Exercise Myths for Women.

Exercising these days can be very tough, especially when you aren’t seeing the results you would like. Many people are killing themselves at the gym and in various classes or engaging in very restrictive and sometimes unhealthy diets.

Many women believe that lifting heavy weights:

– makes them bulky

– is dangerous

– is bad for your joints

And

– “Once you have muscle, you can’t stop lifting or it will all turn to fat.”

These are not true, and it feeds into stereotypes that are keeping too many women from experiencing the profound benefits of resistance training.

Here are some common fitness mistakes.

Exercise Myths for Women

Not lifting weights

• Women are scared that lifting weights will make them bulky
• However if you want to burn fat at your most efficient levels, then having muscles will make your body do that.
• You do not get bulky from lifting weights. D
• Best thing about having lean muscle is that it burns more calories too, which means you can actually eat more food.

Not eating enough

• Depriving yourself from vital nutrients and minerals doesn’t work. Your body needs these to function properly
• Eating healthy nutritious food provides the necessary energy for your workout
• Starving yourself will leave you worn out, tired and sick
• Healthy living a lifestyle… not a crash diet.

Not resting

• Incorporating rest days into your exercise routine is critical
• In order for your body to heal and regenerate, rest after strenuous exercise is important
• During sleep,your body will heal and muscles will grow stronger.
• Recuperation is key. Although everyone is different, the recommended amount of rest is 7 – 8 hours a night

Long hours of cardio

• The key to burning fat and getting lean is to build muscle
• To achieve this, you must add resistance training to your cardio routine
• Running for an hour on the treadmill or only going to spin class isn’t going to give you the results you want
• Previously I talked about “High Intensity Interval Training”.
  • HIIT are short and intense workouts where you perform one exercise after another with little or no rest in between.
• Cardio has health benefits, still like to use cardio, and I’m not writing it off completely but don’t just use it as your single form of exercise.

Change up the Routine

• Your body will get accustomed to the same routine and results will often plateau
• Every 4-5 days, as your body adapts, it is important to change the type or intensity of the workout
• This will allow you to increase the complexity of your workouts and challenge yourself
• Not to mention…it’s boring to do the same thing everyday!