Strength training is a fantastic form of exercise for women to develop a toned appearance and strong healthier bones. For a long time it was only used by body builders who were predominately male, while the girls spent time with other fitness based exercises like aerobics. Over the past 10-15 years there has been a big shift in the knowledge surrounding strength training for women which is great, but there is still many myths surrounding the true value of lifting weights with women. To help debunk many of these myths and provide you with some information you may not know about strength training we asked two of our female trainers Melissa and Kim to put together a series of articles and videos explaining what strength training for girls is all about. They will explain exactly what it has done for their body and also the hundreds of female clients they have trained over the past 8 years. This first article Mel provides a simple to read info-graphic that explains 5 of the main benefits to lifting weights. Enjoy.
Women Need Strength Training More Than Men!
Strength training has been a big part of my lifestyle for the past 16 years and I absolutely love the feeling it provides me physically and mentally. I am lucky in many ways that I have the advantage of seeing the benefits through my own personal experience, but also being able to work with hundreds of clients. I thought I knew it all when I started as a trainer, but after completing many advanced training courses I learned there is so much more to weight training for women than I first thought. I know that Nick constantly says that females need strength much more than men, as he has worked with so many female sporting athletes suffering severe knee injuries in recent years. In his article from 2018 - Why females are more at risk of ACL injury he explains how females have significant differences to males with joint laxity and firing of muscles like the hamstrings. This exposes their body to serious injury, and the only way to prevent this is to use strength training. Statistics show that females are 5-8 times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than a male! Therefor the need for strength training for females playing sports is significantly more important than males.
Even if you do not play sport the need to constantly improve your strength is vital. For me personally it has been very interesting to observe just how much my goals changed as I have aged, and how I need to be smarter with how I train.
To help give you a great visual of the benefits of lifting weights I have put together this easy to read info-graphic that features some of the main benefits.
Apart from the obvious physical benefits that lifting weights provides I also find that I get a huge boost of confidence, and improve my overall mental health the stronger I become. Recently Kim wrote an article titled, “Changing your mind set is the secret to improving mental health”, that summed this up perfectly.
With all these amazing benefits created from lifting weights why are more women not participating? There are several reasons for this but one of the biggest factors is that many women feel quite intimidated to go to a gym and exercise. And it is not necessarily from men looking at them!
Recently new research from Vic Health found that most Victorian women are turned off by exercise due to images of taut and toned #FITSPO influencers. As a result of this Vic Health has launched a new campaign This Girl Can which will focus on empowering women to believe in themselves and feel comfortable getting active. I think this is a fantastic idea!
Also in my experience another reason women avoid lifting weights is the feeling that they will “bulk up” like a man. Well let me reassure you that this won’t happen. Women just do not have the same amount of testosterone as men for this to happen. Most females have only 1/10th the amount of testosterone as a male and this hormone is the single most critical thing you need to increase muscle size and mass. The bigger the weights I lift the smaller and more toned my body has become. My strength in my 40’s would be double what I had in my 20’s!
Need More Ideas?
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Summary
As a personal trainer, I love training with women the most and get great satisfaction from seeing them improve their physical and mental health week after week. I love seeing their approach to their body image and belief in their ability change where they believe that they can do anything. No longer are they overcome by fear or feel embarrassed or judged at the gym and anywhere in life. Get started today, trust me it will be the best decision you will ever make.
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About The Author
Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 15 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specialises in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.
References:
- Equal Not The Same - by Paul Chek
- Movement - By Gray Cook
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- Athletic Body Balance by Gray Cook
- Diagnosis & Treatment Of Movement Impairment Syndromes - By Shirley Sahrman
- Back Pain Mechanic - by Stuart McGill
- Anatomy Trains - by Thomas Meyers
- Motor Learning and Performance - By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
- Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance - By Vladimir Janda
- How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek
- Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course - By Paul Chek
- Advanced Program Design - By Paul Chek
- Twist Conditioning Sports Strength - By Peter Twist