Lifting weights makes woman bulky. No, it doesn't. Lifting weights enables you to build lean muscle and sculpt or 'tone' your body. Woman have significantly less testosterone than men and testosterone is required to build muscle, so it’s unlikely that you are at risk of looking like the hulk! Weight training also has a multitude of health benefits including increased bone density, a reduced risk of developing osteoporosis, muscular balance and joint stabilisation.
You can spot reduce fat. No, you can't. Doing 100 tricep dips won't make your bingo wings go away, it will just build up muscle underneath. Instead of trying to lose fat from one place through targeted exercises, focus on improving your diet and reducing your overall body fat.
Doing loads of crunches gives you abs. No, it doesn't. Similar to the point above. Doing core exercises will build strength and muscle, but this won't show unless you reduce your overall body fat. In fact, full body weight training, including compound movements will actually benefit your abs and core as much as doing common ab exercises.
If you're not sore then you didn't train hard enough. Not true. You can have an amazing workout and not be sore the next day. Plus, if you train regularly and support your recovery through good nutrition, sleep, reduced stress and self-myofascial release then soreness can be greatly reduced and managed.
You need to train as much as possible. Nope. You don't need to train for hours a day, 7 days a week, to get results. This usually leads to issues such as overtraining, injury and fatigue if you're not allowing for proper recovery. Instead, focus on quality over quantity and a variety of exercise.
Being ripped means you are healthy. Absolutely not. Having abs is definitely not a sign of good health, and neither are defined arms or toned bum cheeks. It’s also important to recognise that low body fat, especially in woman, can have a detrimental effect on overall health, fertility, hormones and bone health. Health is so much more than how you look. It's about how you feel, function and perform.
Weight training doesn’t burn fat. Err, yes it does, and as a bonus it helps to prevent fat gain and helps to manage your weight. Although you won’t be burning as many calories during a weight training session as you would doing a cardio session, you will still be burning a good few calories, especially if you are working hard and raising your heart rate. What’s more, you will continue to burn calories afterwards as your muscles recover and repair. Weight training builds muscle and increases metabolism which results in burning more calories at rest in general - win win!