Q and A: Female Training

Q: Danny, I am just getting back into working out.  My goal is to get more toned, without the bulk.  Since I don’t want to get too big, what do you recommend? 

A: Man, if I had a nickel for everytime I had a female tell me they, “don’t want to get too BIG,” I’d be a VERY rich man!  One of the biggest myths in this industry is the fact that so many people think that weight lifting will make a women basically turn into a man.  Now, notice I say most people, not just women.  I have husbands tell me this all the time; “I’m lifting the big heavy weights, because I want to get HYOOGE!  But I have my wife lifting the pink dumbells, because she just wants to tone.”  Come on now dude, stop it!  On one hand it frustrates the heck out of me.  But on the other hand, my calmer, more logical side takes over.  After all, men usually want a lot of muscle, and girls don’t.   So it seems to make sense to keep the ladies over in the 2.5 pound dumbell section.  A women sees a picture of a lady that is a pro bodybuilder, and thinks that if she lifts heavy weights, she’ll turn into this…

So I get where this myth stems from.  But don’t worry about it.  The “lady” above is heavily assisted.  She is all juiced up.  She is good friends with the sauce.  Know what I’m saying?  If you’re not sure what I am getting at - I kinda, sorta think that she is using steroids.  Now, I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but something tells me that my hunch is correct.

A lot of this line of thinking from above comes from a lack of education, and preconceived ideas.  So, how ’bout we see if I can do a little educating, and help you squash the thought that heavy lifting will turn you into He-Man.

When I train myself, and many of the guys that I work with that are looking to add size, we scratch, claw, and fight for every ounce of muscle that we build.  That also means we eat like a horse to support this attempt to gain muscle.  The fact that a female is afraid that she is going to all of a sudden get 20 inch arms because she went from the 5 pound weights, to the 7.5 pound weights, is an insult to us guys that put all of our efforts into adding muscle.  (But again, I’m not mad at you. Society has painted the picture that all females are frail little weaklings, and that is just the way it is supposed to be.)  Lets look at some of the reasons that heavier lifting won’t make anyone wonder what a guy is doing in the ladies room, when you’re in a public restroom.

Hormones

Another reason females do not  need to worry about getting all big ‘n buff, is the fact that their hormone profile is not as condusive to adding as much size as their male counterpart.  We guys, have about 10 times more testosterone flowing through our body.  This is a very important hormone for stimulating hypertrophy. (muscle growth)  The picture of the guy girl above is a picture of a person that has added a great deal of testosterone to her body, allegedly.  So, unless you decide to go the steroid route, most of you ladies will have to go WAY out of your way to truly get, “too big.”

Nutrition

Nutrition is by far the key when it comes to adding size, or losing size.  Think about food like bricks to a house.  If you want to make the house bigger, you need to add bricks.  If you want to add size, you need to eat more food.  If you don’t want to add size, make sure your nutrition strategy supports your goals.  So, if you are a lady that is truly carrying more muscle than you’d like, the first thing to look at is your food intake.  This may mean you need to eat more often, (smaller portions at each meal) eat less overall calories, and/or make better food choices.

Weight Lifting

You now see that adding a little weight to the bar is not going to be the reason that you are “too big.”  More often than not, (not in every case) if a women was to look down at her legs and think they are too big, it is because there is too much fat covering them, not too much muscle.  Use weight training as a tool to burn more calories.  And that means lifting as much weight as possible for a given rep range.  Think about it this way, if you were to do lunges with 10 pound dumbells in your hands, you’d burn X amount of calories.  But if you worked on getting a little stronger and started adding some weight to the dumbells, like 20 pound dumbells, you’d start to burn more calories per rep, per set, per workout.  That my friends, is an efficient use of your time.  Remember, your body doesn’t want to change, you must give it a reason to change.  And if the 10 pounders are no longer challenging you, it’s time to progress and start adding some weight to each and every exercise.  Check out this recent post I made about how to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck with your weight training sessions – when fat loss in your primary goal.

Cardio

Speaking of efficient use of your time, I prefer intervals, or “metabolic training,” over steady-state training most of the time.  So, focus on progressively improving your numbers in the weight room, and make metabolic training the staple in your cardio plan.  If you decide you need to add in some steady-state work, feel free to add a day or two.  But more often than not, I’ve that found that a few full body weight training sessions, consistent clean eating, and a 2-3 metabolic days per week get the job done without having to do much, if any steady-state work.

Summary

As you can see, even if a female was going to try to “bulk up,” it would be pretty difficult.  It would take purposeful overeating.  If you still feel you are carrying too much muscle mass, make adjustments in your eating plan.  Ask yourself if you are using steroids.   Hahahaha.  If the  answer is yes, make adjustments.   But please don’t blame your lack of “tone,” or lack of “definition,” on the fact that you are lifting too much weight, causing you to be too bulky.  With this new information, (new for some of you) the next time your boyfriend, husband, or brother tells you that, “since your goal is to tone-up, make sure you are not lifting too heavy,” be sure to forward this article on to him and smack him in the face with a 25 pound dumbell. (as opposed to those 3 pounders you used to use)