Comments on: LIES in the gym

By: Andy Morgan

Andy Morgan — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:49:40 +0000

I love this! Well written!

By: Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:38:06 +0000

I’m sorry Krista, but in the 18 years I have been working out and lifting heavy, I have never seen any woman that wasn’t on ‘roids develop too much muscle. I can’t tell you the number of out of shape, overweight, women (and men), saying they don’t want to get too big. Usually, the person who says this is naturally fat and is not that muscular at all, just big! Those big, undefined arms and legs are not muscle. I don’t care what kind of genetics you have, you are not gaining “10 pounds of muscle really easily”, unless you are like 13 years old! Ha! And one more thing: Why are bodybuilders the representatives of the fitness industry?! When women lift big, they look great… and feminine! And lastly, who said a fat butt was the same as a round, shapely one?!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:18:16 +0000

Thanks for these and for the site! I’d long been cautioned that as a 5’8″ woman with size 12 feet, I had to be very, very careful about lifting because I would “get big like a man.” However, I’ve been doing a combination of Body Pump classes and plain old barbell training on my own and I’ve had fantastic results in terms of losing fat. I’ve also noticed that weightlifting, without fail, makes me calmer and happier than any other form of exercise. It’s worth it for that alone. (And, it’s true, I might enjoy it just a teeeeensy bit when guys stare at me deadlifting.)

By: Korie Hold

Korie Hold — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:34:22 +0000

I really like your list about fitness myths, and actually find it extremely informative! I can especially relate to the common myth that weight training will make women huge and masculine. For a while this notion that I would get huge manly muscles kept me from doing any type of strength training. One day I decided to try a strength training class at my gym, and almost immediately saw results that I liked. Strength training with weights has made a bigger difference in my body than cardio ever did. While I did not ever lose weight by strength training, it helped add curves where I wanted them, and tone my muscles. Thanks for posting this very useful list of myths!

By: avenathus » Blog Archive » What For?

avenathus » Blog Archive » What For? — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:47:56 +0000

[...] faster each time, and just feel more badass. I now fully subscribe to the idea that women must lift weights. It’s cool because I have pretty muscular arms now–it’s always been easy for my [...]

By: 19Jul11 «

19Jul11 « — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 02:50:53 +0000

[...] Lies told to women. [...]

By: Carol Graham

Carol Graham — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:50:45 +0000

Great post! I truly enjoyed reading this post. Thankfully I workout in a personal training studio, so I don’t run into the situations that some have described. But I am training for my third powerlifting competition and I wonder sometimes how I am perceived by other women because althought I am not “Big” by any stretch, my arms and legs are a bit larger that the average female gym-goer.-Carol

By: anon

anon — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 04:48:57 +0000

I agree with a lot of what you said but,

“LIE: Women shouldn’t work their leg and butt muscles, otherwise they’ll get too big.

Once again we have the fallacy of the ‘big muscles’.”

I don’t know about this being a lie(well, that they can’t get big…you should work them some of course). I played ice hockey from elementary school through high school and quite a few of the girls I played with(myself included) bemoaned the size of the leg and butt muscles(which we called “hockey butt”) we developed from extensive skating and exercises focused on building leg strength.

That said, I think part of this and the general concerns about getting too bulky from lifting heavy weights, is dependent on individual perceptions of beauty and what one considers “too much”. I certainly don’t think I could ever look like Arnold or anything but there are women who are more muscular than I’d like to be(who don’t use steroids or anything of that sort). It doesn’t bother me that other women enjoy weightlifting more, and lift heavier weights, but I wish that some of them would not feel the need to criticize those of us who prefer to focus on cardio. Genetics and biology factor into this quite a bit and I know that for me personally I feel better and have an easier time maintaining my weight when I focus on cardio supplemented with moderate weight lifting instead of a weight lifting focused regimen.

Also, with regards to toning, I’ve always understood the term to mean focusing on maintaining muscle as opposed to increasing muscle mass and strength, or losing fat again without necessarily the intent to increase muscle mass or strength. I definitely don’t think “men train, women tone” but I do think toning exists and it might be the preferred option for -some- people. You might not understand why someone wouldn’t want to get stronger/build more muscle mass but someone like me might not understand why someone else doesn’t want to get better at running distances :-p

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:29:51 +0000

I go to my local university gym all the time with my husband and we’re barely bothered when we work out but when we are it’s always priceless.

Just heard this one yesterday from a fellow female gym goer who witnessed my bench press and squat routine the previous day.

“Making her lift all the man weights and stuff, I saw you working her yesterday”, she said to my husband. I had the biggest grin on my face as I walked away.

By: Interfit

Interfit — Thu, 12 May 2011 00:05:27 +0000

I got a kick out of this article. I think a resonating point is this one: “LIE: Muscles grow different ways depending on how you work them.”

The desire and ability to consistently work out with high intensity is far, far more important to success in Fitness and Nutrition than trying to figure out the science behind it. All you need are a few things, and anything is possible:

CONSISTENCY. UNWAVERING MOTIVATION. ROCK HARD DETERMINATION.

A great example of this, is this woman who motivates my friends and I all the time for the gym (Im a guy btw):

http://www.theinterfit.com/blog/2011/04/favorite-workout-video/