I wish all the women who are afraid that lifting weights will “bulk them up” would show me their muscle-building secrets! I’ve been busting my ass for years to gain a few more pounds of muscle mass! Where does this fear come from? Certainly not from personal experience.
Men and women need to approach their resistance training program with a similar intensity. Of course there will be small variations in each individual’s workout, but to get results both men and women need to participate in a challenging strength training program as part of their overall exercise plan.
Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to serious strength training for women. Many women mistakenly believe that resistance training will create large, unattractive muscles. Some women think they have to lose their body fat before starting to weight train, or the fat will “turn into muscle”. This is simply not true. The fact is that the vast majority of women do not have the genetics to build large muscles. It is also impossible to turn fat into muscle, or muscle into fat, as each cell is completely different from one another… although I would LOVE it if I could turn fat into muscle!
Strength training has been proven to benefit all populations, from young athletes to older adults. In fact, intense resistance training provides tremendous benefits to women, in particular. Traditionally, women depended on a low calorie diet and cardiovascular activity to “get in shape”. Unfortunately, very low calorie diets can depress your metabolism over time and without including resistance training can lead to a loss of lean tissue. It has now been demonstrated that strength training is essential if you want to get leaner and reshape your body. But the benefits of strength training go far beyond physical appearance.
Benefits of Strength Training for Women
1) Increased Metabolic Rate – This is a very important benefit of strength training for women. A good strength training program will increase your resting metabolism by increasing the calories you burn every day! This helps you reduce body fat much more quickly! This becomes especially significant for middle age women, because strength training can help them avoid the typical metabolic ‘slump’ that often occurs at that stage in life. Therefore, the key to staying lean as we age is not to eat less, but to do more strength training!
2) Increasing Bone Density – Strength training prevents and combats osteoporosis by maintaining or increasing bone density. This reduces risk of fractures and other health issues. Once again, this becomes even more important as we age.
3) Lean Muscle Gain – Note: Like I said before, you will NOT get big and bulky by strength training! Women do not produce enough testosterone to develop excessively large muscles. You would need to train with very heavy weights, eat significantly more, and dedicate yourself for years to becoming a bodybuilder in order to “bulk up”, and even then most women would not become overly muscular without taking steroids. That being said, even for men it just isn’t that easy to gain a lot of muscle… many guys will train for years, and follow a high calorie “bodybuilding diet”, specifically to build muscle and still gain minimal muscle mass!
Simply lifting weights as part of a regular strength training program will make you leaner, stronger, and improve your physique. Keep in mind, muscle will increase your metabolism. This is a good reason to maintain or gain that lean tissue!
4) Injury Prevention & Faster Recovery– Strength training strengthens our muscles and tendons, as well as bones, as already mentioned. Once again, this is important as we get older. Strength training for women and men is highly recommended for injury prevention. In addition, building stronger muscles and more stable joints is one of the best ways to recover from an injury. By ensuring the muscles surrounding a joint are trained in a balanced manner, and strong on both sides, you speed the rehabilitation process.
5) Decrease Risk of Coronary Disease – Strength training can reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Heart disease is one of the highest causes of death for women each year.
6) Enhanced Performance in Physical Activity – This results in a better quality of life. Regular daily activities are performed with less effort. Stronger legs and core muscles, as well as greater neural muscular control, also means an increase in overall balance and coordination.
7) Aging Gracefully – Strength training can help you maintain stable hormone levels, prevent “sagging” bodyparts, keep a more youthful figure, and improve your posture. Check out this video of myself training with my friend Giselle, shortly before her 50th birthday. Talk about a testimonial to the power of strength-training!
8) Look and Feel Better – Strength training can improve your self image by keeping your body looking younger, healthier and leaner. Strength training will reduce body fat, increase muscle tone, regulate blood sugar levels, and help you build strength and confidence. The physical results alone are a great reason to start strength training, but the mental benefits are awesome as well.
OK, let’s assume I’ve convinced you to start strength training. So you buy a pair of pink 2 lb dumbbells a get ready to pound out a thousand reps of kickbacks… because light weights get you “toned” and heavy weights “bulk you up”, right? Not quite. First of all, as I explained, it ain’t that easy to build a barbarian-esque body, babe! Secondly, you need to lift weights that are heavy enough to cause muscle fatigue (ideally in the 6 to 15 repetition range). If not enough resistance is used the muscle will not be challenged enough to achieve all the benefits listed above. Consistent hard work is necessary to reshape your physique!
To achieve safe results quickly, I recommend you follow a training program designed by a certified fitness professional and consult with your physician before beginning any new exercise routine.
I hope this article has inspired you to take your strength training program seriously and I wish you the best in reaching your physique, health, fitness and performance goals!
Stay strong,
Josh Hewett
