Women and Iron

[Twitch]

Women and Iron
by Elzi Volk (article originally posted by rugger @ www.anasci.com)

Too often and much to my dismay, I hear women protest against using any appreciable weight in their weight training program. Moreover, many young women completely refrain from resistance training; instead spending countless hours on the cardio deck in a fruitless effort to attain an ideal physique. What is the ideal physique and why are women so afraid of lifting a dumbbell that isnt pink or red? The answer to the first question lies in a complex paradox of social and cultural influences. In answer to the second question, many women believe lifting weights will make them explode with bulging muscles. Another reason is women believe they cannot lift anything heavier than their makeup case. These are unfortunate idiosyncratic fallacies amongst women. Generally speaking, women fear muscles. A sociological and cultural discourse on women and self-perception would entail much more time and space than allowed here. However, several recent books and articles address those issues and will thoroughly engage those interested in pursuing them. Nonetheless, I will address physical issues of why women should embrace developing muscle.

Women who fear resembling the Hulk should immediately put that anxiety to rest. It just wont happen. For a simple reason: hormones. Women are from the planet Estrogen; men are from Testosterone. Although both genders produce both hormones, the relative ratios are significantly different. Men normally produce higher levels (approximately 10 times that of women) of testosterone and lower levels of estrogen. Women produce the opposite. The professional female bodybuilders that, until recently graced the pages of muscle magazines gained their extreme muscle mass with the aid of supplemental anabolic/androgenic steroids. Federally classified as Schedule II drugs their usage carries legal ramifications as well as potential physiological side effects.

Although both testosterone and estrogen are anabolic (promoting the process where smaller units build bigger units in the body), testosterone is primarily responsible for increases in muscle tissue hypertrophy. Granted, some women have higher levels of androgens than normal and therefore have a propensity to increase muscle mass beyond the average woman. This attribute is genetically determined, and many of these women are competitive athletes. But a woman does not have to be an athlete to increase muscle mass. Any woman can increase strength and gain muscle.


Lets talk about why women should partake in resistance training.

Life and weight loss: In our society, women are obsessed with weight control. Unfortunately, that obsession normally centers on the bathroom scale and does not consider changes in body composition (ratio of body fat to lean body mass). Most fad diets result in a loss of muscle tissue as well as body fat. A person can lose half of their body fat and remain alive; but if you lose half of your muscle mass, you will most likely die. Because muscle is denser than body fat, a person who is weight training may show slower changes on the scale but faster changes in body composition.

Muscles burn fuel: Muscle burns more calories than body fat. Muscle cells have organelles called mitochondria, often referred to by physiologists as a cells power plant. They provide the energy for nearly all of the metabolic processes that take place within the cell. Muscle cells are very busy and the mitochondria constantly transform chemical energy into mechanical energy. Reactions within the mitochondria break the bonds of fuel molecules and release energy for cells to use. During endurance exercise most of the energy for muscle activity is provided by mitochondria. This is used as the primary argument for the performance of copious amounts of endurance exercise. While it is true that calories are burned during endurance exercise, only resistance training can increase muscle mass. More muscle = more mitochondria = more fuel burned.

Weight training can increase basal metabolic rate: Basal metabolic rate refers to the number of calories used by the body at rest, and makes up 60-75% of the bodys total energy expenditure. While aerobic exercise burns calories during activity (and a small amount afterwards), it has minimal effect on basal metabolic rate. Additionally, extensive periods of aerobic activity can decrease basal metabolic rate by causing muscle loss. In contrast, a proper resistance-training program can increase muscle mass, and hence the metabolic rate. For general overall health and weight control, weight training is a necessary component of a womans exercise program.

Muscle inactivity leads to muscle weakness and wasting: Muscle fibers must be physically active if they are to remain in good health. Otherwise, they will degenerate and lose mass. We have all seen (or known) older individuals who lacked the strength to walk without aid, or get out of a chair under their own power. This represents an extreme of muscle and strength loss. Less muscle mass also means the body burns less fuel. Most importantly, less muscle mass means a decline in strength. Consequently, sedentary people have an increased need to incorporate exercise into their weekly activities to maintain muscle mass, strength and aid in weight control.

Connective tissue and joints: Resistance training also stresses and strengthens connective tissue. This is the tissue that binds bones together and attaches muscles to the skeleton. Sensible training with weights will increase the cell activity of connective tissue in the muscle and those which attach the muscles to the bones. Mechanical compression of the joints stimulates healthy metabolism of cartilage within the joints. Inactive joints have decreased macromolecule turnover in the tissue and may be more susceptible to osteoarthritis and injury.

