Bulky Muscles for Women? Who's Kidding Whom?
By Roger Schwab
This is an article that should never have had
to be written. With the fitness, craze hitting
gargantuan proportions I guess we should have
expected outrage in some quarters. Unfortunately,
this subject has gone too far, too fast, and
is threatening the entire "guts" of
the fitness movement for women.
Somehow, along the way, women have been told,
read, or believed that the "wrong"
type of exercise (in this case, progressive
weight--resistance exercise) would build "bulky",
masculine-type ... should I even whisper the
word, "muscles". The person or persons
who propagandized this physiologically absurd
innuendo must have been a super salesman with
a personal vendetta against females. The ominous
outcome is the evident signpost directing women's
physical fitness back to the dark ages. And
if the lies and misunderstandings of the female
physical potential are continually nourished
rather than countered with physiological fact,
meaningful exercise for women will die an early,
shameful death.
Such a paradox. The only way to maximize results
in the feminine physique, to prevent and rehabilitate
injury, to possibly retard atrophy in bone mass
and combat osteoporosis in the elderly - is
being downplayed out of sheer ignorance. And
just what is the missing piece to the puzzle?
Strength, of course! And the reactionary forces
that be lead one to believe that with the acquisition
of strength comes - you guessed it - big muscles!
Nonsense! If women really were developing these
huge muscles from light weight- resistance exercises,
the male and female athletes who have been training
hard for years would be nothing less than I
gorillas, and I tell I you clearly, this has
never been nor ever will be the case. It is
very, very difficult for, most men, even men
who have the potential (high testosterone levels
and long muscles) to develop huge muscles. Muscles
just do not grow on trees. It is brutally hard
to develop large muscles for those who want
them, let alone for those who dread them.
So exercise, women, and if you are seeking
results - 1. a firmer, tighter figure, 2. a
body less prone to injury, 3. improved flexibility
and cardiovascular efficiency, and 4. yes, even
a stronger physique - then train sensibly. This
means train hard; the harder and briefer, the
better.
Follow these simple guidelines:
- If you are exercising seriously and begin
to notice "bulky muscles", have a
skin fold measurement taken. Chances are that
it is not bulky muscles you are seeing but rather
too much body fat. There is a big, big difference.
- Big muscles on women are nearly always the
result of either genetics (inherited characteristics)
or long muscles (not long bones).
- Most women, 99 percent, do not have the
potential to develop large muscles even if they
wanted them.
- If, by hard exercise, a woman develops some
muscle size (which will be, must be minimal),
it will probably improve her figure so markedly
she will never look back. Smart person! She
will have unlocked the key to strength, the
final breakthrough to the total woman.
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