You'll find everything you need (including: training, nutrition, supplementation, motivation and support) in this easy-to-follow guide. It's time to get the body you've always wanted. Get educated, get going and get fit!
The primary concern women have when it comes to weight training is, "I don't want to get big or bulky." We are here to tell you that you won't! The hormone testosterone is responsible for the large increases in muscle mass seen when men lift weights. Women's testosterone levels are a fraction of men's testosterone levels.
Normal testosterone levels in men are 200-1200 ng/dl while 15-70 ng/dl are normal in women. As you can see, men's testosterone levels are significantly higher than women's. Even if a man is at the low end of the men's normal testosterone range (200 ng/dl), he still has more than twice the amount of testosterone as a woman at the high end of the women's normal testosterone range (70 ng/dl).
If we look at the median or mid-range testosterone levels in men and women, men = 700 and women = 42.5. So on an average, men have 16.47 times more testosterone than women!
It is clear that women do not have the hormonal support (testosterone) to gain muscle mass like men. Therefore, the fear of becoming big and bulky and looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a ponytail is unwarranted.
Now you may be saying, "I have seen some women bodybuilders who are very muscular and look similar to men in their build." The real reason they look like that is they are most-likely using exogenous testosterone injections and/or other anabolic steroids.
When women use exogenous testosterone/steroids they may show signs of hair growth on the face and chest, increased muscle mass, a redistribution of body fat from a female pattern of storage to a male pattern of storage, deepening of the voice, and other effects.
The point of saying this is that unless you are on exogenous testosterone or other anabolic steroids, you will not become big and bulky from lifting weights. This is not to say that you will not gain any muscle, you will, but you will not gain muscle like a man. Instead, you will become toned and shapely.Studies have shown that men and women do not need to train differently. If you are a woman and want to gain muscle and improve your shape and curves, then you are going to have to lift heavy weights.
This means that instead doing endless reps with light weights, as the media often prescribes women to do, you need to lift some heavy weights and really challenge yourself! While performing high rep sets (15-20 reps) does have some benefit, it is not optimal to adding muscle mass. Here is a very vague overview of rep ranges:
* 1-5 reps for strength
* 6-12 reps for hypertrophy
* 12+ reps for endurance
That is very superficial overview of rep ranges as there is a lot of crossover of adaptations between rep ranges. For example, many people grow lifting solely in the 1-5 rep range and 12+ rep range. But it gives you an idea of the weight you need to lift to grow; a weight that you can complete for at least 6 reps but not more than 12 reps.
Men and women do not need to train differently to see results, but what about diet? Should women eat differently than men? Not really. Men's and women's metabolisms are very similar except that women burn a greater ratio of fat to carbs than men. This may be one of the reasons women do well on lower carb diets.The main thing that needs to be adjusted is one's total caloric intake. Women need fewer calories than men because men have more muscle mass and less fat (relative to total bodyweight) than women. The amount of protein, carbs, and fat will be dictated by the amount of calories one eats.
We have shown that women do not need to train or diet much differently than men. Then why do we always see women in gym performing hours of cardio and lifting the lightest dumbbells in the gym for endless reps? This is most-likely due to not being informed, or even misinformed (by the media), about how women should train.
