Ask Ade: Weight training good for everyone, no exceptions

Wed, 07/09/2008 10:49 AM  |  Health

Hi Ade Rai,

I have been following your column. At times I find your advice very enlightening. But I also find it intriguing that you keep suggesting everyone to do some form of weight training. I suppose because you are a bodybuilder it is only natural for you to promote what you do.

I am a 45-year-old school teacher with two teenage kids at home. As a woman, I find it quite odd to perform all these weight training movements. I personally think they were designed for men. More over, I don't want to be muscular like a man and I would prefer to keep my feminine grace.

As far as a healthy lifestyle is concerned, I follow several aerobic classes a week, try to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water. I don't think I need to do any resistance training to keep myself healthy, especially with what I have been doing to maintain my health.

Asri

 

Hi Asri,

Thank you for following this column. I really appreciate your honesty. The reason I chose to answer your letter because I believe there are many women who share your thoughts.

First of all, I promote resistance training not because I am a bodybuilder, but because it is good for you and everybody to whom I promote it to.

Scientific studies and medical journals have reported about the benefits of resistance training for people of various age groups and genders. Among others, a balanced resistance training program have been shown to:

* Enhance metabolism, making weight-control and fat-loss efforts much easier than aerobics alone.

* Stop calcium loss on menopausal women, significantly minimizing risk of the much-worried osteoporosis to occur.

* Enjoy better core strength, hence improving posture and grace

* Gain muscle strength-not size in women, allowing the body to be more agile whilst preventing many potential injuries.

Secondly, resistance training systems and equipments do not recognize gender differences. It is us who makes up all these discriminations in our mind. Biologically, women are very similar to men, except for the reproductive and endocrine system.

However, women have the same skeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, muscular and digestion systems as men. What I am trying to say here is that you can do the same resistance exercise as men do but you will not get the same results. This is because your hormonal profile won't allow you to gain as much muscle as your male counterparts.

Women generally have testosterone (a male hormone responsible to signal muscle growth), but the level is one-tenth to one-seventeenth the testosterone level of a man.

So, mathematically even though a woman trains comparatively as hard as a man, eats comparatively as much as a man, the muscles she will only put on will be 1/10 to 1/17 the amount of muscles the man puts on within the same period of time.

Thirdly, muscle gain is a biologically unfavorable thing for the human body to do. It is extremely hard to gain muscle, even for men whose testosterone level is 10-17 times more than women's testosterone level.

It takes very specific training techniques that require extreme measures of physical exertion. Unless you want to become a bodybuilder, I wouldn't let you know the techniques. So in a way, I am preventing you from stealing my secrets to prevent you from looking like me.

I honestly think you owe it to yourself to give resistance-training a try. With all the benefits you will gain in and for your life, there is absolutely nothing to lose but stubborn body fats.

I can personally guarantee you and all the women out there reading this column, if you perform a balanced resistance training program combined with a smart diet plan and well-portioned cardiovascular activities, and you don't like the new look on your body, I will personally train you back to your old body. Free of charge.

 

Hi Ade Rai, Thank you! I have lost 3 kgs of bodyfat and gained 1 kg of muscle from just practicing what you have outlined in this column. I look and feel so much better now compared to the way I felt and looked before I started 4.5 months ago, when I weighed 78 kgs (24 kgs of that was pure lard).

The progress may seem a little slow for you, but the best thing is I didn't have to starve or drag myself getting to where I am today. Just a quick question: where do I go from here? What should I do in case my progress stops before I reach my goal? Thank you once again.

Romy

 

Hi Romy,

Wow! Congratulations on your success, Romy. I am very proud of you. It is results like yours that keep me inspired and make this column worthwhile.

Your question is a smart one. Just keep doing what you have been doing. You progress shouldn't stop, unless you change your winning formula too soon.

In terms of training, slowly increase the intensity of your weight and cardio training. The shift in bodyfat and lean body mass will require you to modify your program by tweaking up the weight training program while reducing the volume of your cardiovascular training program.

But you don't have to worry about that until you loose another 3 kgs of fat and gain another kilogram of muscle. Stay with your diet, the result you've got so far will keep you motivated toward your ultimate goals.

Beware of fats, flours and sugars in many forms and packages. Take in plenty of veggies, lean proteins and water. Never skip your meals and snack sensibly with smart food choices. Please keep me posted with your progress. Cheers.

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