Myths about girls' gym. Truths and myths about strength training for women. Raising your torso is the best way to get great abs.

Many girls are afraid to go to the gym for fear of “pumping up muscles” and becoming masculine - this is a myth. In fact, it is almost impossible for a woman to build tolerable biceps or abs due to the special hormonal background. An abundance of estrogen with almost no testosterone equals “no muscle growth.”
So don't think that three sessions a week will give you muscle mass worthy of a bodybuilder.
Girls are often mistaken for muscle growth banal swelling due to the accumulation of lactic acid
in muscle tissue after exercise. During training, you get microtraumas, and lactic acid accumulates in large quantities. It causes fluid retention and a temporary increase in volume. Temporary, I emphasize. It’s worse if you mistake muscle growth for increased body fat.
After all, after visiting the gym, your metabolism increases and you will eat more often and more - and that’s right. Follow a protein diet. And remember - we eat short, but often 6-8 times a day, in small portions.

Myth 2
“By visiting gyms, I will lose my femininity and plasticity.”
It’s easy to dispel such a myth - just take a look at the trainers and those who regularly work out in the gym. Do they remind you of wooden men? On the contrary, unlike you, they most likely have something to boast about, for example, toned belly, beautiful posture, elastic gait.
Are you as capable as they are of performing a stretching routine? That's it.
Hyperextension (eng. hyperextension - hyperextension, hyperextension) - an exercise for the development of the rectus back muscles, gluteal muscles and hip flexors. As a result of training these muscles, the risk of injury to the spine and tendons is reduced, and overall performance is increased.
Myth 3
“Lifting weights like dumbbells is very harmful.”
Of course, a barbell weighing 80 kg will be too heavy and dangerous for any woman (and probably a man too). But do gyms exist for people to get injured?
Don’t think that if you come to training and around professional bodybuilders are lifting heavy barbells, then someone will laugh at you with a 2-3 kg weight. Firstly, anyone who visits gyms knows that every beginner has individual program training with your own degree and intensity of load. Secondly, not everyone comes to the gym to lift weights. For example, gyms and fitness clubs, in addition to serious strength training equipment, offer equipment for abdominal training, as well as fitness equipment: Treadmills, exercise bikes, elliptical and rowing machines, etc. And, by the way, you can get injured anywhere, so you should remember to be careful everywhere.
Myth 4
To find an ideal figure, all you need to do is run outside and do aerobics at home while watching TV.
It's definitely worth running. It is advisable to go to the fitness club more often, which will allow you to harmoniously and comprehensively “sculpt” your figure. After all, it’s no longer a secret, and it’s known not only to professional trainers, that only by combining several types of training can you get an ideal result.

Despite the availability of information, a huge number of sports clubs and an increased interest in fitness, which everyone is interested in more people, funny and not so funny myths about training continue to exist. We decided to debunk a damn dozen of these fitness prejudices.

Many people are afraid to go to the gym because of many prejudices, most of which are far-fetched.

Popular fitness myths

1) If you exercise, fat will be pumped into muscles.

This strange thesis has been refuted so many times that it is almost indecent to talk about it. But it has to be: despite everything, many people firmly believe in the idea of ​​​​such a magical transformation. In reality, this is, of course, impossible, since fat and muscle are completely different tissues, like teeth and hair. fat layer in muscle fibers- something from the realm of fantasy.

2) I'm starting to pump up my abs!

This is where the journey to losing weight often begins – and quickly ends. There are four reasons for this. Firstly, it is impossible to lose weight only at the waist: the fat layer decreases more or less proportionally throughout the body.

Secondly, you can get rid of folds on the stomach only by adjusting your diet, because if excess has accumulated on this part of the body, most likely, it is fat reserves that accumulate here.

Only changing eating habits can “disperse” them. Thirdly, they work while performing any exercises, so you should not pay much attention exclusively to this part of the body. Unless, of course, the notorious cubes are your main goal.

Fourthly, the concept of whether a particular body is beautiful or not is made up of the general appearance of the figure, and these are the shoulders, chest, waist, hips, and legs. To look fit, one flat stomach not enough.

3) I'll have legs like a skier!

