Haha, she thinks workin out with weights will make her BUFF

thanks for sharing

Your article did a nice job of explaining why women should weight train.

I’d like to challenge (in a friendly way) a couple of the points in this article, though.

You say that lifting weights can make you bulky, but in general, even when women lift heavy in the strength and hypertrophy ranges you discuss (anywhere from 4-12 reps), they are rarely going to put on the large amounts of muscle that male bodybuilders do. Most women just don’t have the hormonal environment to add lots of muscle, regardless of their training style. There are exceptions, of course, such as female bodybuilders - but they are typically on anabolic steroids or have unusual endocrinogical markers.

Most women will never put on that kind of mass naturally. And even if they do add muscle easily, it will almost always result in them looking leaner, not fatter or bulkier. So I think the whole concern over “bulkiness” is overstated.

In fact, I’d argue that women typically don’t see the “toning” effects they are looking for because they lift TOO light and their rep ranges are too high to effectively build muscle and definition. The only way to add lean tissue is to progressively increase weight, which will require dropping rep ranges at some point during the training cycle.

If you look at most figure fitness models (people like Jen Cook, Jelena Abbou or Jamie Eason) you won’t find anything “bulky” about them. And all three admit that they frequently go heavy in the weight room.

Anyway, my point is that weight training is very individualized, and each woman will respond differently to rep ranges and weight. I’ve known some women with fantastic physiques that lift like male body builders, do moderate amounts of cardio and look extremely lean. Others, because they naturally put mass on easier, need to be more careful and cycle between high and low reps, or perform splits to avoid becoming too muscular in certain areas (like the legs.)

Your comment to avoid advice from the supplement guy was dead-on, btw. Run away as fast as you can.

Cheers!
matt