BUT I DON'T WANNA GET TOO BIG AND BULKY SHE SAYS...

“I don’t wanna get too big and bulky.” If I hear this one more time…. Seriously, when a woman (and ESPECIALLY a man) tells me this it’s honestly an insult whether he or she realizes it or not. If it’s so easy to acquire muscle, I really want to know your secret because with that logic, I should be a 300 pound behemoth by now. Either people are truly ignorant, or just use this excuse as a form of negativity to justify their insecurities...whatever the case it become annoying.

Anyway, what I am going to touch on is the MYTH that muscle is bad or unnecessary for women. First off, let’s look at some women who train super hard in the gym. Amanda Latona, Jamie Eason, Michelle Lewin, Paige Hathaway. Look at the pictures I have provided. Disgusting right? Well if they are, then you can just stop reading now. I guarantee you 99.99% of men would at LEAST take a second glance if one of these beauties walked by.

Despite the stupid rumor going around, weight training is essential for not only a male’s health and fitness, but for a woman’s as well. This is why a proper diet (rich in protein) is essential. Garbage “diets” like Weight Watchers are not healthy, and do not teach a proper lifestyle of healthy eating. What happens on a “diet” such is this is yes, you lose WEIGHT, but that WEIGHT is comprised of not only fat and water, but also precious muscle. Weight Watchers is a lazy way to rapidly lose WEIGHT....which is bad. You want to preserve as much muscle as possible to ensure a healthy metabolsim. WW ruins the metabolism because it does not teach proper nutrient distribution and/or timing. Show me a hot body produced on WW, and I'll show you thousands doing it the right way. Chances are, a "hot body" you see from Weight Watchers is never maintained for long doing it that way. 

Muscle is imperative to the metabolism for a myriad of reasons, but here are a few:

·         Muscle increases metabolic rate which basically means the more muscle you have the more calories you burn while doing nothing. On average, a pound of muscle burns around 6 calories, vs. a pound of fat that burns only around 2.

·         Muscle can improve blood sugar control, sleep and mental health, as well as balance.

·         According to a study from Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise , it was determined that women, who lifted in the heavy 8-rep range, burned TWICE as many calories in the two hours after their workout compared to as when they did higher reps at a lower weight.

The take home for you beautiful ladies? Hit the gym! Do not be afraid to eat your protein and hit the iron. Oh yea…..and SQUAT!

Today I decided it's time to up the calories (in the form of carbs, actually decreased my protein some). I lost 4 pounds on my two off days this weekend due to the fact I keep calories/carbs lower. Consequently, it's time to up them for days I train. My appetite is still insane, and I am still maintaining leanness which is a good sign that it's prime time to grow.

Today I am going to film some training as we do Muscle Rounds. Check in tomorrow for that, as well as a definition of a Muscle Round.