Debatable: Does Weight Lifting really Make Women Grow Bulky Muscles?
Written by Olivia Uchechukwu
Here's one easy observation you pick up upon entering a gym room. Nearly all the men can't seem to get enough of the lifting equipment while the ladies avoid it like a curse. The reason for this is simple to guess. Unless they have an ambition to be pro body builders, most women don't fancy the idea of looking like Dwayne Johnson while nearly every man would kill for that body. The wisdom goes as such, the more heavy lifting you do, the bigger your muscles get.
How true is that, though? Let's break it down this way, lifting heavy weights would definitely make a man grow bulky muscles eventually. But is that the case for women? Yes and No. In a nutshell, yes, because if she keeps at it long and hard enough and supplement the exercise with some steroids and human growth hormones, she would grow those muscles. No, because as you might be able to tell already, without any external ingestion of steroids, a regular woman who is only a casual fitness enthusiast is never going to lift enough weights to see any noticeable muscle build-up.
Why is it so? Building bulky muscles isn't just a magic done by lifting weights. There is this role, perhaps the most important role, played by this funny little hormone called Testosterone. Testosterone is in a class of biochemical known as androgens whose major role is to promote protein synthesis in the body. It is produced from cholesterol and secreted in the testicles of males and the ovaries in females. Like I said, Testosterone plays the role of promoting protein production in the body which means muscles tissue forming. This makes it the main guy in growing bulky muscles. Exercising and lifting weights only signals the brain there might be a need for more muscles and denser bones to withstand the responsibility you are placing on your body. The brain tells the testicles or ovaries to produce more Testosterone, the injection of Testosterone in the system triggers more muscle mass to build along the body anatomy that has been facing the recent exertion and there is your bulky muscles growth.
Simple enough? However, here's the thing with women and Testosterone. The ovaries don't secret nearly enough Testosterone to make any impact. Testicles make seven or eight times more Testosterone than ovaries. If a woman wants to gain the same level of muscle mass a man gains from weight lifting, she would have to lift eight times more weights than the dude, which is close to impossible without performance enhancing drugs. Let's face it, you would hardly find a regular man willing to go through the pain it takes to lift enough weights and get bulky muscles, let alone a regular woman willing to do it eight times over.
So is it possible to build that kind of muscle mass from lifting weights? Yes if you add other elements to it. But no if it's just weight lifting.
Having said these, we must understand there are plenty important reasons why a woman should do weights at the gym. Now that we have established that you don't stand a chance at growing bulky muscles from this exercise, let's look at what you would be missing if you don't try it.
With weight lifting, you enhance the strength of your muscles, tendons and ligaments which means your joints would be stable and your ability to exert energy would increase.
You would reduce your body fat and increase your ability to burn calories just by strengthening your muscles.
Your bone density would also increase, causing your body stability to increase.
Anti Depression and feel good hormone. Lifting weight triggers secretion of testosterone in both men and women. While in women, it won't be enough to grow muscles, it is certainly enough to give you a damn good mood. Testosterone causes the release of dopamine and serotonin in the brain. These are two neurotransmitters with two different important effects. Dopamine gives you the feeling of pleasure when present in the brain while serotonin helps to relax the muscles. Together, they help combat depression and anxiety.
Whatever is the goal of your gym subscription, you would find that weight lifting is not entirely useless. If you target to look like the female professional body builders, now you know you have to supplement your weight lifting with growth hormones and testosterone. And if you just want to look fit and burn calories, lift away, baby girl.