Last week I bought a womans magazine. Now I gave up buying woman magazines about a year ago and both my bank balance and my attitude towards my body has thanked me. However this issue had a free nail polish and I do love nail polish. Whilst flicking thru the magazine I came across this bit of advice:
“I prefer to keep the weights low” (the “celebrity” personal trainer advocates 3lbs) which apparently will “create more of a woman’s body – sensual and sexy, but strong”
The above were quotes not journalistic interpretation.
Well I say WRONG. To get strong you need to lift weights, and you need to lift heavy weights, constantly challenging your body so it will change.
Here is what heavy weights for woman can do
- Actually make you strong.
- Help keep your bones healthy and decrease the risk of osteoporosis.
- Increase confidence.
- Make your shoulders & arms look shapely in sleeveless tops.
- Enable you to carry either your drunk mate or your sleeping child upstairs to bed (depending on which stage you are in life!)
- Help you lose or maintain weight. You’ll keep burning calories AFTER you have finished your weight session.
And here is what doing heavy weights as a woman won’t do.
- Make you bulky
- Make you a man
- Make you unsexy, unsensual, weak
- Frighten men (well it might but that’s their problem not yours)
This goes for whether you are 20 or 80 years of age.
Articles like these are dangerous, women read them and believe that all they need to do is follow the advice and they will be able to replicate their favourite celebrity body. It is very rare that in such articles nutrition, lifestyle or genes are mentioned, which results in a skewed perspective rather then the full picture.
There are no downsides to doing heavy weights (as long as your form is correct!), how can anyone argue against exercise which actually makes you strong and helps prevent ageing?
Being strong and healthy IS sexy, there are no buts about it.
Before starting any new exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise changes with them.
This article has been previously published here: Whole Life Fitness
Helen
Having worked in IT in London for 15 years I was made redundant in 2009. I had trained as a gym instructor whilst working and decided I would rather spend the rest of my career doing something I loved than look for another job in IT. I furthered my qualifications with a Certificate in Advanced Personal Training from the highly regarded Premier Training. Many personal trainers are generalists covering all areas of fitness but I took the decision to specialise in the over-50s and therefore went on to do a CYQ Award in Functional Training for the Independent Older Adult Level 3. My focus is on overall health rather than fitness. I believe that making small changes can have a long term positive effect on health and well-being.
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All so v true & particularly how expensive magazines are & I never get to finish them either!
on November 23, 2012 at 5:37 am Catriona