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16.06.2018

Is it so bad that women prefer strength training with light weights?

When women start strength training, they often prefer training with light weights. They like it better, and they are afraid that using heavy weights will turn them into muscular she-hulks. According to an American study, published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, women react just as well to strength training with light weights as to training will heavy weight. And whether they train heavily or a little less heavily, in she-hulks they will not change.

Study
Jason Cholewa, an exercise scientist affiliated with Coastal Carolina University, divided 20 female students into 2 groups. Both groups trained 3 times a week for 9 weeks. Every week they trained their body twice, and once their lower body with basic exercises.

One group trained with heavy weights, which allowed the women to make a maximum of 5-6 reps. The women made 4 sets per exercise.

The other group trained with less heavy weights, which allowed the women to make a maximum of 10-12 reps. The women made 2 sets per exercise. The total number of reps was thus the same in both groups.

Results
The maximum strength increased in both groups of women.

In both groups of women the muscle mass in the lower body increased a bit, but as you can see the effect was modest. The increase in muscle mass in the upper body was not even statistically significant.

Conclusion
"The success of an exercise program depends heavily on adherence, and individuals with a low-affinity for training are more likely to drop out or not comply with resistance training prescription", writes Cholewa. "A fear of becoming masculine is an obstacle to adopting a resistance training program in young women, and women who resistance trained with selfselected lower loads reported greater self-efficacy and intention to continue training compared with higher imposed loads."

"The results of this study lend support to a growing body of evidence that individuals with lower training status can make improvements in muscular strength and hypertrophy training with more moderate loads and may be used by fitness professionals to further prescribe evidence-based resistance training protocols that also appeal to the individual's training preferences."

"The data obtained in this study also serve to further debunk some of the myths that may otherwise impede young women from strength training, including a fear of excessive hypertrophy."

"The exercises used in this program were selected to replicate training modalities commonly employed by young, healthy women interested in enhancing aesthetics. Given the similar small effect sizes for increases in lean body mass and limb CSA between groups, the results of this study suggest that fitness professionals can prescribe young women with either moderate or heavy loads to promote strength and hypertrophic adaptations without inducing a bulky appearance."

Source:
J Strength Cond Res. 2018 Jun;32(6):1511-24.

More:
Muscle growth is the same whether you do high-intensity or high-volume resistance training 09.09.2015
Sets of 6-8 reps build up just as much strength as sets of 10-14 reps 22.08.2014
Study shows you build up just as much muscle with low weights and lots of reps 20.09.2010

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