The relief on the hips really scares girls and often even makes them give up exercising. In fact, it is not so easy to seriously pump up your leg muscles, and in a month or two it is completely impossible. What you thought was a “grown” quadriceps was actually... always there! It was simply hiding under a layer of fat, which has now become thinner (for which you tried) and released the muscle.

Of course, if you continue exercising, the relief of the upper thigh will become more pronounced. But precisely thanks to their strong legs you can do energy-intensive squats, lunges and deadlifts and lose weight in all your other problem areas. In addition, sculpted (albeit voluminous) legs still look more attractive than simply covered with fat.

And also - paradoxically, but true - “ski” legs are actually thinner than untrained ones with a layer of fat. If in doubt, you can start a tradition of regularly measuring volumes. Suddenly, “stretched” jeans will finally convince you of the absurdity of this myth.

4) To lose weight, you need to run a lot.

Confidence in this daily lines up in the cardio zones of every gym in the world. The only people missing from the queues are those who remember the main tenet of the theory of weight loss: to get rid of excess weight It is possible only by creating an energy deficit. At this time, they do strength exercises, successfully burn calories, form relief and build muscle mass.

And they come to the cardio zone at the end of the lesson in order to consolidate the results within 10–20 minutes and increase endurance - for such purposes this time is quite enough. Long lasting aerobic exercise, of course, are good for the heart and will help you become more resilient, but they don’t consume much energy, so it will take a very long time to lose weight by jogging.

5) I will practice every day!

Similar attitudes usually accompany the decision to start new life, say, from Monday, from the first day or after payday. “Finally, I’ll put everything aside, focus on myself and start changing my body!”- you think.

But in reality, you end up extremely tired and unable to get to the phone on your own and warn your colleagues not to wait for you at work, because today you can only lie down.

Your task is not to train a lot, but to train well. To do this, your body needs rest. How often to exercise is a question that requires a separate discussion. But on average, three to four workouts per week are enough.

6) I don’t have a sore throat, which means I’m not working well.

Suffering is a poor measure sporting achievements. Too much load does not allow you to recover properly, which means that in the next lesson you will be able to work at half strength. The absence of soreness or slight discomfort in the muscles that worked the most in the previous workout indicates that you are on the right track: the load was chosen correctly and there is enough time for rest.

7) To lose weight, you need to sweat a lot.

This is a half-truth: if you sweat a lot and for a long time, the scale will show a minus of some grams or even kilograms. This simple trick makes people wear weight loss belts to workouts, lubricate their skin with warming creams and wrap themselves cling film, refuse water during exercise, etc. For the same reason, everyone who loses weight loves baths and saunas. In fact, such loss has nothing to do with weight loss itself.

Weight loss occurs due to the fact that the body loses water, but within a few hours the reserves will be replenished and the scales will return to their place. There is more harm from such manipulations than good: in addition to the fact that dehydration leads to blood thickening and increases the risk of blood clots, it also slows down metabolism. And this, as you know, is a direct path to excess weight.

8) The barbell is for men. I’d rather work out at the gym!

The “on duty” female argument against training with iron. It comes down to the fear of turning into a person within a couple of weeks after starting training. An analysis of this concern is worthy of a separate article. But for now, let’s answer briefly: due to hormonal levels, a woman will not be able to achieve such an effect.

Even for men, gaining weight is very difficult and requires great effort and intense training over a long period of time. To achieve similar results, a woman would have to work many times more and artificially change her hormonal levels. In other words, start using steroids. If you are not going to do this, you can safely build a figure with the help of barbells and strength training - the prospect of becoming a pile of muscles does not threaten you.

9) Minus 5 kg per week.

Quick results are another popular misconception. Many people come to the gym with the confidence that in a couple of weeks they will turn into athletes with impeccable forms or nymphs with a seductive hip line and without a drop of fat. But they will be disappointed: super-fast weight loss is only possible in conjunction with health problems. Normal, physiological weight loss is 1–1.5 kg per week. But at this pace it will be easier to maintain the new weight.

10) I don't eat before training.

