For way too long, strength training has been the domain of men. And that’s generated a whole heap of unhelpful misconceptions, stereotypes and outright falsehoods around lifting weights.
The problem is, these myths have circulated for long enough that they’re now believed to be truths.
When I first started out as a personal trainer, I wanted to find out more about women’s perceptions of strength training, to understand where their reservations lay, and to learn what was keeping so many of those who were gym-goers out of the weights area.
So I put together a questionnaire.
The responses I got back included such highlights as:
“There are gross guys at every gym that put me off”
And,
“I would hate to be associated in any way with the people who stare at themselves in the mirrors. It’s just creepy, you know?”
A lot of these women were in pursuit of some health and fitness goal or other, but amongst 64 responses, I found just one other woman who lifted weights.
Something wasn't right.
Now, I’m a strong proponent for individual choice and I’m not out to force ideals onto anyone. But I couldn’t help thinking that these women would achieve their goals (and a whole heap of other health benefits) much quicker if they started strength training.
I wanted to make sure that they – and other – women were not avoiding the weights room because of some false belief.
At the very least, information about the benefits of strength training and the truth about lifting weights needed to be available and clear...
...Because once the facts are on the table, we can make an informed decision about whether or not to engage in strength training.
So, let’s set the record straight.
Myth 1: Strength Training Is All About Building Muscle
Perhaps this stems from the hype around protein supplements and the attention garnered by the subset of muscle-vest-wearing gym-goers who train solely for hypertrophy. But strength training affords so many other benefits.
The physical health benefits include:
reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
reduced risk of type II diabetes
increased bone health and reduced risk of osteoporosis
improved posture and reduced incidence of back and other chronic pain
improved energy levels
increased focus
and improved sleep.
The mental health benefits include:
reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety
increased self-esteem and confidence
In other words, if hypertrophy – or building muscle bulk – is not your thing, there’s a whole host of other, far-reaching health benefits that could very well make strength training worth your while.
Myth 2: Strength Training Will Make Me Big & Bulky
An increase in muscle mass is caused by an increase in muscle protein synthesis, which in turn is governed largely by the hormone testosterone. Testosterone is produced by the testes in males, the ovaries in females, and in small amounts by the adrenal glands in both sexes.
Generally, the testes produce much more testosterone than the ovaries: Average testosterone levels in men are between 16.7±14.8 nmol/L, compared to 2.1±1.6 nmol/L in women. In other words, most women simply don’t produce enough testosterone to build that much muscle.
Of course, there will be variation from individual to individual and hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and hirsutism can lead to higher-than-average levels of testosterone in some women. If you're at all concerned then it'd be worth speaking with your GP, who can run a blood test to check your hormone levels.
Testosterone aside, no one inadvertently gains a whole heap of muscle mass; you have to work damn hard for it! You need to put in the training hours and support muscle growth with a high protein, high carb diet.
What's more, you’ll need to be training specifically for hypertrophy if you're expecting any serious gains. If building muscle bulk is not what you're aiming for, there are plenty of ways to structure your workouts to deliver results that better align with your goals.
Keen to learn what exercises to include and how to build a strength training program that aligns with your goals? Sign up to our online course: Learn To Lift: Strength Training For Beginners and get started today.
Myth 3: I Want To Lose Weight, So I need To Do Cardio, Not Strength Training
Before we dig into this one, I just want to make absolutely sure we’re talking about the same thing. Because we might sometimes cite weight loss as a training objective, when more precisely, we mean fat loss.
The difference is that if we’re just focusing on losing weight, loss of fluid and loss of lean tissue will look like a win on the scales.
Hopefully I don’t need to stress the importance of keeping well hydrated. But there’s an advantage to preserving, or even building, lean tissue if you want to shed some extra body fat...
Muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat. In fact, pound for pound, it burns around three times more energy than fat. Lifting weights, building muscle and increasing your body’s proportion of lean tissue will therefore increase your resting metabolic rate, which means more energy, or calories, burned at rest.
