Women often ask, “If I lift weights, will I bulk up like a man?” My answer unequivocally is, no, you are a woman and you will not develop muscles like a man. Weightlifting will help you build, strengthen, stretch and tone your muscles, but you will not get bulky.

The lack of free testosterone in the female body contributes to the inability for women to grow muscles like a man. On the other hand, estrogen decreases the amount of free testosterone in the body and increases cortisol, which reduces muscle mass. Research has shown that while lifting weights increases total testosterone in men, it has no effect on testosterone levels in women.

Building muscle through weightlifting has some hidden benefits, too. Each pound of muscle can burn 50 calories a day. The more muscle you build, the easier it is to burn calories. With more muscle mass, you’ll even burn calories while you sleep. Be sure to get plenty of sleep, rest provides the rejuvenation your muscles need.

Training your muscles through weightlifting is not just about dead weights. There are many resistance training exercises that incorporate weights to build, strengthen, stretch and tone your muscles.

Strength or resistance training exercises target individual muscle groups with specific exercises. In order to build and tone muscles to achieve muscular definition, you need to work your muscle to the point of muscle fatigue. Gradually adding weights to the exercises is an ideal way to get your body in shape for weightlifting.

If you have not lifted weights in a while, or never done any resistance training, go easy on yourself. One set of eight repetitions may be all you can do in the beginning. After a month or so, you will see and feel the difference weight training can make.

I suggest a mix of squats, lunges, chest presses, triceps kickbacks, and deadlift. Ensure that you are training for strength and resistance 3 times a week and doing cardio the other 3 days of the week. Remember, it’s always a good practice to take 1 day off each week for rest and rejuvenation.