Throughout past decades, it was always accepted that weightlifting was for men, and even then only for fanatical men. When weightlifting finally started to become acceptable for everyday men, conventional "wisdom" still dictated that women wouldn't benefit from this "macho" activity, and any woman who tried was going to look about as feminine as your average United States Marine Corps drill sergeant. People thought women should stick to step aerobics, treadmills, exercise bikes, leg lifts, and of course diets fit for a rabbit. My how times have changed! Nowadays just look in any fitness magazine's swimsuit issue, and you will find examples of women who lift weights, and nobody is mistaking them for men!! My own wife is living proof of this, from a personal perspective! Women just don't naturally have the serum testosterone, or the ability to produce it, to add massive bulk. Even men find out it's not so easy to add bulk when they want to. But weightlifting is much more than just building bigger muscles.

And what about all of those There is absolutely no reason, in my opinion, that this should even be an issue, but it is. Women's magazines tend to steer you away from lifting weights in any serious manner, and unwaveringly give exercise advice that is inefficient at best, and sometimes downright useless. It seems to me that some articles are written just to promote some contrived exercise that someone apparently made up. Walking is great exercise, no doubt, but it should be considered supplemental to your fitness regimen, not the basis of it. Leg lifts ? I actually do them periodically, but they are little more than a warm-up, or low intensity, exercise. Women need to put positive, and appreciable, stress on their muscles just as men do. Muscular deterioration with age is not exclusive to the male gender, and good, hard, high intensity weight training is by far the best way to avoid it, bar none!

Any woman not living in a cave knows that they need to consume sufficient calcium to avoid bone degradation. But what you may not know is about weightlifting is that besides building stronger muscles, it also builds bone density and strength. This makes weightlifting an essential part of healthy living for all women.

HOURGLASS FIGURE

I already told you that women won't bulk up like men can, but you can optimize your muscle amount, and in doing so you add more active tissue to your body, which means you burn more calories, What do you think that does to your body fat percentage? If you said it lowers it, then go to the head of the class, you're right! Also, by building up your upper back and shoulders, and by firming and shaping your buttocks, your waist in turn looks smaller.

SPECIFICS FOR WOMEN

Basically, I suggest you follow the same guidelines I set out for men, (see; Sets, Reps and Weight, and Splits and Frequency). If you still have reservations about getting too muscular, stay in the higher rep ranges, meaning 10-12, possibly even going as high as 15, and you can utilize a little more circuit training, (see; Sets, Reps and Weight), but whatever you do, DO NOT avoid the weight room!