Why I Lift...And I Don't Look Like a Dude

When I finally got serious about my health and fitness, I never thought I needed to lift weights or that I'd like doing it. I thought it was going to be all about cardio and maybe do a few machines every now and then. My goal was to lose weight, a.k.a get smaller. I sure as hell didn't want to get bigger and look manly, which is the myth I had been living with for years. Weights will make you big and look like a guy.

Wow, how wrong I was. Yes, you see women that have big, huge, manly muscles but some of them use steroids, some of them have very special diets and most of them spend hours and hours and hours and hours at the gym. Lifting and getting big is their goal, at that's ok for them, more power to them. But for most women, myself included, that's not the goal. I wanted to get into my pre-baby clothes, wear a smaller size and feel better about myself. Yes, seeing some muscle definition wouldn't be a bad thing, but that wasn't the driving force.

As I started this journey, I learned a lot (and still learning) about myself, about nutrition and fitness. The biggest thing so far...lifting heavy weights will not make me look like a guy. Many of you see my pictures on Facebook, do I look like a dude to you? If you said yes, you're looking at the wrong picture, LOL. My trainer knew I was working under the false information that I'd get huge and he started to re-educate me. He provided me with text book chapters to read on muscles, how they work and how they grow. He showed me pictures and had me read bios of fitness professionals, what they ate and their exercise routines. He introduced me to women at the gym that lifted and I talked to them, none of them look like guys and they had been at this for a lot longer than me. He asked about the women in my family, how they were built, I come from a long line of lean, none of them were big and muscly, so genetics was against me for becoming big like a house. He continued to fill my brain up with truths not myths and he got me lifting weights.

We started with the basics, lunges, squats, bench presses, lateral pull downs, etc. focusing not on weight but proper technique. He explained how the muscle works during each exercise, where I should be feeling it, what not to do and if he saw my form fail, we stopped and went to a lighter weight with higher reps until I learned what I should be doing. Form and technique, I'd hear, "Stick your butt out," "Look up," "Elbows back," "Chest out," over and over, until things finally started sticking. Honestly, he still reminds me if I get sloppy, which I'm glad he does, prevents injuries.

I was lifting three times a week, I was losing weight, and I was NOT getting big. Ok, so far so good, but it wasn't like I was trying anything heavy. Well, once I had my form down the weights started to increase. We'd do a couple warm up sets on lower weight then a drop set on a higher weight, many times he kept putting weight on each time to see where my max weight was. It was becoming fun to surprise him, he'd think I was at my max and I'd power through the set, no problems, just a little sweat. It became fun, for both of us, to see how much weight I could do. We began to set goals for lifting. This was a lot of fun for me. I had always done that with my cardio (how fast can I run, how long can I run), but never with weights. I'll never forget the day he loaded a bunch of weight on the bar for squats. As a rule, I don't add up what he puts on before I do the exercise, I'll psych myself out. I put the bar on my shoulders, I could tell this was a big one but went for it. Got my full set, put it back on the rack and turned to look at him. He had a shit-eating grin on his face and simply said, "You did it, 200." I was stoked and totally high-fived him, the guys around me were cool about it, a couple came over and said, "Nice job."

It's been several months now since that day and I've hit several other lifting goals and have set new ones. I'll be honest, I have off days where I feel like I could barely lift my phone, that's ok, I plug through, knowing I won't hit my max goal that day, but still work my arse off. I get to the gym 5-6 times per week and spend 1-2 hours each time. Some days it's about the long cardio, some all about lifting, most days it's a combination of both. And after all that, 200 lb squats, 100 lb bench presses, 838 lb leg presses, countless shoulder exercises, more back exercises that I can remember the names of, lunges all around the gym and what ever other "torture" is in store for me, I do it all AND I still don't look like a dude. No matter how much I lift, I won't look like a guy and neither will you, well, unless you are one already :-)

If you need more inspiration, here are a few great reasons to lift:

• Bigger muscles burn more fat
• Stronger muscles lift sagging areas up (like butt and arms) making you look younger
• Weight lifting increases your performance in other areas (my running has improved tremendously)
• You have bragging rights and is a fun topic of conversation
• Helps with your posture
• Increases your bone density / strength (reduce osteoporosis)
• Reduces heart and other diseases

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Weights are good for you, they can be fun and ladies and you won't turn into a guy. I encourage you to give them a try. You never know, you might really enjoy it.

