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petitandfit:

Women Anatomy Muscle Fun Fact

I don’t like science; actually, I am so bad at science that I could not make above a C in any of my intro level basic requirement college courses in the science field. But, this is something that I think EVERY woman should take an interest in. 

Let me start of with this question: Have you ever wondered why women are so much better at doing endurance training (cardio/more weight repetitons/ect..) than men? I mean, it is the women you see pounding away at the payment for miles at a time.

This reason is not simply because women usually choose to do more cardio in their workouts so they have built up stamina. The answer lies in our gender. 

There are 2 different types of fibers that make up our muscles. The first, for endurance, and the second for strength and power. Women naturally have more of the first type of muscle fibers that is designed for endurance. 

Now in your head you can be singing “Born This Way” from Lady Gaga, but do not get excited just yet. 

Remember that in order to see changes in your body, you have to get it out of it’s comfort zone. Have you figured out what a woman’s comfort zone is in working out? CARDIO.

 This great gift that we have been given is a blessing but sheds light on why it is much harder to see your body change when doing long amounts of cardio. If your body is used to it, why would it want to change it’s form?

Alwyn, the exercise mastermind behind the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women, puts it these words: You do what you’ve always done; you get what you’ve always gotten. 

Getting back to the second type of muscle fibers, the ones destined for strength and power, it is important to understand that the goal in weight lifting is to increase these fibers since they are naturally smaller. Women have a greater potential for sculpting their muscles when focusing on growth in this type of muscle fiber because it is smaller and more underworked to begin with. I hope that makes sense. It can be put in a weight loss analogy. You lose weight faster and easier when you start than you do when you are actually closer to your goal weight. The closer you get to your max potential, the harder it is to get there. So, women have the advantage when starting out with weight training than men do. 

 Doing lower reps with heavier weight is going to be the key for this. Lighter weight with lots of reps is just going to trigger those endurance fibers you already have. 

I just turned you ladies into exercise gurus. Take your knowledge and use it to sculpt the body you really want. 

YES YES YES YES. Whenever someone tells you to weight lift with water bottles or to do 20 reps of something, don’t listen to them. Push yourself to your heaviest weight with lower reps, and you will see much faster and much better results!!!!!

(Source: theironmunchies)