Why Women Should Lift Weights
In general, women are still convinced that sticking to the cardio machines is the way to go. In this article, I found this great article by Alicia Kirschenheiter of dailyevolution.com as to why as woman, we can no longer fear the weight rack. This Personal Fit Coach totally agrees. In fact, at nearly age 42, I am in the best shape of my life due to the addition of weight training.
1. You Will Lose Body Fat.
The average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and will lose 3.5 pounds of fat. Yes I said it, that’s 3.5 pounds. Understand that as lean muscle increases so does your resting metabolism, and in turn you burn more calories all day long. Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day. Building a higher metabolism is one of the key ingredients to help keep the weight off.
2. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease.
More important than the first 2 reasons – OUR HEALTH is primary. To the surprise of many women, heart disease is our number one killer. Weight training has been noted to improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure. When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are maximized.
3. Reduce the Risk of Cancer.
The American Cancer Society estimates that one-third of all cancer deaths are related to nutrition and physical activity factors. Strength training increases your body’s overall development and efficiency. Need I say more?
4. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes.
Weight training may improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.
5. You Will Reduce Your Risk Of Injury, Back Pain and Arthritis.
Strength training not only builds stronger muscles, but also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability. This acts as reinforcement for the joints and helps prevent injury. Additionally studies have indicated that weight training can ease the pain of osteoarthritis and strengthen joints.
Have you found weights to be useful in staying well, healthy and centered? Would love to hear your stories!
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This was great information. I didn’t realize that cancer and death were so closely related to exercise. I try to avoid weights because I don’t want big muscular arms. How can I avoid building too much muscle?
YES! Women absolutely need to lift! It drives me nuts to hear women say they don’t want to get “bulky” — unless you genetically are predisposed to that kind of muscle mass, we don’t have enough testosterone in our bodies to get “bulky!” I am happy to see someone promoting lifting; I blogged about this over the summer because I see so many women come to the gym, jump on an elliptical, and leave after cardio. I am often the only girl in the free weights, and I would love to have some company of my gender
So I should take this to mean I need to use that weight machine that’s been sitting in my laundry room practically untouched for 4 years?? You know, I did hear on the radio the other day that men find toned, muscular arms very attractive on a woman. Now if I could just find the time ….
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