body spends more energy than it receives from them.

This myth has the only rational grain - in order to lose weight, you need to count the calories consumed per day, and their consumption must be greater than the income. The list of "miraculous" products is limited and it will not work to make a balanced nutrition system out of them.

The more you eat, the better

Girls often hear recommendations to eat every 2 hours and little by little to lose weight. Not surprisingly, for some, following this myth is impossible, they simply do not allow them to eat like that due to their lifestyle, which involves 3-4 meals a day.

To lose weight, it is enough to spend a little more, and get a little less energy. You can distribute meals as you like - the body is affected by total calories, not the number of snacks.

Your girlfriend's program will give you the same results.

We are used to adopting the best from our friends, and sports are no exception. Envying the successes of their friends who visit the gym, girls often blindly follow their path, hoping for the same results. At best, weight changes come out lower than they could be.

Each organism is individual, in fitness this applies to women even more than men. It is important to develop a personal program with a trainer that takes into account exactly your characteristics. Fitness requires an individual approach. What works for one may hurt another.

Only running helps to lose weight

This myth sounds even wider - only cardio exercises help to lose weight. Running is popular among women who are losing weight, they have high hopes for it. However, running alone is powerless if the diet does not change.

Weight loss needs to be approached in a holistic way. An increase in calorie consumption can be achieved with the help of any activity, including running, and a decrease in calorie intake is provided by a small decrease in the amount of food taken. If you like running, then you can do only it, but it will be much more effective to use a more varied training plan.

If a woman is engaged in fitness, then she can eat whatever she wants and how much she wants.

Having started playing sports, many girls, in joy, allow themselves to eat more than usual, rewarding themselves for their work. Their logic is simple: after spending a lot of calories in a fitness club, you can use more of them without consequences. A common pattern seen in many gyms is that the buffet is filled with the victims of this myth.

In fact, the calorie loss from fitness isn't significant enough to allow for unrestricted eating. Often, removing all food restrictions from themselves, girls gain kilograms by playing sports. Therefore, even after a workout, you should not relax, but rather, more diligently monitor the calorie content of your diet.

Strength training will make you masculine

Tales about "Schwarzenegger muscles" of girls who start attending a fitness club are often frightened by both other girls and men who are afraid of losing the feminine forms of their lovers. Many people think that strength exercises in women grow muscles in the same way as in men, and therefore they are afraid to take the first step towards a healthy lifestyle.

The well-known hormone testosterone is involved in muscle growth. It is present in both men and women, only in the latter the amount of this hormone is negligible. That is why you can not be afraid of excessive muscle growth when you come to the gym.

If a woman is not overweight, she does not need to do fitness

If this myth were true, then only overweight women would be seen in fitness clubs. Why do even slender women go in for sports if they do not need to lose weight?

Weight loss is not the only effect of fitness. Increasing endurance, strengthening the body, improving appearance and health are also the consequences of fitness. Therefore, sport is useful not only for overweight women, but also for everyone who wants to improve their lives.

You can't follow the myths

Being in captivity of myths, we not only slow down our progress and do not get the desired results, but also expose our body to serious danger. Having decided to start fitness classes, it is important to subject your knowledge of physical education to a thorough revision. And continue to draw information only from official, trusted sources.

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When doing fitness, follow only the recommendations of professional trainers and specialized publications with a good reputation. The advice of girlfriends, friends, neighbors on the porch and your own knowledge, taken from obscure sources, should be discarded or carefully checked. This will save you time and health.

Here is what is written in the article “Why women should not lift weights”:

It's all about the special structure of the female skeleton. In the fair sex, the bones are much more fragile and thin than in men. Including the spine, which bears the main load when lifting heavy objects.

With systematic (and sometimes one-time!) lifting of weights in women, the vertebral discs are gradually displaced, which in a few years can lead to such a serious disease as a vertebral hernia.

But the truth is that the wrong performance of strength exercises leads to injuries and degenerative changes in the spine, regardless of gender. With the right technique, the load on the spine is minimal.

In addition, weight training involves a gradual increase in load in parallel with the growth of muscles and strength indicators. So the health risk practically disappears.

2. Strength training can end with uterine prolapse

The prolapse of the uterus is the displacement of the fundus and cervix below the physiological border due to the weakening of the muscles of the pelvic floor and ligaments of the uterus. There are many reasons for this disease: from birth defects in the development of the pelvic organs to injuries sustained during childbirth. Heavy lifting is almost always mentioned as a risk factor. Some doctors advise against lifting more than 5 kg as a preventive measure.

However, do not confuse weight lifting and competent strength training! Carrying bags of cement without preparation, with the wrong technique (with a round back) and especially in old age (50% of cases of uterine prolapse are diagnosed in women over 50) is really unforgivable stupidity and a health risk. However, strength training is something else entirely.

If strength training with judicious weight gain and proper technique were to promote uterine prolapse, many female athletes would suffer from this ailment. The facts say otherwise.

