- Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:07 am
#30481
As a woman, you might be afraid of lifting weights. You might think that you will end up "jacked" or muscle-bound. For a few women with the genetic tendency to large muscles or a hormonal imbalance, this might be true, but for the vast majority of women it would take hours and hours of pumping iron each day plus an extremely low body fat level to look muscular and manly.
If you can get over your fear of weight and resistance training, you stand to reap the benefits:
Burning more calories. Weight training and resistance training, whether alone or combined with cardio, keeps your metabolism high for longer after your workout, meaning you are burning more calories. Also, muscle mass burns more calories than other types of tissue.
Less appetite. Traditional cardio workouts can make you feel like you are starving afterwards. Many women crave carbohydrates after a workout and end up consuming more calories than they burned! Replacing some of your cardio with weight training can help beat those post-workout cravings.
Health. It's not just your weight that matters, but the percentage of your total body weight that is fat. Eating a low calorie diet and pushing yourself to do tons of cardio will result in muscle wasting, and you will lose more muscle than fat. Skipping dairy products because you are dieting can result in bone loss, as well. So the number on the scale might go down, and yet you may have a higher body fat percentage (and be less healthy!) than before.
So work those muscles, eat your protein, and watch the (fat) pounds drop off!
If you can get over your fear of weight and resistance training, you stand to reap the benefits:
Burning more calories. Weight training and resistance training, whether alone or combined with cardio, keeps your metabolism high for longer after your workout, meaning you are burning more calories. Also, muscle mass burns more calories than other types of tissue.
Less appetite. Traditional cardio workouts can make you feel like you are starving afterwards. Many women crave carbohydrates after a workout and end up consuming more calories than they burned! Replacing some of your cardio with weight training can help beat those post-workout cravings.
Health. It's not just your weight that matters, but the percentage of your total body weight that is fat. Eating a low calorie diet and pushing yourself to do tons of cardio will result in muscle wasting, and you will lose more muscle than fat. Skipping dairy products because you are dieting can result in bone loss, as well. So the number on the scale might go down, and yet you may have a higher body fat percentage (and be less healthy!) than before.
So work those muscles, eat your protein, and watch the (fat) pounds drop off!
