Why Do I Lift Heavy?

"You're going to look like a man." I get that response pretty frequently, when I tell people that I lift heavy. Let me just tell you, once and for all, I don't look like a man. I'm not going to look like a man. Unless I work really hard to do so, I can't look like a man.

The truth is, as women, we don't have enough testosterone in our bodies to get that big and bulky. Now, you can work really hard and lift in a really specific way with very specific eating habits if your goal is to reach that more masculine shape and size, but it takes work. Unless you are pumping yourself with testosterone, you can lift heavy weights, as a woman, and get the lean, sexy, defined body that you want WITHOUT the manly look.

We've been told over and over again that it's all about low weight, high reps, and lots of cardio to get toned. Let me bring your attention to a few key points with that methodology:

1. What is tone? Being "toned" is very vague. Ask five different people what their fitness goals are and chances are that they'll all tell you they want to be toned, yet they'll all show you completely different pictures of their goal bodies. Figure out what it is that you want. Are you going for aesthetics or athletic preformance? Are you going for speed or strength? Do you want a strong, musulcar look or a slight, delicate look? Figure out what it is that is actually going to make you happy and tailor your routine and diet to that. If you want to be a powerlifter, doing distance runs probably isn't the right routine. If you want to be a distance runner, you're probably going to want a workout that encourages that long, slim, aerodyamic body. You get the point. It's so easy to follow the trends. Magazines are really great at telling us the "easiest" way to get the perfect body, and that sounds great, so we follow along, blindly. What does the perfect body look like? Everyone is going for the same thing? One method works for every person? It's silly, if you think about it. Trends come and go. Find a routine that works for your body and your lifestyle and make sure you understand WHY you are doing it.

I always wanted to be small and lean, but things never worked out that way. I have naturally very large muscles. I have always has "thunder thighs," due to a significant amount of muscle in my thighs and a tendency to hold weight over top of them. I lifted high reps, low weight, with hours of traditional cardio to cut down. Didn't happen. Finally, I figured out that I could spend my life fighting against the body that I was blessed with, or I could embrace it and make it the absolute best that it could be, for what it was. I chose the later. So, I figured I would take those larger muscles and make them tight and firm. I would cut down the fat around them and show off their natural size and strength. I would play off of the structure I had and make myself lean, strong, and muscular. Only then did I start getting the results that I wanted, because I was actually working with my body, instead of against it.

1. Cardio, cardio, cardio is boring as hell. At least, it is in my personal opinion. It takes forever. You do the same motion for endless amounts of time. Aside from that, it's not particularly beneficial for sculpting your muscles or changing your body composition. Now, don't freak out on me. Cardio is great. Exercising your heart is important and healthy and wonderful. If you like to run, then run! If you are doing it for the pure sport and joy, please don't stop. I envy you. However, if you are doing it for the purpose of changing your body, stop and do some research. Traditional cardio burns X amount of calories in a set period of time. You hop off of the elliptical or walk off of the track and that's it. Your workout is over. Your body stops burning those calories almost immediately after you stop going. Furthermore, there is the chance that you are preventing yourself from gaining muscle and/or are cutting back on the preexisting muscle by doing too much cardio and using too many calories that are needed for that muscle development. 

When you strength train, if you do it right, you build muscle. The more muscle you have on your body, the more calories your body burns on a consistent basis. That means, you can sit there and do nothing and your body will burn more calories than someone with less muscle mass. After you leave a strength training workout, your body continues to burn calories for hours. Basically, your workout stretches intself out into your rest time. That is a tremendous amount of extra calories that you are burning by doing absoutely nothing.

2. High reps and low weight. Do you know where this ideology came from? I was shocked, when my trainer told me that this is actually how body builders train. What? No way! Male body builders have enough testosterone that they can lift with high reps and get big, puffy muscles. Now, I'm not an expert in body building, and I'm not going to go into the little that I do know, but I can tell you that there is more to it than just that. Body builders don't just go in with high reps and come out looking like that. There is more to it, and that was a very simple explanation, but the bottom line is that the high reps, low weigh method is inserted into their routine. Why? It's not to just to lean out, and it's definitely not to get a sleek, slender bikini body. It's to puff up those muscles and get that really oustanding size and definition. So, ladies, about the high reps you've been doing... Might want to rethink that.

This is fantastic new for you crazy ladies doing 25 reps. First of all, doing 5 reps, instead of your 25 saves a great amount of time, and who doesn't want more time? Second, you're burning more calories even AFTER your workout is over. Third, you are building muscle, but you are building more compact muscle, which is not the big, bulky kind, but helps with that seriously sexy musclar definition! So, while you are building muscle and probably not losing "weight," you are losing fat and actually bulding in a way that makes you more compact.

We don't have the chemistry to bulk up like men, which means that we are able to use that same, heavy work load to get a fraction of the results. How awesome is that!? "Look like a beauty, train like a beast."

So, to sum it all up... There is a time and a place for everything, including high reps and cardio work. However, more than likely, if you are a typical American woman looking for a defined, sexy body, lifting heavy weights is probably a more efficient method. Don't be afraid to try it. I PROMISE that you will not morph into the hulk. In fact, it might be the push you need to bust out of that rut and start seeing truly amazing results. Besides, everyone should get to lift something heavy and feel like a badass. Personally, it's the ultimate high! :)

Here is a great article for more information about female weight lifters!