Helps prevent osteoporosis: Muscle wasting in the elderly contributes greatly to osteoporosis, a major debilitating disease in women after they reach menopause. Women have less muscle mass than men and also have less bone density. Both men and women undergo hormonal and metabolic changes as they age. Muscles start to deteriorate, fat accumulates more readily, and bones begin to lose their density. This process can be slowed, especially with forethought. Load bearing activities enhance bone mass. Studies have shown that women who are active throughout their lives have greater bone density and retard bone loss in later years. Recent research has demonstrated that weight training can reduce, and possibly reverse, bone loss in pre- and postmenopausal women. However, women should start and maintain some type of weight training activity as early as their twentys for optimum prevention of osteoporosis. Regardless, it is never too late to start, no matter what age.

Muscles and mass give women power over their own lives: When was the last time you refused with a smile the bag boys offer to take out your groceries? When was the last time you changed the tire on your car by yourself? How soon did you huff and puff the last time you climbed those three flights of stairs? How young will you be when you are forced to enter a nursing home because your wasted muscle mass can no longer support your frail bones? Muscles are required in order for women to take charge of their own physical life. They are necessary to provide for a womans welfare and ability to fend for herself. As well, muscle mass contributes to weight control, especially in later life. Moreover, it makes women feel good about themselves.
_________________

[Twitch]

Putting on muscle for women

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Putting on muscle for women by ligirl


In order to add muscle tissue you must force the body to add it. Your body wont just add a pound of muscle just because you followed a 3-set workout that you read about in magazine. You need to give the body a reason to make improvements in this case add muscle tissue.

You have to provide what I call a stimulus. This can be done in many ways and Ill address a few in just a moment. Basically, you need to force the body to add muscle by subjecting it to levels of stress it is not used to. Some methods are more obvious than others but all can work. Here are a few examples of how this can be done effectively.

First, the basic and common methods:

1. Increase weight or resistance
2. Perform more repetitions
3. Perform more sets
4. Move the resistance slower
5. Rest less between sets and exercises

Now for the more advanced methods:

1. Pre-exhaust (perform an isolation exercise first and immediately continue with no rest on a compound movement. ex. chest flye and then chest press)

2. Static holds (hold the resistance in the hardest position of the range of motion. ex. the top position during a leg extension)

3. Partial reps in weak range (perform a portion of the rep where you are weakest. ex. the top half of a rep of leg extensions)

4. Strip-set or drop-set (after a warm-up set, perform 3 sets back to back with no rest while starting with the heaviest weight possible and each time strip off some weight to allow you to continue)

5. 1 reps (perform one full rep and then on the second rep only perform half the normal range of motion and then return to starting position to begin the next rep. ex. one full rep of lat pulldowns, pull second rep all the way down, resist weight back up but only half way and then pull back down)


These are just a few examples of methods of increasing intensity to ensure progress. The key point to remember is that whatever you do it must be progressive in order for it to elicit a physical change. This is even more critical for those looking to add muscle size.

Although this article is geared towards individuals who are interested in gaining muscle size, the principles can also be used for individuals who want to build strength, increase metabolism, or tighten and tone muscles.

Here are some general recommendations for different goals

If your goal is to tighten and tone muscles:

- Focus on increasing reps, decreasing rest, and changing exercises frequently
- Train each muscle group twice per week
- Perform fewer sets of many different exercises (1-2 sets per exercise)

If your goal is to increase strength and power:

- Focus on increasing weight
- Train each muscle group once every 7-10 days
- Perform multiple sets of each exercise (2-5 sets per exercise)

If your goal is to increase muscle size:

- Focus on shocking muscles by changing variables frequently (exercises, set and rep schemes, rest time, etc)
- Train each muscle group on a variable schedule (experiment by training a muscle group 3 times a week and then once every ten days)
- Perform multiple sets for a while and the perform single sets for a week or two

Some final reminders:

The recommendations above are general and of course would need to be adapted and adjusted for your personal goals and experience. For those of you who are advanced and may be thinking theres no way you can build strength by training once every 10 days I challenge you to try it for at least 4 weeks, or those of you who think that you need to stick to the same basic movements like bench to build size I challenge you to try shocking the muscles by changing the exercises you perform each week for 4 weeks, and those of you with little experience I hope that youll throw away the fitness magazines and learn what really works for you.

[narcsarge]

Great post! I do hope that the ladies of "today" realize that having muscle tone is attractive and yes "sexy". I do hope that your post reaches the ears of those cardio addicted women that believe 100 hours on the treadmill will give them the look they seek. I love to see a woman just walk up to the dumbbells or bench and just lift something heavier then a gallon of milk! I think to myself "Way to go!" I applaud your common sense post.