The Importance Of Strength Training For Women

Strength training is one of the most effective ways to eradicate fat and build lean muscle.

This type of training may turn off many women because they fear that weightlifting will make them look too “manly,” or they are confused by all the different ways to build muscles.

Strength training is designed to challenge and improve your body.

While women don’t have the hormone profile to pack on a lot of muscle, adding strength training to your fitness regimen will eventually increase lean body mass and decrease fat.  

The following are a few gains you can expect from strength training:

1. Increased bone density:  Strength training puts your bones and joints under pressure from the force of the weights used and aerobic exercises. This increases bone density, and with time, your bone's ability to bear weight grows stronger, decreasing the risks of women developing osteoporosis later in life.
2. Sarcopenia: Strength training has been shown to mitigate or even halt the onset of an age-related condition that causes the reduction of skeletal muscle, known as sarcopenia.
3. Boosts strength and endurance: Strength training dramatically increases the force that all muscle fibers in your body can produce. It’s essential to allocate at least two non-consecutive days of strength training per week to improve your endurance performance, increase strength without increasing muscle size, and prevent injury.
4. Avoid Injury: Sprains, strains, and knee injuries are among the most common types of injuries that most people will experience due to aging. Any form of workout helps to keep your body working at its optimum, but regular and consistent strength training results in stronger skeletal muscles. 

5. Powers your core: Up to 30 minutes of resistance training, two or three times a week, helps build core muscle groups. A strong core also protects the body’s largest and most important organs, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and the entire central nervous system, which, in essence, brings balance to your whole body.

6. Improve your posture. Living a sedentary life does nothing for your posture, and often, you will find it challenging to perform everyday activities that require using your entire body. Building core strength through posture-improving strength training techniques will strengthen the spine and improve posture. This exercise will also stretch muscles such as adductors, hip flexors, and the lumbar spine, which, when tight, can cause bad posture.

7. Boosts confidence. In addition to building strong bones, protecting the joints, improving balance and posture, and powering the core, the final results of your overall physical appearance after strength training are worth the effort. 

So, now that you are convinced about the positive reasons for doing strength training, how do you get started?

 First, you don't need a personal trainer or to join a gym unless you want to.

There are easy ways to add strength exercises to your routine without expensive equipment or special training.

Muscle-building exercises can be as simple push-ups, squats, lunges, and leg lifts that use your body weight to challenge your muscles. As stated above, form is essential in all of these exercises, and plenty of videos on the internet can show you the proper form to use.

While you can undoubtedly purchase weights if you want to, cost and storage can sometimes be a problem.

It's much easier to get elastic fitness bands with different thicknesses, which offer more challenge as you get stronger.

You can do every exercise with a fitness band that can be done with a weight, plus they are inexpensive, easy to store, and take with you if you travel.

Another easy way to learn what to do and how to do it is to follow a trainer's video classes. I'm particularly fond of the videos produced by Beachbody because of all the different levels they offer, from beginner to very challenging workouts for athletes. 

However, many other programs are available on different mediums (i.e., videos, streaming internet, or cable TV.) 

So, how do you know if you are achieving your goals? 

The scale is not always a good indicator of progress because as you add muscle, your weight may stay the same or increase a bit due to several factors, including inflammation and water retention.

But, because muscle is more compact than fat, you will likely lose inches without losing pounds.

A better way to track your progress with strength training is to take body measurements and photos and notice how your clothing fits.

Also, track your workouts to see how much stronger you are getting.

Count your push-ups, squats, or lunges and write them down.

Are you doing more now than when you first started? Can you do push-ups on your toes after starting on your knees? Are you lifting heavier weights or doing more repetitions?

As you get stronger, you will begin to feel more confident to tackle some fun things you want to do, like hiking, kayaking, or cycling. 

Strength training increases your metabolism, builds a stronger heart, helps you lose weight and body fat, and helps you retain the muscle you have. There is no better time to start strength training than now.