Strength Training For Women
Here’s Why Every Woman Should Strength Train:
1) When you are stronger, life is easier. No need to call for help to get that 50 pound bag of dog food off the top shelf, or carrying an air conditioner unit up a flight of stairs.
2) When you are stronger, there’s less risk of injury. Building strong muscles, means you’re also building stronger bones, ligaments, and tendons, making you less prone to injury doing things you love.
3) When you are stronger, age-related muscle loss is lessened, which allows us to remain independent longer as you age.
4) When you are stronger, pain is reduced. Having a strong body makes living easier on your joints, as well as allows you to hold a better posture and reduce back / hip pain.
5) When you are stronger, you live longer. Want to spend more time on Earth? Strength training and growing muscle will help you do just that.
Although strength training is one of the best things you can do for your health, it’s estimated that only about 20% of women do it, far below that of our male counterparts.
Is Strength Training Different For Women?
The American College of Sports Medicine doesn’t differentiate between sexes in their strength training recommendations. So neither should you. Sure, there are biological differences between the sexes, but women don’t need 3-pound pink dumbbells, unless they like 3-pound pink dumbbells! Women can train with free weights and barbells just like everybody else at the gym.
“Strength Training” of Any Kind can be Explained By Two Things
1) Doing ANY exercise that pushes your muscles outside of their comfort zone, thus forcing them to rebuild stronger to prepare for the next challenge.
2) Exerting slightly more effort than last time (lift a heavier weight or do 1 more rep) consistently. This is called Progressive Overload. Your muscles will constantly have to adapt and will constantly be rebuilding themselves to get stronger.
Will a Woman Get Bulky if She Lifts Weights?
If you see a woman who is incredibly muscular and at an extremely low body percentage, she has probably been working her butt off for a very long time with the very specific goal of building muscle and looking that way. It’s not something that happens overnight, or by mistake. Women simply don’t have the same amount of testosterone as males to get there easily. So strike “I don’t want to get bulky” from your vernacular.
Strength Training Level 1: Bodyweight Workouts
If you’re just starting your strength training journey, you’ll want to start with a bodyweight workout. Bodyweight training is simply doing an exercise in which your own body is the “weight” you are “lifting.” This is the BEST place for anybody – regardless of weight or age – to start their strength training journey. Push ups, sit ups, lunges, squats, and planks are all examples of body weight exercises.
Strength Training Level 2: Dumbbell Workouts
Dumbbells are a great next step into the world of weight training and strength training. When you are using free weights, you're forcing your stabilizing muscles to work harder without relying on the comfort of other equipment such as cable machines; this stabilization challenge will point out muscle imbalances pretty easily (“oh my right arm is stronger than my left arm.”). Dumbbells make it easy to add difficulty to a bodyweight movement (ie. holding dumbbells while doing lunges). Once the 10 pound weights become too easy, pick up the 15 pounders!
Strength Training Level 3: Barbell Workouts
The reason barbell training is so important is that it allows you to pick up heavy weights and do movements that recruit every muscle in your body. This is great for building powerful, strong muscles in your core, legs, glutes, and so on.
Calling all women: Start strength training and increase the stats! If you need help getting started or want a personalized strength program, click the button below. The certified personal trainers at Success Studio are here to help!