You hear it frequently in places where women congregate to discuss the reasons they don’t lift weights. Everything from “I don’t want to look like a musclebound freak,” to “I need to lose weight first.” Smells to me like it’s time to open a can of myth dispellant ‘round here.

If you’re a women who avoids the weight room at least let it be out of sheer stubbornness and not because you were in possession of incorrect facts.

Here’s the skinny.

While strength training does cause muscle growth, women simply do not have enough of the testosterone hormone to become muscle-bound and appear masculine. Them’s just the facts. The few women you may notice in international competitions, let’s just say they likely had a little synthetic help along the way. I seem to remember Russian women athletes with a pretty good mustache going…

Women should do high rep, low weight sets only. Wrong! If looking and feeling great is your goal, shoot for reps in the 5-8 range for 3-5 sets with enough weight to make you strain a bit. This will make sure you don’t lose muscle while dieting.

Use machines instead of barbells and dumbbells. Wrong! Free weights produce greater benefits because you can train several large muscle group at once, burning more calories in the process. As you age, free weights will leave you stronger, with better balance and less chance for injury.

Lose weight before you lift weights. Wrong! Studies show that combining aerobic exercise, diet, and strength training leads to greater overall loss of fat while retaining your all important muscle. ‘Nuff said.

No idea where to begin? No problem. Click here to find a sample free weight workout tailored to women. It’s towards the end of the first article on the page, right past the dispelling myths area I summarized in this post.

Train hard!

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