Women shouldn't avoid strength training [news]
Despite building stronger bones and providing a metabolic boost that burns fat for hours after a workout, experts say too many women resist it because of a misplaced fear of morphing into the Incredible Hulk.
"People who lift weights are generally leaner," said Lou Schuler, a strength and conditioning expert. "This idea that pounds of muscle are suddenly going to appear on a woman's body because she lifts weights is just a delusion."
Strength training for women is a weighty issue. Unlike body building, in which the goal is aesthetic, the goal of strength training is to get stronger.
Schuler, the author of the book New Rules of Lifting for Women, says for most women getting huge is simply not in the genetic cards. But you need a bit of muscle on those bones.