SHOULD WOMEN AVOID HEAVY WEIGHTS?

Many women avoid lifting heavy weights at the gym because they're afraid of bulking up or getting "man muscles." For the vast majority of women, those concerns are not warranted, and here's why: A woman's body doesn't contain enough testosterone to produce humongous muscles. (Testosterone is the magical man juice that enables us men to burp louder than women, grow hair in our ears and on our backs, and yell like homicidal maniacs while we watch football games.) Recent research suggests that the amount of weight and number of repetitions aren't as important as fatiguing the targeted muscles in less than 90 seconds. This video from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) does a pretty good job of explaining these findings: High Reps and Light Weights vs. Low Reps and Heavy Weights