Woman And Free Weights
WOMEN & FREE WEIGHTS
Most females exercise on machines, avoiding free weights for fear of GETTING BIG! Here are several reasons why this is more myth than reality:
1. Females have about ten times less testosterone and far greater levels of oestrogen in their blood stream than males at all times.
2. Studies on hypertrophy using muscle-building protocols also show that females do not achieve the same hypertrophic responses in fast twitch fibres that males do.
3. As soon as the body is stabilized during any resistance exercise (i.e. sitting or lying on a machine), activation of the centrally generated recruitment patterns needed to activate postural and stabilizer muscles is reduced to virtually nothing. This is not good if you want to burn fat because this means that machine exercises activate far less muscle than free weight or unstable exercises, which mean you, burn less fat for time spent training on machines!
This is why it is important to include free weight exercises in a female’s training program and to learn how to use the TVA correctly. This does not mean that females should not use machines, it simply means that their program should contain a significant (=/> 50%) percentage of free weight exercises. Females should also perform their free weight training prior to machine training exercises, allowing more neural energy for activation of postural and stabilizer muscles
IS SHE REALLY GETTING BIG?
Competitive female body builders train approximately three hours a day, performing 5-12 sets per exercise. Any competitive female body builder will tell you, getting big is no easy task for a female. It requires a significant time commitment and serious commitment to nutritional modifications and supplementation. Any woman can enhance her beauty and function with as little as 45 minutes three times per week in the gym!
PROVE IT TO YOURSELF!
Take circumference measurements at the mid-point of the...
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