This principle is actually a half-truth, but it works with several caveats, which many people tend to ignore in pursuit of the coveted number on the scale. You can and should eat before training - but no later than two hours before it starts (meals should be protein-carbohydrate, fats should be excluded).

If the pause is shorter, you will experience stomach discomfort or even nausea. If you don’t eat at all, your body will have nowhere to get energy, and you won’t be able to exercise effectively. Be sure to have a snack for those who exercise in the morning. Fish or lean meat are best suited for this.

11) I won’t lose weight – I’m too overweight.

In fact, obese people can be called the happiest losers: they get results very quickly. The greater the weight, the easier it is to stress the body, and, therefore, the faster it will get rid of reserves. Therefore, losing 5 kg out of 20 extra is much easier than losing 5 out of 7.

Anyone who has ever had to lose weight knows that the closer to the goal, the more difficult it is to get rid of reserves, and sometimes the last kilogram or two takes longer to come off than the previous ten. So overweight people should not be afraid to start the journey to losing weight - success awaits them already in the first steps, and this is very motivating.

12) A friend told me everything and showed me.

This is very similar to treatment based on the advice of an Internet search engine. Each body is individual, and someone’s program will not suit you, just as the treatment prescribed for someone will not suit you. Past illnesses, physiological characteristics, rhythm of life, favorite and unloved activities, in the end, all this directly affects the program you should follow. Pay attention to technique too.

If you don't know how to squat or bench press, how can you tell if your buddy is doing it correctly? Trust only the coach. Like a good doctor, he will select exactly the program and the rhythm of classes that suits you personally and will help you achieve your goal. The exception is a trained friend, whose results impress you and whose knowledge is beyond doubt. But in this case, you, of course, take full responsibility for the results and your health.

13) Either training or sex. All the “jocks” are impotent!

There is an opinion that men who exercise have a decrease in libido because all the testosterone goes into work. This is nothing more than a horror story for people who are far from anatomy and physiology. For men exercising average level testosterone is higher than in non-athletes, because our body is like a well - the more you draw, the more it adds.

The more popular women's fitness becomes, the more myths it acquires. It would seem that an increase in the number of girls who care about their health and beauty should lead to an increase in the general literacy of people in the field of a healthy lifestyle. However, some misconceptions about women's fitness sit very deeply in the consciousness of humanity.

Unfortunately, the truth about women's fitness does not spread as quickly as myths. Unspecialized websites, stupid programs and advice from girlfriends gave girls a lot of false information. Our task is to debunk myths about women's fitness and provide professional knowledge to replace those refuted.

Don't eat after six in the evening

A few years ago, diets based on not eating after 6 p.m. were very popular. Today, many people practice this principle and claim that this is the only reason they managed to lose weight. In fact, this is one of the most persistent nutrition myths.

Only consuming super-calorie foods an hour and a half before bedtime can be dangerous for your figure. Therefore, you can eat when you consider it necessary, and limiting this time to 18 hours can only be reasonable if you go to bed at 19 hours.

Fasting days help you lose weight

The Internet is replete with headlines of articles telling how you can lose an impressive amount of kilograms in a few days on a kefir, buckwheat or apple fasting diet. Unfortunately, many girls practice such methods, and in the worst case, even resort to mono-diets, which involve consuming one product for several days.

In fact, fasting days are not only not effective for losing weight, but vice versa. “3 days on buckwheat” or “Apple week” will slow down your metabolism, forcing the body to search for nutrients. As soon as you return to a normal diet, the weight will return and even become greater than it was originally - the body will make reserves for future “fasting days”

Fasting - The best way lose weight quickly

Much has been said about the dangers of fasting, but for some reason girls are increasingly cutting their diet to 1000 or even fewer calories during training in order to lose weight faster. They are happy about losing a kilogram a day and think that they are losing fat.

Reducing the diet by more than 30% is dangerous for the body - it begins to suffer from a deficiency of substances, without which normal life activity is impossible. The weight lost during fasting is muscle and water, not fat. The weight will return, but not in the form of muscles and water, but in the form of fat.

You can lose weight by eating certain foods

Few girls have not heard about foods with “negative calorie content”, by eating which you can lose weight without effort. According to legend, to assimilate these products, the body spends more energy than it receives from them.