If you have any questions or would like to share your story, please do, it's always good to share our thoughts and ideas.

Hierarchy of Fat Loss

I gotta love my trainer, not only does he push me to do more and more and MORE, he gives me homework in the form of articles to read from a wide variety of sources. I've read chapters from text books, to physical therapy articles to body building programs. I have to say that 99% of the content is solid, but there's the 1% that I just think, "What the hell is he smoking?" LOL

One of my recent homework assignments was a great article from www.ptonthenet.com, titled "The Hierarchy of Fat Loss" by Alwyn Cosgrove. This gentleman has been a trainer for over 20 years and the number one goal his clients are looking for is fat loss, the more the better.

From personal experience this past year, 80% of my time has been focused on exactly that, getting rid of that nasty stuff that makes us look lumpy and our clothes too tight, causes multiple diseases and conditions when in excess and makes us just blah. While I've been partially successful, getting rid of those last pounds and percentage of body fat is proving to be elusive. What I did in the past is no longer working so I need to find another way. Educating myself on different approaches, then trying them is what I'm doing. And sharing the success and failures with you is all part of it. I've recently started Metabolic Resistance Training, so the jury is still out regarding fat burning, but my strength has increased.

In a nutshell here's the hierarchy:

1. Correct nutrition - you can pretend to be a rock star at the gym, but if you're not eating correctly for your goals it will be just that, pretend. Talking the talk isn't going to do jack if you're putting garbage in. If you want to burn fat, create a caloric deficit while eating enough protein (chicken, fish, eggs) and essential fats (avocado, olive oil). Eliminate processed crap!!!!

2. Activities that burn calories, maintain / promote muscle mass and elevate metabolism - the "holy grail." The majority of calories burned is determined by the resting metabolic rate (RMR), while exercise affects how many calories you burn in a day, they are a smaller percentage. RMR is largely affected by how much muscle is on your body. This is achieved through Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) or in other words, exercise every muscle group (compound exercises) hard, frequently and with high intensity that creates a long afterburn or period of time that you've stopped exercising but are still burning calories at a higher rate.

3. Activities that burn calories and elevate metabolism - these are exercises that also create the long afterburn period. The common group of exercises that fall into this category are HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. Remember the wind sprints we did in gym class when we were younger? That's HIIT. During these exercises you increase your heart rate as much as possible, go "all out" during the interval time, anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes. Once the interval is complete, stop and bring your heart rate back to resting. This interval can be anywhere from one to two minutes usually. Then repeat. The duration and intensity is up to your fitness level, but during the exercise interval, it's max effort (a.k.a. balls to the wall). HIIT can be done with almost any exercise, walking, running, kettle bell, pushups, you name it, you can turn it into HIIT.

4. Activities that burn calories but don't usually maintain muscle or increase metabolism - basically you are burning you calories while exercising but there's no afterburn. These are your Steady State Cardio exercises like walking, jogging, and low intensity exercises. If you've never exercised, have been injured or getting back into things, this is a good place to start, get MOVING, but you won't want this to be your only form of exercise long term.

Next question is, "How can I apply this information?" You need to determine how much time you are going to devote to getting healthier, losing fat and feeling better. With that being said, we all have lives and crap, other than exercise, that we need to get done...work comes to mind, LOL. Reality is we have all have limited time and want to get the biggest bang for our buck. Eating correctly is where you need to start, if you can do nothing else, look at the food you put in, where can you easily make changes? Next, focus on Metabolic Resistance Training (three hours a week, note there are 168 hours in a week, three hours a week is about 2% of your entire week, you can find three hours out of 168 ;-). Keep in mind you don't need a gym to do this, there are exercises you can do in your home, that will achieve these results. If you have more time, add HIIT to the MRT (three to five hours a week). Again, there are many HIIT exercises you can do without a gym.

Yes, there's a lot of information here, especially if this is all new to you. Remember, baby steps, do things that make sense and will work for YOU, not anyone else. The goal is to change your lifestyle not simply a quick hit. We all want to get the most out of our time and move forward, how we do that is up to us.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me or add comments for group discussion. I'm sure folks have ideas, suggestions and support to share. Let me know how I can help you.

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