When I take on a personal training client, I have the person tell me about their training history, injury history, and their goals. The goals part is always the most interesting for me, even though it is predictable. Guys want bigger muscles, and women usually want to lose fat, whether they have it to lose or not.
When we are done with the initial interview, I also suggest goals that I think would be beneficial for them to pursue. For women, I always suggest that they would benefit from gaining ten pounds of muscle. These poor ladies look at me as if I had thrown a cup of hot coffee into their laps. Gain weight! What?
I do my best to explain that female strength training–lifting heavier weights than they are used to with the goal of getting strong–is the way to lose fat and look more feminine. This often confuses them, and I understand why. The women that get featured in fashion and glamor magazines don’t look strong–they look like they haven’t eaten in years and they’re about as sturdy as a tower of twigs.
Women, strength, and fat loss
The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn. That is not up for debate–that is how it is. Building more muscle means lifting heavier weights. Heavier weights lead to more strength, and it is very difficult to get stronger without also increasing muscle mass and improving muscle tone.
The women I work with don’t argue with this. Their worry is that they will bulk up and become so muscular that they will look like a man, or one of the professional female bodybuilders.
This anxiety is understandable–of course they don’t want to look like men!–but it’s also completely unrealistic. Men always want bigger muscles, and even though most guys in the gym are trying to look like those bodybuilders, how many of them actually do it? Very few, and men have the advantage of all that testosterone in their bodies.
Women have far less testosterone, and they typically don’t lift for strength. These two factors make the thought of them waking up one morning with gigantic, masculine muscles pretty silly.
But I don’t tell them that because my job is to help them reach their goals, not make them feel like they’re being naive.
Once I can convince a woman to train for strength, she usually takes to it with a tenacity and dedication my male clients can’t hold a candle to. Being strong is useful and it is fun. Female strength training is a muscle builder, a confidence booster, and is sorely needed, in my opinion.
Anyone who is intimidated by a strong woman is not someone that woman needs to have in her life. Anyone with that woman’s best interests at heart will be able to see that she is doing a good thing for herself, with every additional pound she’s able to lift.
