With training, you can honestly get nearly as strong as a man, relatively speaking. For example, when researchers pitted 52 young men against 50 young women in max power tests on a stationary bike, the men frankly smoked the women—generating about 50 percent greater peak power. But the men were significantly heavier. When the researchers looked at how much power they could produce per kilogram of body weight, the difference dropped dramatically to 15 percent. Taking that one step further, when power outputs were adjusted for fat-free mass, the values plummeted to a 2.5 percent difference, or not statistically different—a pretty even match.Just as is the case in the cardio realm, the strongest, most powerful woman will not out bench press or win a 100-yard dash against the strongest, most powerful man. But there are certainly plenty of women who can outperform and who are stronger than plenty of men. We are every bit as trainable. Even if we get less absolute hypertrophy (muscle growth and an increase in the size of muscle cells) through training than men, research shows that when women and men train equally, their relative strength and hypertrophy gains are pretty much the same.
Which brings me to the elephant that may be sitting in your room. Can women get bulky from strength training? Everyone says no, but then you read plenty of articles in women’s magazines that caution against too much muscle-building activity so you don’t get fat (never mind the fact that muscle isn’t fat). Case in point, an article came out a couple years back in Harper’s Bazaar titled “Is Spinning Making You Fat? A growing number of indoor-cycling devotees are abandoning the bike, convinced it’s making their backsides bigger.” Yep. It goes on to quote a celebrity trainer who forbids his fashion-model clients to ride at all, lest their lower bodies get too big. Sigh.
So what’s the truth? Yes, heavy resistance training in the gym or on a spin bike can make your muscles bigger. Have you seen track racers? Their quads are not small. They are powerful and yes, often large. That’s from heavy, hard work in the gym and pushing a monster gear on the bike. It’s the same for CrossFit enthusiasts, rowers, sprinters, and everyone else who trains for maximum strength. These women are generally not one bit bothered by the size of their muscles, because those muscles enable them to do the work and compete at the level they want.
Hypertrophy is what gives you nice muscle tone. That said, if you’re truly averse to larger muscles, you can still train to get strong without gaining unwanted mass. And in fact, as a woman, you might have an advantage there. Neural mechanisms (mind-muscle connections) are actually more important for women’s adaptations to strength training than they are for men’s. So by doing power moves and low-rep, high-weight strength training, you enhance the number of fibers recruited for a contraction but don’t really grow the size of your muscles very much. The short of it is that you end up with a stronger, more powerful contraction with less muscle bulk.
As you’ll see, there are many ways to get the strength and power you want and need without gaining mass. But please, don’t be afraid of a little muscle. Strong, as they say, is the new sexy. It’s also plain smart, because as you get older and start losing precious lean muscle tissue, you’ll be happy for all you kept in reserve!
No comments:
Post a Comment