This is all about the women who want better body composition and strength. Women who not only want to look strong, lean and better naked; but achieve true fitness. The women who know that if you lift heavy, you are not going to bulk up like Mr. Olympia. Just because you jump and lift explosively, you’re not going to grow a mustache. Just like Amy Acuff and Gabrielle Reese, two women who know how to hit the gym hard to obtain their goals and reap the benefits of true fitness.



Anti-Pink Dumbbell Myth Busters:

1. Using heavy weight will make you huge.
False: Women do not have enough testosterone to bulk up like men do. Achieving maximal strength levels is seen in sports like figure skating, gymnastics, tennis and track and field. These women are not even close to bulky. These women are who we represent, high levels of maximum strength, high levels of endurance and high levels of power. Using heavy weight will just make you stronger than before.

2. Doing aerobics for hours is a great way to lose fat.
False: It is proven that shorter durations of aerobics, with higher use of muscle is a superior way to eliminate unwanted fat. Jogging on a treadmill for two hours will just ensure you burn more MUSCLE than fat and you will end up with aching joints.

3. Machines will keep your muscles tone, but free weights will cause injury.
False: It is the exact opposite. It is far more functional to allow your body to move like it naturally should. Since you were a child, you were able to squat, deadlift and perform other primal human movements that are quite necessary to keep your joints safe and your body active. Strapping yourself into a machine is just as silly as strapping a toddler into a machine. It is also a known fact that to tone your body, you need to lose the most fat, while maintaining muscle mass. Standing up and squatting with a barbell will burn more calories than a machine any day of the week.

4. Super slow tempos will make your muscles long and sexy.
False: The only thing that a super slow tempo has been proven to do is be a super big waste of time. For women to stay lean and tone, they must use their muscles with speed and safety. Older people become slow because they lose mobility and type II muscle strength. In order for you to keep this, you must lift heavy enough weight to challenge your body for the amount of reps you are using. You also must lift as fast as possible in a controlled manner.

5. Women need to eat low calories to obtain a slim figure.
False: Women “can” eat low calories to be skinny with a low metabolism, until they decide to binge. Women need to eat enough calories to maintain proper body functions. Also, women need to eat enough calories to keep their metabolism at a high rate. Besides that, eating low calories and working out seriously is like starting a cross-country drive with no fuel in your tank.

To have true fitness, women must push themselves in the gym, eat properly to keep their metabolism high and not be afraid to leave the pink dumbbells behind.

nothing new here - this information is already well known on this forum...

At the same time I assume you aren't saying that visibly bulgy muscles = fitness. A glance at the top ballet dancers suggests that would be way off the mark. (Or even that physical strength = fitness).

This is a pic of Darcey Bussell:



Hope no one would suggest she isn't fit.

Prima ballerinas like Bussell train every day of their lives at levels that would leave the average male body-builder crying into his anabolic steroids.

What about prima bodybuilders?

Oh man I'd pay money to see a body builder prancing around in a tutu - though it might be a fourfour in their case

I've never heard this...and I could just see myself getting injured trying to do it.

I concur with Landon's baby! It's about form not speed! You can go as fast as you can but if your form is not good then you're wasting your time, and if going slow helps you keep your form, by all means go slow and do good reps rather than trying to tire the muscle without isolating the specific muscle you want to work.

Yep, must be fit for something but not sure what it is. Suggestions welcome.



(From one of the many sites flogging steroids.)

I have to defend pink dumbbells for a ,moment -because you're not the first person to trounce into this forum with a bias against them.

My Rant for the morning...
OK so lighest dummbells arent pink they're red and purple =weighing a whopping 2 and 3lbs each... Why - because when I do a lateral raise -I couldn't handle 5lbs - 2lbs was my limit - then I moved up to 3lbs... Now, I hold them both in the same hand and am using a whole 5lbs...

I am so sick to death of the go heavy or don't bother argument because it's not helpful to many people - a person has to start somewhere - and if that's with a pair of 1lb pink dumbbels -who the hell are you to tell them they are wrong...

as long as the person doesn't stick with the pink dumbells for the next year and a half and continually works towards a heavier weight -that should be the goal... but heavy is relative to the person... and if their dumbbells are pink - well -- good for them - my heart rate monitor is pink and I like it.. If a person enjoys their tools., and the color is one of the ways they get their enjoyment -they will use them more...

Iwish my 12lb dumbbels were pink -they're boring black... I might have to do a martha stewart craft project ot make them pretty...

But the point is - a person has to start somewhere - heavy for one you might laugh at but they are doing the best they can at the time...

Go for it Mal!

I also don't see the sense in the dogmatic "one size fits all" approach.

Nor do I see the sense in the claim: "To have true fitness, women must push themselves in the gym." Fitness for what exactly? Needs vary. For many older people for example the prime need is to increase their mobility and for them activities like yoga and pilates (with any colour weights) may be far more appropriate than heavy weights.

I think a person should push themself to some degree -otherwise you tend to stay stagnant... I'm a fairly competitive person, but my only real competition is myself -I want to always do better than i did before... and perform better otherwise there's not a lot of point - for me anyhow... Is this approach getting me to where i want to be in the most effective way possible? For others probably not.. but it's sort of working for me so... I'll stick with pushing myself.

Moving a weight as fast as possible while maintaining proper form is about optimizing the amount of force production.

f=m*a

And wrt Mal's post... that's really why I don't like blanket (almost commercial) advice you see a lot of PTs throwing around in forums like this.

Let's not say, "You have to lift heavy or go home."

Instead, let's discuss the fundamental principles that dictate progress such as progressive overload and the like.

The pink dumbbells very well can be an overloading stimulus for some people.

I'm sure you've said it 1000 times here - or I read it somewhere else - and it's stuck in my head... but what I thought what determined the proper weight was if you could do more than 10 -12 reps while maintaining proper form (and the maintaining proper form was crucial) then you needed to graduate to the next weight...

Although the most recent diet of the week book that I read - insisted that you shouldn't be able to do more than 4 reps at a particular weight.. (much conflicting info) so i tend to go with somewhere in the middle... if I can do 10 without breaking form - then I'm good.. 11 and 12 - are usually making me work harder...

The idea is not to stay with the same light weight forever. Move up to make the most of your time at the gym. As far as the literal 'pink' thing, gym time is not supposed to be pretty or sexy- put that crap aside and just focus on the workout.