But the truth is, that's not how it works. You can do pilates or barre or whatever workout you choose until you're blue in the face, and you may notice your body changing. What's not happening? Your actual muscles growing in length or getting leaner. Let's just be straight: The first is impossible, and the second isn't a thing.
Women are told to do these workouts instead, because they build muscle, but small, dainty, and lean muscles. Are your bullshit alarms sounding?
Good, ours too. It should go without saying that women should be celebrated for their strength, and having big muscles or small muscles, for that matter is never bad or wrong. More women than ever are lifting heavier and putting on more muscle, which is amazing. But of course, some women aren't looking to build bigger muscles and are simply looking to strength train for the other health benefits, like increasing bone health and improving metabolic health.
All desires are legitimate, and SELF is all about supporting women in whatever wellness goal is important to them. We all have different goals, and that's great. The Physical Activity Guidelines appendix of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans provides an ideal baseline to maintain: Aim to strength-train all your major muscle groups at least twice a week.
Now that it's clear that strength training should be part of any fitness plan, no matter how lean you want to look, the road map to your lean-body lifting plan should include:. While it's true that many bodybuilding experts recommend compound exercises for building muscle , there's a lot to make them appealing in a lean body workout too.
They mimic real-world movements more closely than isolation exercises such as biceps curls and hamstring curls, and because they work more muscle groups at once, they get you in and out of the gym more quickly. Compound exercises, such as squats and lunges, also work your core muscles , which are particularly important for avoiding injury.
Many women worry that strength training will make them "look like a man. So lift on without fear, sister! And to those women who do aspire to, and achieve, impressive muscular hypertrophy muscle growth , congratulations on your hard work.
One of the key principles for staying lean is minimizing the number of sets you lift. A study published in in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that as your volume of strength-training sets goes up during the week, so does your level of muscular hypertrophy.
However, weightlifter and fitness expert, Michael Matthews makes a strong case for some muscle actually helping you look leaner and healthier. So if you enjoy lifting, don't be afraid to experiment a little and find a level that helps you look and feel the way you like. If you do choose to do multiple sets of your favorite strength-training exercises, resting for a relatively short period between sets can help you keep the lean look you're after.
A study published in a issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning evaluated a small group of men who were randomly assigned to rest for either one minute between strength-training sets or to rest for three minutes, with all other variables being held equal. These practices can also build overall strength to a certain degree, and help you train muscles that you may not regularly train otherwise. Have you ever taken a really challenging arm-balance class and not been able to wash your hair the next day?
That feels so bad, but so good! The only way to increase your strength is to progressively overload the muscles. Simply put, progressive overload means that you increase the load as you get stronger. Contrary to what many women have been led to believe about strength training, performing endless repetitions of exercises using very light weight will not yield "long and lean muscles" or strength gains.
When you master proper form with the basic movement patterns and increase the load progressively, in a pain-free manner, you are on your way to developing great functional strength. Progressive resistance training can also help you achieve a leaner appearance. It increases your metabolic rate and can help you lose body fat, provided that you consistently eat nutrient-dense foods, achieve a caloric deficit, and get enough quality sleep. It depends on the individual woman. Lifting weights tends to increase your metabolism and make you hungrier, so you may need to tighten up your nutrition and see what happens.
The progressive overload from resistance training can build lean muscle mass, while paying closer attention to your nutrition can help you reduce your body fat, revealing a little more of your new muscles. Cardio is not only great for your overall health, depending on the type of cardio you do and when you do it, it can help with calorie balance, help you recover from the strength training workouts, and can help manage your blood sugar as well.
All bodies are good bodies, all goals are valid, and all methods of movement are valuable. Our online classes and training programs allow you to learn from experts from anywhere in the world. Explore Classes. Written by Katherine Greiner. December 14, You have to believe you can do it.
Roll it out! Listen to YOUR body. Prioritize stretching. You are how you move! Katherine Greiner. She has had the great fortune to work with and shape the physiques of influencers such as More On This Topic Motivation. Sarah Regan. Janeil Mason, M. With Todd McCullough. Personal Growth. Jason Wachob. Eliza Sullivan.
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