This myth has only one rational grain - in order to lose weight, you need to count the calories consumed per day, and their consumption must be greater than their intake. The list of “miracle” products is limited and it will not be possible to create a balanced nutrition system from them.

The more often you eat, the better

Girls often hear recommendations to eat every 2 hours and little by little in order to lose weight. It is not surprising that for some, following this myth is impossible; their lifestyle, which involves 3-4 meals a day, simply does not allow them to eat this way.

To lose weight, it is enough to spend a little more and get a little less energy. You can distribute meals as convenient for you - the body is affected by the total caloric intake, and not the number of snacks.

The program your friend is using will give you the same results.

We are accustomed to adopting the best from our friends, and sports are no exception. Envying the success of their gym-going friends, girls often blindly follow their path, hoping for the same results. At best, weight changes are lower than they could be.

Each body is individual; in fitness, this applies to women even more than men. It is important, together with a trainer, to develop a personal program that takes into account exactly your characteristics. Fitness requires an individual approach. What suits someone may harm another.

Only running helps you lose weight

This myth sounds even broader - only cardio exercises help you lose weight. Running is popular among women who are losing weight; they have high hopes for it. However, running alone is powerless unless your diet changes.

You need to approach weight loss comprehensively. An increase in calorie expenditure can be achieved through any exercise, including running, and a decrease in calorie intake is ensured by a slight decrease in the amount of food consumed. If you enjoy running, you can do just that, but it will be much more effective to use a more varied training plan.

If a woman is involved in fitness, then she can eat whatever she wants and as much as she wants.

Having started playing sports, many girls, to celebrate, allow themselves to eat more than usual, rewarding themselves for their work. Their logic is simple: after spending a lot of calories in a fitness club, you can consume more without consequences. A common pattern seen in many gyms is the buffet filled with victims of this myth.

In fact, the calorie loss from fitness is not significant enough to allow unrestricted eating. Often, by removing all dietary restrictions, girls gain kilograms by playing sports. Therefore, even after training, you should not relax, but on the contrary, monitor your caloric intake more diligently.

Strength training will make you masculine

Tales of “Schwarzneger muscles” often frighten girls who start visiting a fitness club, both other girls and men who are afraid of losing the feminine forms of their lovers. Many people think that women’s muscles grow from strength training in the same way as men’s, and therefore they are afraid to take the first step towards healthy image life.

The well-known hormone testosterone is involved in muscle growth. It is present in both men and women, only in the latter the amount of this hormone is negligible. That is why you don’t have to worry about excessive muscle growth when you come to gym.

If a woman is not overweight, she does not need to exercise

If this myth were true, then only obese women would be seen in fitness clubs. Why do even slim women exercise if they don’t need to lose weight?

Weight loss is not the only benefit of fitness. Increasing endurance, strengthening the body, improving appearance and health are also consequences of fitness. Therefore, sport is useful not only for women with overweight, but also for everyone who wants to improve their life.

You can't follow myths

Being captive of myths, we not only slow down our progress and do not get the desired results, but also expose our body to serious danger. Having decided to start fitness classes, it is important to subject your knowledge about physical education to a thorough audit. Continue to draw information only from official, verified sources.

StyleFintess Summary

When doing fitness, follow only the recommendations of professional trainers and specialized publications with a good reputation. Advice from girlfriends, neighbors, neighbors and your own knowledge, taken from unknown sources, should be discarded or carefully checked. This will save you time and health.

Here's what the article "Why Women Shouldn't Lift Weights" says:

It's all about the special structure of the female skeleton. The fair sex has much more fragile and thin bones than men. Including the spine, which bears the main load when lifting heavy objects.

With systematic (and sometimes one-time!) lifting of weights, women's spinal discs gradually become displaced, which in a few years can lead to such a serious disease as a vertebral hernia.

But the truth is that improper performance of strength exercises leads to injuries and degenerative changes in the spine, regardless of gender. At correct technique the load on the spine is minimal.

In addition, exercises with weights involve a gradual increase in load in parallel with the growth of muscles and strength indicators. So the health risk practically disappears.

