Weight Training For Weight Loss - Four Myths Shattered!

Though Science has known for some time that weight training is one of the most effective methods of healthy weight loss, many people still have some outdated beliefs about lifting weights.

MYTH 1 - Lifting weights will make me bulk up like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I hear this one mostly from women. (Most guys wouldn't really mind looking like Arnold) Ladies - you CAN'T bulk up. You simply don't posses enough testosterone for your muscles to grow excessively large. Those bulked up woman in the Miss Olympia contests are ingesting chemicals that alter their body's natural capabilities. Besides, way before your muscles would get big, you will have dropped all that weight, and your ideas about body shape may change when you see your new toned and tight physique.

Men, lifting for weight loss and lifting for bulk are two different animals requiring far different strategies. Trust me, you can tone up and drop pounds without becoming the Terminator. Besides, muscle is denser than fat, which means you will actually look leaner with a toned physique at the same weight as when you were fat.

Myth 2 - Training with weights makes you big and bulky, you need aerobics to lose weight.

First, it's really hard to "get big", and people work obsessively for years to acquire "big" muscles. Second, aerobic exercises' main purpose is to develop cardiovascular health. Sure, doing 20 minutes or more will burn fat, after the body's glycogen stores are used up, but ultimately weight training is better for healthy weight loss.

Why? The increase of lean muscle tissue from weight training also increases the body's metabolism. The muscle continues to burn energy even when it is resting. Aerobic exercise may burn calories while you're doing it, but lifting weights causes your body to continue burning long after the exercise is over, during the recovery and growth stages. And the benefits last even longer as the new muscle requires more calories simply to maintain itself!

Myth 3 - Women have different training requirements than men.

Muscle is muscle, and there is virtually no difference in the training requirements of men and women. As mentioned in Myth 1, there is a difference in hormone production which influences how much muscle a woman can build, but there is no reason the sexes need to train differently.

Myth 4 - When you stop working out, your muscles turn into fat.

It amazes me that I still hear this one. It is simply impossible for muscle to become fat. They are made up of entirely different substances. Muscle can't become fat any more than you can become a lamp. Even if you did put a lamp shade on your head at the last office Christmas party! If you stop exercising, your muscles can shrink, you can add fat on top of them, but the muscle itself will never turn into fat.

Now that we've cleared up those myths, are you ready to start exercising for weight loss? Follow the link below!

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