Women are meant to be strong, yet the myth that women should avoid lifting weight for fear of “bulking up” has resulted in many avoiding weights or only lifting light weight. Let this set the record straight. As a rule, women will not and cannot “bulk up” like men. This is doubly true for women who lift heavy weights. Let’s dispel the fears of excess bulk by first taking a quick look at the most important piece of the muscle building puzzle- hormones. A major difference between men and women and their muscle building potential is the production of testosterone. Testosterone, an anabolic (tissue building) hormone produced in both men and women, is a major factor for muscle building. Average testosterone blood levels for men range between about 250 and 950 ng/dL, whereas women average only 10 to 80 ng/dL. Looking at these numbers, it becomes obvious that women do not produce anywhere near as much testosterone as men, and therefore cannot and will not put on significant amounts of muscle mass. Many female bodybuilders have been frustrated to tears by this simple fact. Women looking to build strength, increase bone density, lose body fat, and “tone” overall physique can accomplish these things by lifting moderate to heavy weights. This seems counter intuitive, but makes sense once you understand a few things about muscle. There are two trainable ways to increase overall strength. One is to increase the cross section of a muscle. This simply means to “add muscle.” The other is to improve neurological functions such as motor unit recruitment and synchronization, which basically means to make preexisting muscle work together and at the right time, rather than adding new muscle.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 20:52:33 +0000
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