Ugly muscles `an unhealthy myth'
By LOUISE PEMBLE
18dec05
FEAR of bulging muscles is stopping women from taking up weight training, despite overwhelming evidence of its health benefits.
Fitness experts say women have too little testosterone to build huge muscles, but the message is not getting through.
As a result, women are missing out on the only exercise that can prevent osteoporosis and stop the muscle loss that leads to middle-aged spread after menopause.
Robert Newton, foundation professor of exercise and sport at Edith Cowan University, said women were likely to slim down by using weights, but female misconceptions were hard to shake off.
"We still run into this perception from women that if they lift weights they'll look like Arnold Schwarzenegger," he said. "Physiologically it's not possible for them to produce that bulk in muscle."
He said even women at the elite level were prone to these fears.
"We know weights are crucial to their performance, but many female athletes continue to shy away from resistance training because of this fear that their legs are going to get huge or their arms are going to get massive," he said.
He said even men found it difficult to get the beefcake look without spending hours in the gym daily.
"The recommendation is two to three sessions a week of 45 minutes of resistance training. No one is going to bulk up on that," he said.
Fitness First personal training co-ordinator Caron Smith said most women believed that only cardiovascular exercise burned fat.
She made a point of emphasising to women that weight training would boost their metabolism.
"By doing weights, they burn more fat when they are sitting on the couch doing nothing," she said.
University of WA School of Human Movement head Brian Blanksby said women often dropped a dress size after weight training.
He said strong public-health messages were needed to push the benefits of weight training, which prevented osteoporosis, depression, cancer and heart disease.
"So I always tell my first-year female students in human movement and exercise science that they should go home and pick up Mum and Grandma for all three to go down to the weights room and pump some iron," Prof Blanksby said.
An added bonus for older women was that those who took up weights after menopause were able to increase their bone-density levels even into their 60s and 70s.
Prof Newton said women with a family history of osteoporosis should be using weights.
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/c...shehulkophobia
Maybe this should go in women's, i dunno
Gender: 
LOL - Ugly muscles `an unhealthy myth'
Gender: Male 
Gender: Female 
