I often encounter women who are scared of lifting weights for fear that they will put on “too much muscle”. They are usually middle-aged, new to exercise, and have picked up a lot of misconceptions here and there along the way. First of all, muscle isn’t easy to put on, especially for women, let alone, older women, and secondly, the more muscle you have on your frame, the faster you will burn calories.
Ideally, a person should strive for as much lean body mass (muscle) as possible with as little body fat as possible. In order to achieve that, it usually requires a balanced combination of healthy eating, weight-bearing exercise, and cardiovascular conditioning. Attempting to leave out any part of this three-part combination will put you at a disadvantage towards achieving your optimal level of fitness.
So all of you women out there, please don’t be afraid to push yourself during your workouts. That means lifting weights that are challenging to lift. If the weight is it too light, you are defeating the purpose unless you are rehabilitating an injury. Choose a weight that you can get about 10-15 repetitions out, and no more. If it feels as though you could do 30-50 repetitions, then the weight is by far too light. It is actually the last couple repetitions of a set that does you the most good.
On the other end of the spectrum, I see a lot of men that don’t like to do any cardiovascular conditioning and only want to lift weights. Granted, if you are trying to add a lot of muscle and you are skinny, then you want to limit your amount of cardio to about 20 minutes, twice a week. This will keep your heart and lungs in shape. However, if your goal is to lose weight, weight lifting alone will not get rid of your love handles, and you will most likely be disappointed that changes are not happening as rapidly as you hoped.
That brings us to diet—probably the single most important factor. A common myth is that if you want to lose weight, you should simply limit your eating to once or twice a day. That couldn’t be further from the truth. When you go too long between meals, you are telling your body to hold on to it’s fat stores because it doesn’t know when it’s next meal is coming in. This dramatically slows your metabolism and puts you at a huge disadvantage. By eating 5-6 small meals spread out throughout the day, you will increase your metabolism so that your body will let go of its fat stores more easily.
Here’s the main points summarized below:
- Perform weight-bearing exercise regularly
- Choose weights that are challenging
- Perform cardiovascular conditioning regularly (2-6 times per week, depending on your goal)
- Eat 5-6 small meals spread throughout the day
- Let go of myths with no founded evidence
- Be consistent and pay close attention to your body
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to go about getting into shape. Use good judgment and safety practices and you will be on your way to optimum condition in no time!
Melissa Allen, BS, CPT, CES is a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist and Medifast health coach, is the owner of the Optimum Condition Corrective Exercise & Performance Center, located in El Cajon, in the East County of San Diego. We specialize in customized fitness training and corrective exercise for both recreational athletes and post-rehab clients, as well as guaranteed weight loss programs or your money back. You can schedule a free consultation to help you get started. Please visit her website at OptimumCondition.org.
