Fitness Magazine Rant

Posted by Shannon Clark Jan 11, 2007

Today I'm going to do something a little different and discuss a topic that has been on my mind as of late.

Rant On.

So, every now and again when I'm in the grocery store waiting for the check-out I'll pick up a copy of one of the various fitness magazines that graces the rack. Sometimes I'll find a new piece of information that is unique and actually gives some good advice. More often than not however I strongly question what some people are thinking when they publish these.

One time I even saw a piece that was recommending people walk backwards on the treadmill because apparently it burns more calories. Don't even get me started on that one. Back to strength training though since that's why we are all here...

This month I saw an article that was telling women that they could easily get 'toned' and defined arms by lifting a 3 pounds weight (nothing heavier - this was stated) for 15-20 reps twice a week.

Problem A. First, if you've read some of my previous articles or have some degree of general knowledge on the principles of strength training you should know that you must create an overloading stimulus in order for a muscle to improve. Pink weights are not going to cut it. Just. Don't. Do. It.

Unless you are a 5 year old child or have never picked up anything heavier than a carton of milk, 3 pounds is not going to provide any challenge by any stretch of the imagination. (should make a note however that if you are coming back from an injury or doing rehabilitation exercises you may be an exception).

Most females, particularly those who have given birth before and have carried around a 10+ pound baby, are simply going to be much stronger than this. Therefore lifting 3 pound weights ("pink weights") is not going to improve strength in any way.

Problem B. "Tone". How I hate this word. There is no such thing as 'tone'. If you want to increase your muscular size you perform a program that is targeted towards hypertrophy (enlarging the actual muscle fibres). If you want to define your muscles, you need to remove some of the body fat that is covering them. It's that simple. Where the word tone came from is beyond me and if I had my way it would be abolished.

So if I could offer you just one piece of advice, one take-home message from this section on strength training, it's lift a heavy enough weight. For males this is usually not an issue. They tend to be the opposite and feel the need to lift more weight than they should to try and impress everyone.

For all the females out there reading this though, please, put down the pink weights. Trust me, those 10-20 pounders sitting on the rack are not as scary as they look. You might just be surprised how strong you actually are.

Rant off.