2. Strength training can result in uterine prolapse.

Uterine prolapse is a displacement of the fundus and cervix below the physiological limit due to weakening of the pelvic floor muscles and uterine ligaments. There are many reasons for this disease: from congenital defects in the development of the pelvic organs to injuries received during childbirth. Heavy lifting is almost always mentioned as a risk factor. Some doctors do not recommend lifting more than 5 kg as a preventative measure.

However, don’t confuse lifting weights with proper strength training! Carrying bags of cement without preparation, without correct technique(with a round back) and especially in old age (50% of cases of uterine prolapse are diagnosed in women over 50 years old) - truly unforgivable stupidity and a health risk. However, strength training is a completely different matter.

If strength training with reasonable weight gain and proper technique promoted uterine prolapse, many female athletes would suffer from this condition. The facts indicate the opposite.

Women who go in for sports tolerate pregnancy and childbirth much better, recover faster after it and have fewer problems with the pelvic organs.

After strength training, the oxygen debt increases, which requires a fair amount of calories to cover. According to a recent study EPOC Comparison Between Isocaloric Bouts of Steady-State Aerobic, Intermittent Aerobic, and Resistance Training, after strength training, the oxygen debt remains for 21 hours: all this time the body burns more calories even at rest.

Therefore, if a girl wants to lose weight, she needs weight training, and not long walks or low-intensity jogging in the cardio zone.

5. Strength training does not help you lose weight, but, on the contrary, increases body weight

Strength training helps replace fat with muscle. Your weight may remain the same or even increase, while your volume will decrease.

It’s not for nothing that fitness models urge you not to rely on scales, but to measure your progress using a measuring tape.

A great example is this photo from fitness blogger Kelsey Wells. In the first photo the girl weighs 65.8 kg, in the second - 55.3 kg, in the third - 63.5 kg.

Mysweat.life

Why does Kelsey look slimmer, fitter and more athletic in the third photo than in the first photo, even though she weighs only 2 kg less? Just because of the percentage muscle mass. First, the girl lost fat, reducing her weight to 55.3 kg, and then gained 8 kg of muscle mass.

As you can see, strength training reduces body size, but increases weight due to muscle growth. So don’t be afraid of such a quality increase.

6. Women should choose low weights and high reps.

In the gym you rarely see a girl who does, for example, deadlift or heavy weight squats for 3-5 reps per set. Much more often, girls choose light dumbbells and do 20 lunges per leg, endlessly squat with an empty bar or body bar, or exercise on machines with light weights, performing many repetitions per set.

This pattern of women's training naturally follows from the myth that women should not lift weights. Since you can’t work with heavy weights, you need to do a lot of repetitions with small ones.

But working with large and small weights has different goals.

By performing 1-3 reps per set at 80% of your one-time maximum, for example, you are training absolute strength. By doing high reps with light weights, you increase strength endurance.

To understand exactly how muscles react to a particular load, you need to understand their structure. Muscle fibers are fast and slow.

Slow-twitch fibers (red, oxidative, subtype I) use aerobic metabolism (oxygen) for long-term muscle activity. They are hardy, small in size and hypertrophy poorly. That is, by training with low weights and multiple repetitions, you will not soon achieve a sculpted body. Proof of this is marathon runners, triathletes, cyclists - hardy, wiry and thin.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers (white, glycolytic, subtypes IIa and IIb) work during short-term, high-intensity exercise. They are larger than slow fibers, and hypertrophy well.

Exercises with high weights and low repetitions train white muscle fibers, which grow quickly and provide a beautiful figure to powerlifters, weightlifters, and sprinters.

If you want to quickly increase definition, be sure to include short-term intense work in your workout: exercises with high weights and low repetitions.

If you don’t have specific goals, you can diversify your training and increase both strength and strength endurance by alternating loads. For example, in one workout, perform exercises with a large weight and a small number of repetitions, in the second - with an average weight and an increased number of repetitions per set, and in the third - with a small weight and a large number of repetitions.

As you can see, the type of exercise depends not on gender, but on the tasks you are pursuing. IN women's training There is a place for cardio exercises, high-repetition exercises with light weights, and working with weights close to the one-time maximum.

