Myth Busters! 6 Female Strength Training Myths That Won’t Die – Busted!

by Nia Shanks | Follow her on Twitter here

We’re gonna have some fun today.

It’s time to bust (or, hopefully, absolutely demolish) six popular female strength training myths that just won’t die.

There are dozens of myths about women and weight lifting, but I’ve put together a video that busts six of the most common myths. It’s time to obliterate these once and for all.

Watch this video and let’s bust some myths!

Note: If you click the video and view it on my YouTube channel, it’s not blurry or distorted.

Here’s the breakdown of what’s in the video. If you didn’t watch the video, I highly encourage you to do so because I won’t recap everything below.

Myth #1 Weight Lifting Makes Women Big ‘n Bulky

It’s no surprise that this is still the most common female strength training myth. Frequent, progressive, heavy weight lifting with basic compound exercises does not make women big ‘n bulky. 

The true culprit that gives a woman a bulky appearance is excess body fat. Period.

I can deadlift 330 pounds, perform weighted chin-ups, parallel bar dips, and squat 1.5 times my body weight. I’ve been called “big ‘n bulky” only once, as explained in the video. All of my female clients participate and perform progressive weight lifting (though I always use exercises that are appropriate for each woman and that she prefers), and no one in my 10 years of personal training ever complained of getting “bulky”.

Many women are hesitant to lift heavy weights at first because of this prevalent myth, but after a few weeks, they love the physical AND mental results they achieve. Bottom line — progressive strength training helps women build the body they truly want. It also helps increase self-confidence, which is an incredible bonus.

Myth #2 Weight Lifting is Not the Best Way to Lose Fat & Get That “Toned” Look

If a woman’s primary goal is to lose body fat and slim down, she just needs to do cardio, right?

Absolutely wrong.

The only way to get that “toned” look is to build some muscle and lose excess body fat. This is where strength training reigns supreme, not cardio. That’s why Lifting Like a Girl is the ultimate way to get the body you want in minimum time.

Myth #3 It Takes Too Much Time to Strength Train

No, it doesn’t. You can perform an effective workout in as little as 30 minutes a few times per week. As long as you are performing compound exercises and challenging yourself (using enough weight!), and you improve your performance, you don’t need a lot of time.

In fact, you can get in a much more effective, productive strength training workout in 20 minutes than you could with 45+ minutes of traditional cardio. Doing squats, push-ups, and inverted rows for 20 minutes will do much more for your physique than plodding along aimlessly on a cardio machine for 45 minutes. You can Lift Like a Girl & Look Absolutely Awesome in minimum time.

Myth #4 You Need a Lot of Equipment

Again, no!

Do you need a fully loaded gym to build a strong, lean, and healthy body? Nope.

You can build the physique you want no matter what equipment you have, or don’t have. Only have your bodyweight and dumbbells to work with? You’re all set.

What if you only have your bodyweight? Can you build a great body with only bodyweight exercises? Absolutely! (In fact, we demolished bodyweight workout myths in Busting Bodyweight Exercise Myths).

Bottom line — whether you can only workout at home with your bodyweight or you have access to a loaded gym, you can build the body you want (more information on how to customize workouts based on your preferences and equipment availability HERE).

Myth #5 Strength Training is Dangerous

Anything is dangerous if you do it incorrectly. Strength training is no exception.

As long as you take the time to learn proper form on the basic exercises, weight lifting is very safe. End of story.

This is dangerous. Don’t do it.

Myth #6 The “Proper” Way for Women to Strength Train is to use Light Weight for High Reps

This is still a common recommendation. Women should only  use very light weights for high reps (usually 15 or more), or so the myth goes.

There are so many things wrong with that statement I don’t  know where to begin, but I’ll try.

For one, I like to encourage women to challenge themselves and discover what their bodies are capable of doing; to see the physical strength they possess. This cannot be accomplished with triceps kick-backs with a soup can; not even a “family size” soup can.

Second, if you don’t use a challenging load, you won’t provide your body with a stimulus that is must adapt to. For instance, if you work your way up to picture perfect push-ups for 10 or more reps, you’ll get those sexy arms you’re after. A soup can won’t be able to do that because the weight never changes and super high reps with baby weights won’t be a challenge to your body.

Third, lifting heavy weights (5-10 reps, primarily) will lead to an increase in self-confidence. Unless you’ve experienced this phenomenon for yourself, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I’ve witnessed this with every single female client. Think you’ll feel strong and confident after vigorously attacking the Shake Weight for five minutes? Didn’t think so.

BOOM! These female strength training myths have been shattered! Show some love by hitting the “Like” and “Tweet” buttons below to show women the truth about proper strength training.

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