If you’ve never lifted weights before, the weights room can be a really intimidating place, especially for girls. Although it’s typically a male-dominated area, while girls tend to stick to the treadmills and cross trainers, the tide is slowly starting to turn against the misconception that lifting heavy weights is not for girls. The sooner this myth is debunked the better, because there are many reasons why girls need to start lifting weights.
The most obvious one is that it builds muscle. You may have heard that muscle weighs more than fat. This is nonsense. What people mean to say is that muscle is denser than fat. Therefore, if two women are of the same height and bodyweight but one has more muscle mass, she will look slimmer. Increasing your muscle mass will also rev your metabolism, which is why developing muscle is crucial to lowering body fat. On top of being able to fit into that old pair of jeans again, there are numerous benefits to being physically stronger, such as being able to easily carry heavy bags of shopping in from the car. In your 20s your ability to increase your muscle tone is at its peak; you will reap the benefits of weight training well into later life if you start when you’re younger.
Resistance training will change your body in ways that cardio can’t and dieting never will. Girls have long been told to lift small weights for a higher number of reps, widely touted as the magic formula for ‘toning up’ without becoming ‘bulky’. Well I’m here to tell you that unless you have a pair of testicles, you don’t have enough testosterone in your body to get ‘bulky’. So step away from the pink dumbbells. I repeat, step away from the pink dumbbells. Muscles only grow if they are forced to. You need to apply enough tension to the muscle fibres that you cause micro-tears; your body will then repair the muscles, and adapt them in order to better handle the stimulus that caused the damage. Those 1kg dumbbells are not the way to achieve this. So if you want to increase your muscle mass (and if you’re still reading, I hope you do) then forget what you’ve heard, and think bigger weights, but fewer reps. Don’t worry if you’re still afraid of ‘bulking up’; building muscle is hard work; it won’t happen overnight. Nobody ever woke up after one training session and thought ‘holy fuck, I’m huge!’
As well as a toned body, weightlifting creates strong bones, and an increase in bone density can help to protect you from osteoporosis further down the line. Stronger muscles also mean stronger connective tissues and stable joints, which can help you avoid injury while working out. So those who think weightlifting puts a strain on your joints are actually wrong. While cardio is important for cardiovascular health, some people don’t know that weight training can also improve cardiovascular function. Not only that but it has been proven to reduce blood pressure, and lower the risk of diabetes. If you still feel intimidated about entering the testosterone-fuelled weights area, remind yourself that a) you have just as much right to be there as anyone else, and b) like most things men do, weightlifting is easier than they make out. They might try and baffle you with ‘bro science’ but at the end of the day, you’re picking something up and putting it down. Simple, compound movements are the most effective ones for hitting several muscles at once; concentrate on seriously economic moves such as barbell squats and deadlifts. It’s important that your form is correct so as to avoid risk of injury; grab a gym instructor and they’ll be happy to help you with this. Ignore the animal-like grunts, and remember that unless you’re the one wearing the snapback, (why is there always one?) someone else looks like more of a plonker than you.
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