Ever since I have been involved with Personal Training I have spoken with women who want to lose their belly fat but do not want to grow big muscles.  I believe this is one of the biggest reasons why most women steer away from training with weights and stick to aerobic exercises and join many of the fitness classes at their local gym.  Unfortunately I see these women religiously attending class but do not see much of an improvement in their bodies.  Anyone, man or woman, who wants to tighten their bodies, lose body fat, and maintain it need to add resistance training to their fitness program.

The first thing we need to do is understand how big bulky muscles are built.  For those who seek to gain a lot of muscle mass must perform extremely intense weight training that is specifically focused on building muscle mass.  In order to reach this goal you must train with extremely heavy weight using exercises that focus on breaking down as much muscle as possible during the training.  They also need to work each muscle group two or more times per week in order to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible each workout.  Their main focus must be on building muscle and not so much on losing body fat.

The second aspect to gaining bulky muscle is to eat a consistent diet packed with proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.  Your diet must be geared around building as much muscle as possible.  Performing the type of intense training it takes to build muscle takes a lot of calories in order to fuel the intensity of the training.  Many people who wish to gain muscle will take a protein supplement in order to make sure they are getting enough protein in the diets to build the muscle they desire.

The fact of the matter is that in order to build big bulky muscles your diet and training must be purposeful. It must be gear towards your goal.  Women who do not want to build a lot of muscle wont.  However you need to understand that if your goal is to achieve a lean, low fat body you must train with weights.

Building lean muscle is a must for women who want to have a slender healthy look.  If you are only doing aerobic exercise you probably have notice that you can hike or walk for miles more than your friends who do not do aerobic exercise.  But you may also notice that carrying a loaded bag of groceries or lifting your child up into a high chair is quite the task.  You may also notice that there are certain parts of your body that never seem to “tighten up.”  You may be slim but you’re not tight.

You see when your body begins to build lean muscle mass you burn more calories at rest.   That truth is that your body burns 35-50 more calories per day for each pound of muscle it maintains.  It can also burn up to 3600 more calories per month depending on how much lean muscle you’ve gained.  You’ll also become stronger and the tasks of moving furniture or lifting your child may get easier and easier.

You may also notice that the scale never seems to go down but your clothing fits much better.  Muscle weighs more than fat.  So if you’re a scale watcher you may get frustrated that your weight doesn’t seem to be dropping.  Unfortunately many scale watchers will give up after not seeing a decrease in their weight.  The truth is that your body is gaining lean muscle and losing body fat.  My suggestion is to stop looking at the scale and focus on how your clothes fit or how you better perform tasks in your everyday life.

Weight training also helps make your bones stronger and denser.  This will allow you to be less susceptible to injury.  Stronger bones will also help fight of most of the physical complications of getting older.  Many women fight with osteoporosis as they get older and resistance training (weight training) can help prevent this debilitating disease.

So then you ask “Why Should Women Train with Weights” and I say why wouldn’t they?  There are so many benefits to weight training that women can take advantage of.  Weight training allows women to burn more calories at rest, become stronger and more able to perform everyday tasks, fend off bone diseases as they age, and be active well into your older ages.

Women who do not want to build big bulky muscles won’t.  In order to build big muscles you need to adhere to a training and diet program that promotes more muscle growth.  Just training with weights will not cause your body to get big and bulky.  It will however allow you to tighten up, burn more calories, lose more body fat, and be stronger and more agile.