Women and Weight Training
Men are usually not afraid of increasing loads when it comes to weights. Ultimately, their goal, at least in most cases, is to gain muscle mass. On the other hand, however, women are afraid of overdoing the weight and their goal is mostly to firm and tone the body.
Usually, women who go to the weight room do it to keep their body fat percentage under control while trying to gain muscle mass. Basically, the more a woman is able to gain muscle mass, the higher her daily calorie expenditure will be.
Some women mistakenly think that their training must be different from that of a man. They believe high reps and light loads will help them become lean and toned. Unfortunately, however, this technique does not lead to great results in terms of muscle mass gain and is mostly ineffective in getting rid of the extra pounds.
For a woman, the fastest and most effective way to transform her body, add lean mass and burn fat, is definitely a targeted workout with heavy loads and work done in 6-12 reps per set. This type of training increases muscle mass and it is precisely this that gives a toned and firm physique.
The Muscle Mass of Women
Women tend to go hungry to lose fat - a very unsuccessful method since it is the muscles that change a person's figure and make them fit. It could be said that the basic factor affecting body fat and whether or not they are fit is essentially the muscle mass a person has.
Also because with the increase of muscle mass, metabolism increases. Only a few people realize that weight training is the most effective method of losing fat and maintaining weight. Muscles are metabolically active matter. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to keep fit.
Percentage of Body Fat
When it comes to measuring your body fat percentage, the numbers can be a bit confusing. Body fat percentage tells us how much fat you have relative to your lean mass. As a rule, those who want to change their fat percentage opt to lose weight. Women usually do it with very restrictive diets that lead them to eat little or nothing.
Relying exclusively on a diet by cutting calories without being involved in any physical activity, always leads the body to lose both gas and muscles. Usually a dieter who does not exercise will lose a percentage of muscle tissue equal to that of fat tissue. A loss of muscle mass causes a lowering of metabolism and leads the body to burn fewer calories in 24 hours. When the metabolism slows down, it becomes difficult to burn fat.
The best way to keep body fat in check is to train with weights and gain muscle mass. Only in this way, the percentage of body fat will change faster. If a woman trains seriously with a good personal coach, she can gain around 2,5 kg of muscle mass in a year.
An Example To Understand
Here is a simple example.
Woman, 60 kg.
Lean mass: 46,2 kg
Fat mass: 13,8 kg
Body fat percentage: 23%
Situation A.
2,5 kg lost with diet alone - 1,25 kg of muscle mass + 1,25 kg of fat.
Peso final: 57,5 kg.
Lean mass: 44,95 kg
Fat mass: 12.55 kg
Body fat percentage: 22%
Situation B.
No diet. 2.5kg of (lean) muscle mass added with weight training.
Peso final: 62.5 kg.
Lean mass: 48.7 kg
Fat mass: 13,8 kg (maintained)
Body fat percentage: 22%
As can be seen from the example, in both cases the percentage of fat has decreased. In the second case, the woman managed to reduce the percentage of fat, despite gaining weight (lean mass in this case) and without following any diet. But the key thing is, with the increase in muscle mass, she also managed to increase her metabolism by about 70-90 calories per day which is equivalent to 20 minutes of walking.
In the long run, muscle mass promotes fat loss without interfering with the diet.
On top of that, gaining 2,5kg of muscle mass requires hard work in the gym which burns additional calories. So it can be assumed that the woman in case b) also lost some fat tissue thanks to training in the gym and the calories burned to build and repair muscle tissue.
In fact, with weight training, calories are not burned only in the gym, but also in the second phase, that of recovery. These calories usually come from body fat and it can therefore be assumed that the woman has lost an additional 1-1,5 kg of fat due to training and the recovery and growth process alone.
In conclusion
Gaining muscle mass is the best way for a woman to keep her fat percentage under control. Adding aerobic activity to the diet will accelerate fat loss, but there will be no benefits from the point of view of gaining muscle mass - indeed, as in the case of relying solely on diet, a percentage of tissue will be lost. muscular.
Unfortunately, aerobic activity does not stimulate the body to maintain or increase muscle tissue. On the other hand, weight training combined with diet forces the body to almost exclusively lose fat while preserving muscle. Put simply, the result of a diet or diet combined with cardio will be mediocre - a flabby body, which may appear thin when dressed, but then in a bathing suit leaves obvious perplexity.
Increasing muscle mass is not the only method of boosting metabolism. This can also be achieved by burning fat - body fat is practically saved calories. The larger these calorie stores, the lower the metabolism.
So if you have a high fat percentage and low muscle mass, you are more likely to gain weight again over time due to slowed metabolism. While losing fat and gaining muscle mass will boost your metabolism and keeping fit will be much easier.
