I don't want to look like Arnold

If you have been looking for me to update my blog, sorry.  I was busy working out and I am still learning how to work this new technology.  The old chisel and rock aren't what they used to be.

I want to try and dispel some myths that seem to persist about women and weight training.

Many women don't lift weights because they are afraid they will become muscled up like the former governor of California.  Ladies you will not get that big or even close to that big.  You can not produce the testosterone required to gain that kind of muscle mass.  The women you may see at body building contests are supplementing their training with steroids.  They also are spending hours in the weight room.  There is no reason to be concerned about becoming too big.

 Some women worry that weight training will increase breast size (some women wish it did) but it does not.  If you do gain some muscle, your back may be slightly wider which would lead to a few inches added to tape measure, but not your breast size.

Muscle is muscle and fat is fat.  Some young ladies want to know how they can turn their fat to muscle and some worry that, when they stop lifting weights, the muscle will turn to fat.  That CAN NOT happen.  Muscle tissue and fat tissue are completely different types of tissue.  If you want to lose fat you must burn calories, and weight training can help with that.

I have seen many heavy young ladies in the weight room doing hundreds of sit-ups or crunches.  When I ask about their unusual workout, they tell me they are trying to lose the fat around the belly.  Sorry, sit-ups will not get that done.  YOU CAN NOT SPOT REDUCE.  To lose weight you must reduce the calories you take in or burn more calories then you take in.  Your body will lose the weight where it wants to, you have no control over this.

Many women don't go to a weight room because the guys make them feel uneasy.  HELLO, this is Mary Baldwin!!  You ladies outnumber the guys in our weight room.  If you are not sure how to use the weights or the machines, I am in room 107 at the PAC; if I am not busy I will be happy to give you an introduction to the weight room.  No more excuses, get to the PAC and attack the fat.