7 Unexpected Benefits of Strength Training for Women
It’s a great shame that so many women still worry that lifting weights and doing strength training will lead to huge muscles and make them ‘look like a man’. I think the tide is turning a little, but I still come across it every day in the gym;
‘I don’t want to get too big’
‘I don’t want muscles’ (too late we all have them!)
‘I don’t want to look like a man’
‘I don’t want to look like that girl on Instagram – urgh!’
‘I just want to tone up’… and so on.
Every. Single. Day.
And every single day I tell them the same thing:
‘Don’t worry it will never happen’.
Why?
Because women don’t have the right hormones to grow huge muscles easily, even when proper strength training is undertaken it’s much more difficult for us. Sure there are some women who are genetically geared for it and can grow muscle more easily than most, but for the main part, for the average Joanna, it’s just not going to happen with three, or even five, weekly trips to the gym.
‘That Girl’ on Instagram has dedicated her life to looking like that. Every meal, every calorie, every macro, every workout, every rest day. Every. Single. Thing. she does is programmed down to the finest detail. The strength training is only one part of it. It’s an art, truly. But for the rest of us, who just want to look and feel better, who have other things to do, that level of growth and that miniscule percentage of body fat is never going to happen.
So, now that we’re clear – weights and strength training do not lead to mega man sized muscles – let’s look at what it does lead to:
Burn More Calories
There is a simple equation that looks like this:
more muscle mass = more calories burned
OK, so it looks simple, but it works. Calories are energy. We need them to function, for our brain to work, for our organs to operate. They are essential for life. The problem with weight gain is when we eat way more than we need and the body stores it as fat for use later. But that later never comes and so the pounds keep adding up.
One of the biggest energy (calorie) requirements we have after our brain, comes from our muscles. Muscles need energy to move and the more muscle you have the more energy (calories) they need just for maintenance. This means the more muscle you have the more calories you burn EVEN WHEN YOU’RE JUST SITTING ON THE SOFA.
So if you’re trying to lose weight, increasing your muscle mass by undertaking strength training will help you do it faster.
Better Bone Health
Did you know, as women, our bone density – the thing that keeps our bones strong and prevents them from breaking – starts to deteriorate from the ripe old age of… 35?! And that post menopause it declines even more rapidly? Well strength training actually helps to put minerals back into the bones, making them more dense and less porous which in turn makes them stronger. Who doesn’t want strong bones?
Increased Confidence
Since I started lifting weights and doing programmed strength training I have only had to call on my increased strength to protect me once in my life – hopefully you never will. I wasn’t being attacked personally but I had to restrain someone at work and having never had to use my new found strength in this way before, I surprised myself when it happened. And while I pray to be kept away from dangerous and confrontational situations in the future, it’s nice to know that if something were to happen, I will be in a better position to protect myself.
Improved Heart Health
People who are overweight and at risk of developing cardiovascular disease are usually encouraged to just lose weight, but a recent study by The University of California found that fat loss alone isn’t enough to increase life expectancy in those at risk of premature death. Instead they found that an increase in muscle mass, irrespective of fat mass, helped to improve longevity, and concluded that strength training should be encouraged alongside weight loss for maximum cardiovascular health results.
Decreased Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
Studies have also shown that there is a direct correlation between muscle mass and cognitive brain function i.e. the more muscle mass you have in later life, the less chance there is of you developing dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease, both of which can be devastating. To be specific, one study quotes 1 extra unit of muscle mass equals a 43% reduction. Erm, yes please.
Longer Life Expectancy
Another study by the University of Pittsburg of women aged 70-79 which looked at the link between strength, muscle mass and mortality, found that stronger quadriceps muscles (the big ones at the front of your thighs) and hand grip strength were directly linked to longevity, meaning that the stronger these muscles were the longer women lived. They also found that it was the strength of the muscle that made a difference not the size, meaning stronger, not bigger legs were the key.
Look and Feel Sexy!
When you start a personalised programme that includes weights and strength training and is designed specifically to enhance your natural shape, that is exactly what will happen. Your shape will improve and with it your overall appearance.
You will start to look curvaceous and sexy and you will start to feel it too. As you grow stronger, every day tasks will become easier and people will start to comment on how good you look.
Pride
There is no greater feeling of accomplishment than when you look down at the bar, and the plates attached to it, knowing that once upon a time the thought of lifting it would have been impossible and now you’re going in for 3 sets of 5 reps.
When guys in the gym stop trying to help you and start looking at you with respect.
When you stop saying ‘I can’t’ and start saying ‘I will’.
What Should You Do Next?
Start lifting weights and doing strength training of course! But make sure you get help because without proper form and technique you risk doing more harm than good.
And if you’re thinking you’re too young to be thinking about life when you’re 40, 50 or even 70, think about how fast life is passing by, how quickly this year has gone already and that what you do now will affect who you are, how you look and how you feel this time next year, the year after and 10 years after that. It’s never to soon to start lifting weights but one day it might be too late.