women should lift weights?? wtf?

Options
24567…11

Replies

  • _Sally_
    _Sally_ Posts: 514 Member
    Options
    We lose muscle as we age, so it is recommended we do strength training, just to maintain, if not improve out physiques and keep our metabolism high to avoid gaining weight. Without it, we will get softer and our metabolism will get slower (so we need to eat less as we age if we have less lean muscle mass).

    If you did resistance 4x a week without any results, I would suggest you were not challenging yourself with the weight enough, so I can see how it may have seemed like a waste of time.

    Perhaps you just haven't found the right strength training workouts. Maybe find a group sculpting or kettlebell class? Bootcamp or Crossfit? Yoga? Pilates?

    BTW, I'm a runner as well... I never understood wy so many people who don't enjoy running, do it anyway - never made sense to me :-)
  • GypsyRose25
    GypsyRose25 Posts: 407
    Options
    I think what most people mean is that you SHOULD, but you don't HAVE to. You know your body and you may not fit into the SHOULD category. Most people, male or female, do. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just want my point to get across. :smile:
  • randa_behnam
    randa_behnam Posts: 488 Member
    Options
    lifting weights builds muscle and burns more calories than cardio alone. you will continue to burn up to 72 hours after serious strength training exercise because your muscles are going to be repairing themselves. You have to do a lot more cardio to reach the same effects.


    It is best to incorporate both strength training and cardio into your exercise. If you dont like weights then dont do it. No one is making you. I personally dont like running but i get amazing results from doing 40 mins of strength and only 15 mins of cardio.
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
    Options
    Yeah, really, what you "should" do should be more based on your goals rather than... I'm not sure where some people get their ideas, so from, wherever.

    Like, if you want to loose a lot of weight like me and haven't worked out in 5 years, probably adding some muscle will help.

    If you're training for a marathon (I checked your page), added muscle is really just an aerodynamic inconvenience, and not something you need to be actively doing.

    As long as you are using your muscles everyday, you're not going to loose the muscle you have. And if what you have is what you want, then you don't need to add to it.

    If you didn't gain any muscle, you probably weren't lifting enough weight. The whole light weight-high reps idea got way to oversimplified. By light, think of that as "light to me," it should be on the low end of what you find challenging. And that's for toning. For actually building muscle, we're talking about a weight that when you pick it up you think, "hey that's heavy," and you're actually tired after you do 12 reps.

    Also, it really pisses me off when guys say women can't bulk up because we lack testosterone. That's complete BS. Women either do or don't bulk up due to routine, diet and genetics, just like guys do. We've all seen guys that lift every day and drink protein shakes and never get any bigger, we've also seen chicks whose muscle is ridiculous... You're fitness results are not based on your sex, and its mind boggling to me that that idea has made it through from the 1950's.
  • pantoine
    pantoine Posts: 12
    Options
    Women should indeed lift weights - but it's mostly for building bone density as women are more prone to osteoporosis than men. Bones get dense in response to bearing weight.

    Running will naturally do this for the bones in your legs/hips/spine, which is good :-)

    BTW: cardio does *not* reduce your lean muscle mass as someone here suggested. Some protein ingested in the hour or two after your run will help build muscle mass faster so you can run longer/harder more quickly.

    The proportion of lean muscle mass vs fat is important in a wide range of health concerns but whether it's your arms or legs doesn't mean much except for one thing: exercising your BIG muscle groups, such as the legs burns a lot more energy :-)
  • GypsyRose25
    GypsyRose25 Posts: 407
    Options
    Also, it really pisses me off when guys say women can't bulk up because we lack testosterone. That's complete BS. Women either do or don't bulk up due to routine, diet and genetics, just like guys do. We've all seen guys that lift every day and drink protein shakes and never get any bigger, we've also seen chicks whose muscle is ridiculous... You're fitness results are not based on your sex, and its mind boggling to me that that idea has made it through from the 1950's.

    No one in this thread said anything about that...
  • katherines2230
    katherines2230 Posts: 276 Member
    Options
    I've been lifing weights with my trainer for only 3 weeks and can already tell a difference. Its helping me drop weight faster too. I liked the elliptical and could do it for an hour 4 days a week but it was getting me no where. I'm definitely a believer that women "should" lift weights.
  • katherines2230
    katherines2230 Posts: 276 Member
    Options
    you werent lifting heavy enough weights then in all honesty...but you can to resistant bands to gain tone and muscle or even body resitance like push ups and dips and pull ups...just sayin...

