Myth of the Day for Women

Myth: Lifting weights will make you look bulky

Fact: If you've been avoiding the free weights for fear of becoming the Incredible Hulk, no need to flee anymore. When it comes to increasing muscle size, testosterone is key. Men have 20 to 30 times the more testosterone than women, which is why they can bulk up so noticeably. But for you to reach Arnold Schwarzenegger proportions would require you to do far more weight-lifting than the average woman, plus have some sort of hormone imbalance (either genetic or synthetically induced, as with steroids).

In fact, "strength training will help you lose weight faster and keep it off in the long run," notes Jeffrey Janot, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise physiology at South Dakota State University in Brookings. If you also do cardio, it'll help you retain muscle as you drop fat, as well as prevent your metabolism from slowing. So don't focus all your efforts on the elliptical machine -- strength training will actually help you reach your ultimate goal and keep it for the long run.

*So don't worry about looking like the above pictured woman when you lift weights, gals. Unless you have a needle popping out of your arm-that disturbing result will not happen to you. ::Scaries when I look at that pic::*

In Health-Demi Bean