You’ve also heard the saying ‘muscle weighs more than fat’, right? Well, it’s sort of true.
A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. But the difference is that muscle tissue is more dense than fat, or adipose, tissue, and this means it occupies less space in the body.
So regardless of what’s going on with your overall body weight, when you start lifting weights the inevitable shift in your body fat and muscle mass proportions will mean you’re likely to experience changes in your body shape and the fit of your clothing as well.
The misunderstanding that lifting weights isn’t an effective tool for fat loss – and that you’re better off doing something like running or cycling – seems to stem from early research studies that tended to compare energy expenditure between cardiovascular exercise and traditional, low-volume strength training.
By low-volume I mean heavy weights, low reps, long rest periods.
In other words, the studies compared an hour of running to an hour in the gym where subjects would have really only been lifting for a total of about 5 minutes. That hardly seems fair.
If energy expenditure and fat loss is a goal for you, then you’ll be much better off structuring your workouts accordingly. For starters, this means using lower weights, higher reps and shorter rest periods.
Want to learn how to structure your workouts to achieve exactly the results you want? Sign up for access to our course, Learn To Lift: Strength Training For Beginners.
Our flagship course delivers a complete blueprint for planning, building and performing your own strength training workouts. No more relying on someone else to tell you what to do; no more piecing together fragmented training hacks and exercise videos while you try and figure it all out for yourself. Here we deliver everything you need to take ownership of your health and fitness and achieve the results you want.
A strength training session also elicits the EPOC – or afterburn – effect.
EPOC stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and it refers to the additional energy used during the recovery period post workout.
Once you’ve finished training, there are deficits to be made up for and systems that need bringing back into equilibrium. Glucose, proteins, fats, nutrients, water, hormones and neurotransmitters all need to be shuttled around the body and base levels need to be restored, and this requires a lot of energy.
Studies measuring EPOC during the hours and days post strength training consistently show a higher effect compared to steady state aerobic work.
In other words, your body continues to burn calories at a higher rate post strength training workout compared to post cardio training.
Myth 4: I Need A Gym Membership, Or A Heap Of Expensive Gym Equipment
You don’t necessarily need either. In fact, you may be surprised at how effective a workout you can get from sticking with bodyweight exercises and a minimal amount of kit, and by training from home.
A set of resistance bands can be a great addition to your at-home training kit: They’re relatively inexpensive, they pack down small and they add resistance and variety to a whole heap of different exercises.
If you’re keen to add more weight and mix up your training further, you can do a lot with a couple of sets of dumbbells.
Get yourself a bench, a barbell and a few different weight plates and you’ve got yourself a home gym.
Keen to learn how to set yourself up to train from home, what equipment to use and what exercises to include in your workouts? Join us inside Learn To Lift: Strength Training For Beginners, where you'll gain the knowledge, skills, freedom and flexibility to work out wherever and whenever suits you best.
Myth 5: The Weights Room Is Too Intimidating
Perhaps this myth isn't so bust-able - all the flexing, grunting and testosterone that flies around the weights room can be intimidating - but I still want to address it, to try and help settle any reservations you might have, and to offer you an alternative.
First up, one very simple way around this is to do your workouts from home.
You won’t have the watching eyes of anybody else, you won’t have to worry about how to use any new equipment, and you won't have to worry about adapting your workout if the equipment you’d planned to use is occupied by someone else.
You’ll be able to build your knowledge, skills, strength and confidence in private. Then, if you feel like heading to a gym further down the track, you can walk in well-practiced, safe in the knowledge that you know exactly what to do and how to do it.
If you are heading into a commercial gym at any point though, then I’d suggest the following:
Number one: Stick to the free weights.
Free weights include things like dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells, as opposed to fixed machines.
The primary benefit of learning to lift free weights is that they’re pretty much uniform in their appearance. That means you’ll be able to step into any gym, anywhere in the world, and know exactly what you’re looking at, how heavy it is, and how to use it.