    And I agree with this if you lifted for 18 months and didn't see any results.
  • MsQt
    MsQt Posts: 793 Member
    Options
    You don't have to do strength training. If you like losing weight, having no curves, or definition, just keep doing cardio. I you want to have a woman (eight hour glass figure) then you must do something to get it. No one said the get what you want must fun but you have to work to accomplish what intimidates you. There is no way that you will do plain cardio and have a awesome body. The difference in a runner and someone who incorporates both strength training is when you look at runners you'll know it: No shape, thin no muscle mass weak looking. One does both has curves and definition. What ever you were doing at the gym that showed no results is only because you don't know what you're doing. My body is all that and it only took me 3months to look the way that I do now.
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
    Options
    maybe women should "consider" lifting weights
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
    Options
    You don't have to do strength training. If you like losing weight, having no curves, or definition, just keep doing cardio. I you want to have a woman (eight hour glass figure) then you must do something to get it. No one said the get what you want must fun but you have to work to accomplish what intimidates you. There is no way that you will do plain cardio and have a awesome body.

    well my stats are 35, 26, 35, but thanks for your tips on getting an hourglass figure
  • hush7hush
    hush7hush Posts: 2,273 Member
    Options
    Children should "consider" not running out into traffic.
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
    Options
    Children should "consider" not running out into traffic.

    lol, so not lifting weights, is the equivalent of running into traffic?
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
    Options
    Also, it really pisses me off when guys say women can't bulk up because we lack testosterone. That's complete BS. Women either do or don't bulk up due to routine, diet and genetics, just like guys do. We've all seen guys that lift every day and drink protein shakes and never get any bigger, we've also seen chicks whose muscle is ridiculous... You're fitness results are not based on your sex, and its mind boggling to me that that idea has made it through from the 1950's.

    No one in this thread said anything about that...

    Just wait, it'll happen. And its just one of those bits of misinformation people repeat so often that you can't have a conversation without addressing that attitude. This whole thread is in response to a different thread, (which I haven't read cause at this point they're all kinda the same) and one of the reasons put forth in almost every militantly-pro-women-lifting threads is that women can't get bulky, so you don't have to worry about that. So this is a discussion, lets discuss.
  • hush7hush
    hush7hush Posts: 2,273 Member
    Options
    Children should "consider" not running out into traffic.

    lol, so not lifting weights, is the equivalent of running into traffic?


    Don't come onto a fitness community forum if you're going to shoot down advice that wasn't even directed at you.
  • catcrazy
    catcrazy Posts: 1,740 Member
    Options
    I fully get what the OP is saying, the whole "You SHOULD do this/that/the other" comes across as "my way is the only way"

    There are better ways of wording things.

    "Women would benefit from lifting weights because.......". is going to get far few hackles raised.

    This is the internet, written words needs more care because no one can tell the tone in which it was written
  • MsQt
    MsQt Posts: 793 Member
    Options
    My measurements are 34 26 36. My butt is lifted, i'm not loose, I'm like four weeks away for having rock hard abs, and you can bounce quarter off my a**. Now that's hot!
  • foodforfuel
    foodforfuel Posts: 569 Member
    Options
    You don't have to do strength training. If you like losing weight, having no curves, or definition, just keep doing cardio. I you want to have a woman (eight hour glass figure) then you must do something to get it. No one said the get what you want must fun but you have to work to accomplish what intimidates you. There is no way that you will do plain cardio and have a awesome body.

    well my stats are 35, 26, 35, but thanks for your tips on getting an hourglass figure

    I agree with most of what MsQt said.
    suzy, when I look at your photos I can tell you don't lift weights.
    When I looked at the photo of the post 'why women should lift weights', I could definately tell she lifts.
    I think people can figure out for themselves when a topic says "should" if they want to apply it to themselves or not. For crying out loud, that is just the process of thought.
    I think strength is beautiful, especially when it shows.
  • Driagnor
    Driagnor Posts: 323 Member
    Options
    Also, it really pisses me off when guys say women can't bulk up because we lack testosterone. That's complete BS. Women either do or don't bulk up due to routine, diet and genetics, just like guys do. We've all seen guys that lift every day and drink protein shakes and never get any bigger, we've also seen chicks whose muscle is ridiculous... You're fitness results are not based on your sex, and its mind boggling to me that that idea has made it through from the 1950's.

    No one in this thread said anything about that...

    Just wait, it'll happen. And its just one of those bits of misinformation people repeat so often that you can't have a conversation without addressing that attitude. This whole thread is in response to a different thread, (which I haven't read cause at this point they're all kinda the same) and one of the reasons put forth in almost every militantly-pro-women-lifting threads is that women can't get bulky, so you don't have to worry about that. So this is a discussion, lets discuss.

    I agree, it 's completely today with your training program and your diet. Anyone, male or female, is not going to get big and bulky just by doing circuit training with light weight, or doing 50reps with 2lb dumbbells. However, due to the increased levels of testosterone, it is easier for men to build muscle though.

    In response to the OP, whether or not you want to lift weights is dependent on your goals. While there are benefits to resistance training which can't be realized with cardio alone, it's completely up to you whether this fits in with your goals and your lifestyle.
  • keiraev
    keiraev Posts: 695 Member
    Options


    Perhaps you just haven't found the right strength training workouts. Maybe find a group sculpting or kettlebell class? Bootcamp or Crossfit? Yoga? Pilates?


    This is very true. I used to really hate the strength & weight machines at the gym & never knew what I was doing- I would end up just going on the easiest ones and doing nothing for myself at all.

    I have now discovered body pump so I lift twice a week doing that and it's transformed my arms, the rest of me is getting there slowly too :) I much prefer doing strength training in a group setting with someone instructing me with what I am doing.

Categories