Strong and well-developed muscles take time and consistent workout to build. However, if done correctly, strength training can show wonders on the way women look and feel both physically and mentally. All those women who are wondering whether or not to start weight training and have some primary concerns related to it, then this blog is for you! We would be walking you through various aspects about strength training for women, its advantages, common concerns, and much more. Let us begin by understanding why you should start strength training.
Should Women Lift Weights? (Why You should Start Strength Training)
‘Lifting doesn’t make women huge, cupcakes make women huge!’
Although strength training is one of the best things you can do for your health, studies show that only about 20% of women do it; sadly, far lower than men!
Benefits have been discussed in detailed in the following sections of this blog, but here are some reasons why you should start strength training:
- When you feel stronger, life becomes easier for even daily activities, such as lifting a heavy bag or placing a heavy item on the overhead storage.
- Strength training for women not only helps to build strong muscles, but also builds stronger ligaments, and tendons, making you less prone to injury during daily activities, or jogging or even while playing.
- Helps combat age-related muscle loss, allowing you to remain independent longer as you age.
- Having strengthened and well-developed muscles makes living easier on your joints, as well as allows you to hold a better posture.
- While you can’t spot reducing fat, you can choose to build muscles and burn unnecessary fat, improving your body shape.
Is Strength Training Different for Women?
You can train with free weights and barbells just like everybody else at the gym, but yes, there are biological differences between the sexes.
Strength training can be explained by two aspects:
- Doing ANY exercise that pushes your muscles outside of their comfort zone, forces it to rebuild stronger, and prepares for the next challenge.
- Exerting slightly more effort than the previous rep consistently, puts your muscles to constantly adapt and rebuild themselves to get stronger.
Will I Get Bulky if I Lift Weights?
This is one of the most commonly asked questions by most of the women, which makes them skeptical towards strength training. If you see a woman who is incredibly muscular and at an extremely low body fat percentage, that means she has been working hard for a very long time with the very specific goal of building muscle and looking that way.
That sort of build and body isn’t not something that happens overnight, or by mistake! Women simply don’t have the same amount of testosterone as male anatomy to get bulky easily.
Benefits of Strength Training for Women
We’ve already mentioned above why you should start strength training; listed below are some more benefits of strength training for women:
Improved Fat Loss
Lifting weights helps you build lean muscles. The fewer fats and more muscle you have, the quicker your metabolism works, which means that weight training will help to boost your metabolism, and in turn, burn more calories. This results in reduction of body fat and improves weight loss.
Enhances Mood and Reduces Stress
Exercise releases endorphins hormones which improve your mood, prevent pain, and help in fighting depression. Women who strength train regularly are found to feel more confident and capable as a result of their training as strength training has a positive impact on mental health too.
Strength Gaining (without bulking)
Unlike men, women typically don’t gain size or bulk from strength training, unless they specifically train for bodybuilding. This is because the levels of testosterone women have are very less as compared to men; typically, young women have around 10% of the testosterone of men. And hence, women develop muscle tone and definition without the size, through strength training.
Reduces Risks of Diseases
Weight training or strength training for women can help in improving cardiovascular health by lowering bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol, thus lowering blood pressure. Regular weight training also improves the way your body processes sugar, which may also reduce the risk of diabetes.
Reduces Age-Related Joint Pains, Arthritis etc.
Strength training for women not only builds muscles but also develops bone density, reducing the risk of fractures and broken bones. It also builds stronger connective tissues and improves joint stability which, as a result, helps to prevent injuries. This, combined with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be a women’s best defense against osteoporosis.
It can also help with correcting bad posture, and building a strong back and core muscles, preventing lower back pain.
How Much Weight Should Women Lift?
The answer is simple but make sure you implement it: lift enough so that you can get through the set, but not too much that you strain your muscles way beyond your capacity and risk yourself for an injury.
However, try to lift slightly more than your last rep. Gradually increasing weight can help in training your muscles effectively instead of straining them.
Think of it this way- even if you are adding just 5 pounds per week to the bar, within a year you would be lifting 300+ pounds!
So take it slow and it’s always advisable to train under the guidance of a trainer.
Can Strength Training Help with Weight Loss?
Fats and muscle are two different things, and most importantly, one cannot transform into the other. We all have muscles right now but they are just hiding underneath a layer of body fat. Thus, in order to lose weight and get in shape, you should aim for- building stronger and tighter muscles as well as reducing the fat covering those muscles!
Both of those aspects can occur simultaneously through effective strength training.
You do NOT need to do hours of cardio for weight loss, cardio helps to get your heart pumping and warm-up your muscles for effective strength training necessary for fat loss and muscle gaining.
It is also important to maintain calorie restriction by eating fewer calories than you burn every day. Combining a caloric deficit diet with strength training will work wonderfully showing impressive results.
The Best Strength Training Exercises for Women
Exercise can vary as per your choice, comfort or even your fitness goal. You can opt for body weight training or weight training using machines (or free weights). Listed below are a few exercises which can be performed using bodyweight as well as weight training machines:
Exercises Using Bodyweight
- Push-up: uses every push muscle in your upper body (chest, shoulders, triceps).
- Bodyweight squat: strengthens quads, hamstrings, glutes, core muscles.
- Bodyweight row: works every “pull” muscle (primarily lats and biceps) and helps prepare you for a pull-up exercise.
- Pull-up or chin-up: commonly performed exercise for upper body strengthening.
Exercises Using Weights
- Barbell Squat: This can be performed using a Smith machine for a guided motion.
- Chest/Shoulder Press: a combo machine exercise that helps to target your shoulder as well as chest muscles using a single unit.
- Lat Pulldown/Seated Row: an excellent combo machine that provides dual back exercises; and also activates other muscles such as biceps, triceps, hamstrings, glutes, and adductors to some extent.
- Leg Curl/Extension: this can be used to target your hamstrings and quads.
A General Meal Plan for Strength Training
Meal plans vary as per body type and fitness goals, so women who are lean and want to gain muscle mass should focus majorly on proteins as well as carbs and gradually increase their meal portion.
Whereas, those who want to reduce weight, should focus on reducing calories, carbs and meal sizes, but focus on increasing protein intake.
Conclusion
We hope this blog has motivated you enough to begin your strength training routine and solved your concerns around it. Following the right diet and maintaining consistency with your workouts is the key for gaining effective results of strength training. Go-ahead and start your transformation journey today!
