There are a number of reasons that so many people have an unhealthy amount of body fat. Some are simply lacking the motivation required to abstain from eating junk food and monitor their calories. For others, the problem has nothing to do with motivation and is more a product of not knowing what they ought to be doing to build their ideal physique. This issue doesn’t stem from the right information being unavailable to them. You can find quality instructions for losing fat and building muscle on a number of reputable websites, within books, and in many online programs. But for every quality website, book or program, there are dozens more that are pushing ineffective advice and unproven methods that make it nearly impossible for the undiscerning person to separate fact from fiction.
For whatever reason, this kind of misinformation seems to be especially prevalent in the realm of women’s fitness. It would take an entire book to expose all of the fitness lies being sold to women, online and otherwise. Nevertheless, throughout the rest of this article I’m going to expose three of the most common women’s fitness myths that are keeping a plethora of well-intentioned women from reaching their goal of developing the ideal feminine physique. Myth #1: Weight Lifting is for Men Only Walk into just about any gym or fitness center in America and you’ll see a majority of the women using treadmills, elliptical machines, or performing some form of activity that’s cardio-centric. Far too many women have started “sipping the Kool-Aid” and have fallen for believing the lie that they don’t need to lift weights. Or maybe they’re scared of developing the kind of bulky, masculine bodies that are typical of the steroid-using women they see on television. Whatever their reasons, it’s obvious that most women believe weight lifting to be counter-productive to their goal of developing a trim and toned sexy feminine physique. The truth is that the ideal female physique, defined by low body fat and sexy curves, can’t be developed apart from lifting weights. Weight lifting not only builds muscle, but it aids in fat loss by boosting the metabolism, and also helps fill out the body with sexy curves. The treadmill may be good at promoting fat loss, but it isn’t going to help you add some much needed muscle to your frame. In short, weight training is an integral part of building a curvy female physique and it shouldn’t be neglected by any woman interested in building the kind of female physique that’s most attractive to their male counterparts. Myth #2: Women Should Train with Light Weights I’m not sure where this myth started, but it has been spread around like wildfire. It’s next to impossible to convince women these days to lift an amount of weight that causes them to strain to complete five or six reps. Instead of using a level of resistance that will actually stimulate their muscles, women stick to curling their five pound dumbbells, while their arms continue looking flaccid and unimpressive week after week. Ironically, the majority of women spend their time at the gym with the intention of toning up and increasing their muscle definition. But toning up and having muscle definition has very little to do with whether they’re lifting light or heavy weights because muscle definition is mostly a function of body fat. If you want to increase your muscle definition, eat for fat loss and make cardio a regular piece of your training (not all of your training). As you reduce body fat and build up your muscles your definition will continually improve. Always remember that having additional muscle mass aids in fat loss and leads to an increase in muscle definition. And both are essential for developing the ideal female body. Myth #3: Fat Loss Should Focus on Problem Areas Fitness writers have long been preying on unsuspecting women with the appealing message that they can target fat loss to their specific problem areas - like the stomach. I agree that this sounds great, but it has no basis in reality! Abdominal exercises work the abdominal muscles – not the fat cells of the stomach surrounding the ab muscles. In other words, working the abs enables you to burn calories, and further develop your abdominal muscles, but it can’t be used to specifically burn off unwanted stomach fat. Fat loss occurs across the entire body, with the greatest areas of fat storages typically experiencing the greatest percentage of fat reduction. If you want to reduce stomach fat, the truth is that you have to work on reducing your overall level of body fat. It should be noted that in some cases women have such little muscle mass that even after getting relatively lean they still won’t have a great deal of muscle definition. In these instances building additional muscle mass through resistance training to fill out their bodies is the missing ingredient to be both lean and defined. See a common theme here? If you’re a woman who wants to build the ideal female physique, the only way to do it is by lifting weights that overload the muscles and reducing your body fat until you have a level of muscle definition you’re satisfied with. Neglecting to include weight lifting as part of your training regimen, using weights that cause zero muscle strain, or performing endless exercises with the intention of targeting a specific area on your body will only lead to disappointment. Comments are closed.
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