Women involved in sports tolerate pregnancy and childbirth much better, recover faster after them and have fewer problems with the pelvic organs.

After strength training, oxygen debt increases, which requires a fair amount of calories to cover. According to a recent study EPOC Comparison Between Isocaloric Bouts of Steady-State Aerobic, Intermittent Aerobic, and Resistance Training, after strength training, oxygen debt persists for 21 hours: all this time the body burns more calories even in a calm state.

Therefore, if a girl wants to lose weight, she needs weight training, and not long walks or low-intensity jogging in the cardio zone.

5. Strength training does not help you lose weight, but, on the contrary, increases body weight.

Strength training helps replace fat with muscle. Your weight may stand still or even increase, while the volumes will decrease.

It is not for nothing that fitness models urge not to navigate by weights, but to measure their progress with a centimeter tape.

A great visual example is this photo of fitness blogger Kelsey Wells. In the first photo, the girl weighs 65.8 kg, in the second - 55.3 kg, in the third - 63.5 kg.

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Why does Kelsey look leaner, fitter and more athletic in the third photo than in the first, even though she weighs only 2kg less? Just because of the percentage of muscle mass. First, the girl lost fat, reducing the weight to 55.3 kg, and then gained 8 kg of muscle mass.

As you can see, strength training reduces body size, but increases weight due to muscle growth. So do not be afraid of such a quality increase.

6. Women should choose low weight and high reps.

In the gym, you rarely see a girl who does, for example, deadlifts or squats with a lot of weight for 3-5 reps per approach. Much more often, girls choose light dumbbells and do 20 lunges per leg, endlessly squat with an empty bar or bodybar, or work out on simulators with light weights, performing many repetitions per set.

This pattern of women's training naturally stems from the myth that women shouldn't lift weights. Since you can’t work with a lot of weight, you need to do a lot of repetitions with a small one.

But working with large and small weights has different goals.

By doing 1-3 reps per set at 80% of your one-time max, for example, you are training absolute strength. By doing many reps with low weights, you increase strength endurance.

To understand exactly how the muscles react to a particular load, you need to understand their structure. Muscle fibers are fast and slow.

Slow fibers (red, oxidative, subtype I) use aerobic metabolism (with the participation of oxygen) for long-term muscle activity. They are hardy, small in size and do not hypertrophy well. That is, training with low weight and multiple repetitions, you will not soon achieve a relief body. Proof of this are marathon runners, triathletes, cyclists - hardy, sinewy and thin.

Fast muscle fibers (white, glycolytic, subtypes IIa and IIb) work during short-term, high-intensity exercise. They are larger than slow fibers and hypertrophy well.

Exercises with high weight and low reps train white muscle fibers that grow quickly and provide a beautiful figure for powerlifters, weightlifters, sprinters.

If you want to quickly increase the definition, be sure to include short-term intense work in your workout: exercises with heavy weights and low reps.

If you do not have specific goals in, you can diversify your workouts and increase both strength and strength endurance by alternating loads. For example, in one workout, perform exercises with a lot of weight and a small number of repetitions, in the second - with an average weight and an increased number of repetitions per set, and in the third - with a small weight and a large number of repetitions.

As you can see, the type of exercise does not depend on gender, but on the tasks that you are pursuing. In women's training, there is a place for cardio loads, and multi-repetitive exercises with low weight, and work with weights close to a one-time maximum.

Build your workouts wisely, take care of the right technique and carefully increase the working weight, and strength training will give you health, strength and a great figure.

To become a happy owner of the body of your dreams, in your training program you need to algorithmically combine three integral components that are the foundation of modern fitness for women:

Strength training with weights
Aerobic training
Rational distribution of nutrients in the diet

These are the three factors on which the future of your figure depends.

However, statistics show that a very small percentage of the beautiful half of humanity use all three basic components of proper training. Basically, girls prefer aerobic exercise, thus trying not only to get rid of excess weight, but also to tighten the necessary parts of the body.

By aerobics, we mean: shaping, different types of dancing, stretching, team sports, running, step aerobics and similar fitness classes. In addition to the above, women can make some adjustments to their diet, do not eat food after 6 pm and partially give up sweets.

I'll have to disappoint you, dear women.

Because using only cardio training, you will not be able to form a beautiful figure and impress everyone around you with a chic appearance.

Remember:
A beautiful figure depends on the ratio of muscle mass and tone
in relation to the percentage of body fat.
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Excessive thinness is not the standard of female beauty, and most women of this type of physique have a low muscle content in relation to the fat layer. When such a girl begins to perform any active movement, it is immediately clear that there can be no talk of muscle tone. A completely logical question arises - why?

Because aerobic exercise, even in combination with proper nutrition, is not able to increase muscles and give them the necessary tone. To become the owner of an attractive figure that will combine convex body shapes and elasticity, it is necessary to apply strength training with progressive weights (barbells and dumbbells).