Organize your workouts wisely, take care of the correct technique and carefully increase the working weight, and strength training will give you health, strength and a great figure.

Every woman dreams of being the owner perfect figure. But it's not that simple. The figure needs to be made. No one is born with toned abs and perfect buttocks. Everyone has the opportunity to become beautiful and slim. You just need to work on yourself.

And what's the best thing to do? Many women are afraid to go to the gym. They believe that it is not a woman’s job to “carry” iron. It turns out that stereotypes have not yet been eliminated, and still walk among us.

Are only men allowed to go to the gym? Apparently we have patriarchy in the world again. These are all stupid and far-fetched myths that were invented by strange people. Therefore, it’s time to remove the veil of women’s myths, grab your sneakers and go to the gym for a workout.

The most common women's misconceptions

Women think the gym is not for them. Only men should exercise on weight machines.

Myth one. Cardio training is all you need to do beautiful figure. To begin with, it is worth understanding that cardio training is an integral part of the workout. After all, thanks to it you can effectively burn fat tissue. It is recommended to run daily in the morning. It's also worth jumping rope. The gyms are equipped with exercise bikes and orbitracks, which in turn diversify your workout. But you need to understand that in addition to cardio training, the body also needs power loads. After all, you can’t build muscles just by running. Of course, your buttocks will look better, but that’s not enough.

Myth two. Drinking during training is not recommended. Many people remember from their school days that teachers always forbade drinking during and after physical education. This is the biggest mistake. The body sweats and simply needs fluid. Purified water is ideal during exercise. You should drink in small sips. A liter of water is enough. You can drink green tea without sugar.

Myth three. A woman in the gym will become like a man. Many ladies believe that since they went to the gym, they will very soon pump up and look like jocks. Is it true? It will probably be interesting to find out, but in order to pump up “such” muscles, you need to spend years and a lot of money on sports nutrition.

And if a girl lifts a dumbbell 20 times, her arms certainly won’t swell with pumped up muscles. At most, a beautiful relief can form in a couple of months. Female body does not have the same metabolism as a man’s, you definitely shouldn’t worry about this.

Myth four. Strength training equipment women are not needed, they can harm. Anything can cause harm. If a person has problems with the spine, joints, etc., then it is necessary to consult a doctor. Otherwise, strength exercises have never harmed anyone. Bodybuilding will make a woman the standard of beauty.

It's worth starting small. To begin with, you can only lift the bar from the barbell. And over time, add disks. The first training sessions are best done under the supervision of a trainer. He will help you create the right training program and show you how to exercise on the machines correctly.

Myth fifth. If you go to the gym, you may lose flexibility. A very interesting theory, which was generated by wild imagination. It's just the opposite. Once a woman goes to the gym, she will be able to stretch better. Nice complex exercise will help make your body flexible and attractive. And female bodybuilding will provide an opportunity to become the owner firm buttocks and a flat stomach. Power training necessary for the body.

Myth six. If you quit the gym, your muscles will turn into fat. The assertion is not substantiated. This definitely won't happen. If a person gains weight, it will definitely not be because of muscles. Fat and muscle tissue are completely different types. In this case, it can be argued that the stone will become water.

Muscle mass does not sag. After a person stops actively playing sports, the muscles relax and they no longer need to keep them in the same shape. Then catabolism occurs. That is, the muscles decrease in size. And saggy skin appears due to poor nutrition and not following the daily routine.

Myth seventh. Those who work out in the gym do not have to limit themselves in food. This is probably the most dangerous statement. Many girls believe that if they go to the gym, they can give themselves freedom with food. But this is a misconception. You need to eat right.

You need to eat carbohydrates before lunch, and proteins in the evening. This rule must be learned. You need to limit your diet and cut out all flour, sweet and fried foods. You need to forget about fast food forever. This food slows down your metabolism. Don't forget about replenishing fluids. Two liters of water a day is the norm for a person.

Today it is believed that without sports supplements you can't train. It is not necessary to consume sports nutrition. But they help achieve results much faster. Let everyone set a goal for themselves and go towards it. The gym is a good way to an ideal figure.