Number two: Focus on you.
Try and keep in mind that it really doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. Lifting weights is all about you: Your goals, your training and your results. Everyone else will [should!] be focusing on what they’re doing, not watching or judging you.
If it helps you to focus, try taking a friend, or take your music and keep your headphones in.
Number three: Ask for help if you need it.
If you’re in any doubt about anything, just ask. It also pays to ask for a proper induction into any new gym you step foot in. Have a member of staff explain and demonstrate how to use each piece of equipment, if that’s what you want. It’s in their best interest that you’re using the equipment safely and correctly too, so never think you’re wasting their time.
Myth 6: Strength Training Is For People Like X Y & Z, Not For The Likes Of Me
Strength training offers a valuable way in to exercise for those who don’t necessarily feel comfortable with the way that more conventional types of training – I’m talking things like running, jumping, HIIT classes, bootcamps – can make us feel about our bodies. All the jiggling, sweating and breathlessness that comes with leaping about can make us feel agonisingly self-conscious.
The beauty of strength training is that it's also accessible and tailor-able to pretty much everyone. You don't need to be super fit already. It’s easy to adjust the volume of your training to make sure you get through feeling like you've worked hard, but without feeling like you might throw up or collapse.
You don’t need to be a certain shape or size, either. With so many different exercises and exercise modifications available, there are plenty of options to ensure you get a full body workout without being put into positions that feel uncomfortable or impossible.
And nor should age be a limiting factor. In fact, the older you get, the more important it becomes to keep lifting. Visions of fit young people lifting heavy and flexing their muscles in the gym can make it feel like this is something exclusively for them. But the truth is, that’s not where most of us are at and with a little guidance and support, anyone, at any age can start strength training.
Ready to start your strength training journey? Join our flagship course, Learn To Lift: Strength Training For Beginners, where we equip you with the know-how and the confidence to take ownership of your training and start achieving results on your own terms.
References
Braun, W. A., Hawthorne, W. E., & Markofski, M. M. (2005). Acute EPOC response in women to circuit training and treadmill exercise of matched oxygen consumption. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 94(5), 500-504.
Farinatti, P., Castinheiras Neto, A. G., & da Silva, N. L. (2013). Influence of resistance training variables on excess postexercise oxygen consumption: a systematic review. International Scholarly Research Notices, 2013.
Greer, B. K., Sirithienthad, P., Moffatt, R. J., Marcello, R. T., & Panton, L. B. (2015). EPOC comparison between isocaloric bouts of steady-state aerobic, intermittent aerobic, and resistance training. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 86(2), 190-195.
Morton, R. W., Colenso-Semple, L., & Phillips, S. M. (2019). Training for strength and hypertrophy: an evidence-based approach. Current Opinion in Physiology, 10, 90-95.
Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857-2872.
Thornton, M. K., & Potteiger, J. A. (2002). Effects of resistance exercise bouts of different intensities but equal work on EPOC. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 34(4), 715-722.
Tipton, K. D., & Wolfe, R. R. (2001). Exercise, protein metabolism, and muscle growth. International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 11(1), 109-132.
Torjesen, P. A., & Sandnes, L. (2004). Serum testosterone in women as measured by an automated immunoassay and a RIA. Clinical Chemistry, 50(3), 678-679.
Wang, Z., Ying, Z., Bosy‐Westphal, A., Zhang, J., Heller, M., Later, W., ... & Müller, M. J. (2011). Evaluation of specific metabolic rates of major organs and tissues: comparison between men and women. American Journal of Human Biology, 23(3), 333-338.
Wang, Z., Ying, Z., Bosy‐Westphal, A., Zhang, J., Heller, M., Later, W., ... & Müller, M. J. (2012). Evaluation of specific metabolic rates of major organs and tissues: comparison between nonobese and obese women. Obesity, 20(1), 95-100.
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