However, women do not want to hear about strength training, preferring to do only aerobics, at most, with the addition of exercises for the press.

When a trainer in the gym suggests that at least barbell squats be included in the training complex, a negative reaction immediately follows, and the discussion stops. Even if the girl agreed to do exercises with weights, there is much less enthusiasm than with group dancing or shaping.

Dear representatives of the fair sex! Do not rush to jump to conclusions. Because "aerobics + strength training" are inseparable things in achieving the main goal: "A beautiful and elastic figure without excess body fat."

It would seem that everything is stated logically ... So why do women avoid strength training, if everything is simple and extremely clear?

The myths regarding the consequences of strength training, which simply flooded the female psychology, are to blame. Now we will dispel outdated misconceptions one by one and instill in women the confidence that barbells and dumbbells are an integral part of body reconstruction to achieve an ideal figure.

KEY MYTHS ABOUT WOMEN'S STRENGTH TRAINING

Myth #1. Fear of using weight training to build muscle mass like in men.

Big masculine muscles are exactly what women who take their first steps in visiting the gym are afraid of. In this sense, the beautiful half can be understood. So let's take a closer look at the physiology of women and see how deep the concerns are.

How to give the female physique a great shape, but without extra muscle volume? This is precisely the main goal of modern fitness for women, which is much easier to achieve than for a man to increase muscle mass.

First of all, in the female body, there is an insufficient amount of stress hormones (testosterone), which are directly responsible for increasing muscle volume.

The exceptions are girls who are professionally engaged in bodybuilding, powerlifting and weightlifting. They specifically use synthetic analogues of testosterone to increase their athletic performance. But even with the use of pharmacology, it is not easy to force the female body to increase the muscle structure to a masculine form.

To force the body to increase muscle mass, it is necessary to create conditions under which the body will have to survive; then, in order to transfer the resulting training stress, he will need to hypertrophy muscle fibers.

The foregoing is difficult to implement even for professional bodybuilders who only create “necessary conditions” for days with the help of training, nutrition and taking pharmacology. The process of anabolism is much more complicated than catabolism, therefore, even with all the female desire to excessively increase muscle mass, in 99% of cases it will not work.

Secondly, muscles cannot grow when there is not enough building material (protein) and energy (carbohydrates).

Most women want to get rid of excess body fat, so calorie restriction simply will not allow you to start the process of anabolism! There is a small percentage of girls who, due to excessive thinness, want to increase their overall body weight. Strength training and proper nutrition will be able to give shape and elasticity, without an excessive increase in muscle mass - this is simply impossible due to rule number one.

Thirdly, modern female fitness is a simple task that is much easier to perform than it is for a man to increase muscle size.

The beautiful half can calmly improve their body, without fear of losing muscle mass against the background of dietary measures. However, the main problem of women lies in two factors:

In connection with the myths inspired by the fear of using strength training to achieve the desired result;
the second reason is the intensity of the training: even when a woman agrees to use strength training, she trains with a small load. It turns out that strength training turns into ordinary physical education and progress is completely absent.
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Remember:
Strength exercises for women burn more subcutaneous fat
and to a lesser extent increase muscle mass.
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Myth #2. Many women claim that they already have a muscular physique, so they do not need to use strength training.

There is one rule: the body can increase muscle mass only when the necessary stress conditions are created through training and the necessary amount of building material is provided. Simply put, without training, muscles cannot grow on their own.

Therefore, dear girls, if you get the impression that a certain part of the body is "muscular" because it is large and hard, this is a wrong conclusion. It's just that this part of the body has a dense fatty structure.

Scientific studies confirm that in women who do not play sports after 25 years, there is an active catabolism of muscle mass towards adipose tissue. During the year, from 200 to 300 grams of muscle fiber is lost, which is replaced by body fat. If the muscles are not involved in active strength work, then their partial atrophy occurs, and the body leaves only the right amount to perform vital functions.

Guess from three times what kind of activity solves the above problem? That's right - only strength training with weights.

Myth #3. Muscle growth causes an increase in own weight.

As a percentage, muscle tissue is 30% heavier than fat. However, remember that against the background of an increase in muscle tissue, it is necessary to get rid of the fat layer.
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The main criterion for the fact that excess weight goes away,
is the separation of muscles and a decrease in the volume of the waist.
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Even if the weights show the same weight, and the waist circumference is decreasing, it means that you are moving in the right direction.

In addition to the above, it must be added that strength training actively affects the state of your bone structure, which begins to accumulate additional calcium and becomes much stronger. By the way, weight gain is also associated with this factor.

Sometimes it happens that in the first month of training, women increase their weight and body volume. This indicates that there is more muscle tissue, but fat deposits have not yet left your body. You need to rethink your diet: you may be overeating and creating excellent conditions for building adipose tissue.

Dear women, use the above facts and reconsider your adamantly negative attitude towards strength training.

Combine aerobics + strength training + proper nutrition - and you will become the owners of a beautiful body that everyone around will envy!