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Weight lifting for women: How to enhance your curves

There are a lot of stereotypes when it comes to women lifting weights. Many people believe that when women lift weights they start to look “manly.” For some this means bulkier and muscular and for others this means flat, lacking curves, and boy-like. These images influence many ladies into skipping the weight room.

But, today I am here to tell you that lifting weights can be amazing for creating curves. If you want to look super muscular, that is awesome. If you prefer the flat look, you can get that from exercise. However, if you want to look curvier, lean, and strong… you can get that too!

It is all about how you structure your workouts and how your diet assists in your training. If you want huge biceps, work your biceps. If you want to look super lean and cut, do lighter weights for more reps. If you idolize the hourglass shape, you can achieve that too! Here are a few tips and tricks on how to navigate the weight room to achieve your ideal look.

The amount of weight you lift can affect how your body looks. If you want a certain muscle to grow, you have to lift heavy weights. If you are interested in creating curves, lifting weights is a great way to do that.

To form an hourglass figure you want your shoulders to be broader than your waist and your butt to be symmetrical with your shoulders. Lifting weights can help you attain that look. Lift heavy weights to increase the size of your booty! Squat, lunge, deadlift, and press with heavy weights. Obviously, you may not start with the heaviest weights in the gym. But, you should be lifting weights that are heavy for you. And that is different for everyone. Some people can squat with 400 pounds while 100 pounds challenge others. Start off lighter and then continue to increase the amount of weight you are lifting.

Bigger shoulders and wider lats can help give the illusion of a smaller waist. If you want your stomach to look smaller, grab those heavy dumbbells do some shoulder presses. Work your upper back with lat pull downs and wide grip rows. You can create curves by increasing the size of certain muscles and decreasing the size of others.

To get a toned core, you may want to start including some weighted ab exercises into your routine. Try some cable crunches, medicine ball sit-ups, and resistance band rotations to shape your stomach even more. If you are contracting your abs properly, weighted core work will not cause your stomach to puff up. In fact, weighted core workouts can add to the illusion of the hourglass figure we are creating.

If you don’t want things to grow and are more interested in a toned, flatter look, you can lift lighter weights for more reps. I do this style of training to create definition in my biceps and triceps. I am happy with the size of those two muscles, so I only lift weights to keep them toned. I typically choose weights that I can do a least 10-15 reps with. It’s also good to mix these higher rep movements into your growth routines to switch things up and confuse your muscles.

Rest times will also influence muscle growth. If you want your muscles to grow, it would be wise to slow down your workout and take longer rests. The longer rest allow your muscles to recover so you can continue lifting heavy. The rest time also slows down your heart rate so you aren’t burning off any of the muscle you are building. If you are trying to grow your muscles you want to avoid blending cardio with your strength workouts. Cardio burns fat, yes, but it can also burn some muscle. So let yourself rest to keep your heart rate steady. On the other hand, if you are trying to lose weight and do not care about the size of your muscle, it is a great idea to blend cardio and strength training. Keep your rests under one-minute long and work multiple muscle groups in one training session.

Diet also makes a huge impact on growth (smaller or bigger). But I will talk all about that next week, so make sure you follow this blog to read more about that!

Finally I want to talk about working your muscles from all angles. If you want a round booty, you have to work all three gluteal muscles and work them from different angles. Doing one style of squat everyday is not going to change your butt much. If you do several different types of squats mixed with other accessory movements, then you absolutely will see change because you are hitting all the spots. Most muscles have several parts. There are two parts to the bicep and three parts in the tricep. So, only doing one curl and one tricep extension will not help you reach the full potential of those muscles. Variety is key in growing, changing, and strengthening your muscles.

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