One of the most persistent myths you ladies have about strength training is that working out with weights will turn you into female hulks.

Ladies unless you plan to hit the gym with a vengeance, determined to look like the cover girl of a muscle magazine, it just won't happen. What can happen, though, is that you will end up with a firmer looking body.

The reasons are physiological and hormonal. The average man is taller and stronger than the average woman and, thus, generates more force. Men also produce about 10 times the testosterone of a woman. Testosterone affects the ability to increase muscle size (muscle hypertrophy).

Ladies you just don't have the ability to have an increase in muscle size that men do, so chill out. OK!

If you want to lose fat or change your body, one of the most important things you can do is lift weights. Diet and cardio are equally important, but when it comes to changing how your body looks, weight training wins hands down. If you've hesitated to start a strength training program, it may motivate you to know that lifting weights can:

• Help raise your metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn all day long.
• Strengthen bones, especially important for women
• Make you stronger and increase muscular endurance
• Help you avoid injuries
• Increase your confidence and self-esteem
• Improve coordination and balance

BOX-2B-FIT BOXING CLUBS knows that getting started with strength training can be confusing--what exercises should you do? How many sets and reps? How much weight?

The routines that BOX-2B-FIT BOXING CLUBS will help you choose will be based on your fitness goals as well as the equipment we have available.

The Basics

At BOX-2B-FIT BOXING CLUBS we will show you some basic strength training principles. These principles will teach you how to make sure you're using enough weight, determine your sets and reps and insure you're always progressing in your workouts.

1: Overload. To build muscle, you need to use more resistance than your muscles are used to. This is important because the more you do, the more your body is capable of doing, so you should increase your workload to avoid plateaus. In plain language, this means you should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps. You should be able to finish your last rep with difficulty but also with good form.

2: Progression. To avoid plateaus (or adaptation), you need to increase your intensity regularly. You can do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted, changing your sets/reps, changing the exercises and changing the type of resistance. You can make these changes on a weekly or monthly basis.

3: Specificity. This principle means you should train for your goal. That means, if you want to increase your strength, your program should be designed around that goal (e.g., train with heavier weights closer to your 1 RM (1 rep max)). To lose weight, choose a variety of rep ranges to target different muscle fibers.

4: Rest and Recovery. Rest days are just as important as workout days. It is during these rest periods that your muscles grow and change, so make sure you're not working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row.

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