Are Light or Heavy Weights Best For Toning Up?

Should women be doing more reps with less weight, or less reps with more weight? I don't want to get bulky, but I've heard several different answers. -- Wajmah, New York, N.Y.

For some reason, this myth about bulking up continues to stick around even though there is plenty of scientific research to dispel it. For starters, women do not produce enough testosterone in order to gain significant amounts of muscle mass. In addition, consider the fact that men have 10 to 30 times more testosterone (i.e., the primary muscle building hormone) than women and some men still have difficulty putting on muscle (I'll get to that in another column).

Weight training will increase lean muscle mass, but not to any degree that should cause fear in women. What often happens to women (and men) when they begin a weight training program is that their muscles begin to store more carbohydrates in the form of muscle glycogen. As a result of this increase in muscle glycogen, the body also stores more water. This increase in muscle glycogen can cause a temporary increase in muscular size, which is merely a bloating of the muscle tissue, not an actual increase in amount of tissue. Once your body figures out what's happening, which usually takes a few weeks, it will regulate itself by not storing as much glycogen and release the excess water.

Sometimes, another big issue when women feel like their jeans have gotten a little tighter or their arms a little bigger is that their muscles may have gotten slightly larger, but their body fat hasn't decreased enough yet. This fact leads to the importance of implementing a proper nutritional program in order to make sure that you are shedding enough body fat to obtain the lean look that you desire.

I recommend that women start out by using a dumbbell (or pulley machine in a gym) that allows you to complete 10-12 repetitions with perfect technique in a controlled manner. Basically, if you are able to perform two to three sets of 12 repetitions of an exercise, you should increase the resistance for the next workout by about five percent for the upper body and by 10 percent for the lower body. These increases should continue to challenge you, but in a safe and manageable progression. Women need to challenge themselves. Using the little pink, 3-pound dumbbells for the majority of exercises will not provide enough stimulus to the nervous and muscular systems. Some women's handbags weigh nearly 15-20 pounds and they carry them all day -- so why would you go to the gym and only lift three pounds?

For more information on the optimal fat loss diet, look out for my book, "Ultimate You," set to hit bookstores in May. But for more insight right now, learn why you should do cardio and weight training on different days.

Are you looking to get better results, or maybe you're just getting back into the gym? Send an email to personaltrainer [AT] thatsfit [DOT] com and Joe can answer all of your training questions!