Why strength training is important for women.

Better to be strong than pretty and useless.

Lilith Saintcrow.

Women pushing heavyweight is not a regular sight at the gym; we are talking about moving good weights instead of 2/3 lbs dumbbell. There is nothing wrong in training with such lightweight if it is your choice, a choice made by you (even after knowing the benefit of training with heavy manageable weights) & not by others. This belief has become so intense that most women prefer cardio room over strength training . A lot of people are responsible for this, from trainers, dietician, society & mental blockage.  Many dieticians want their female clients to do only ( to show the result on the scale ) cardio —trainers who don’t motivate their female client to lift heavyweights. Society who thinks women are too fragile to lift heavyweight. Many women don’t want to lift heavyweight, thinking this will add bulk to their body or they simply can’t lift it.  Lifting weight to your full potential can start making dramatic changes in your body, mind and life which we discussed below.

Strength training build muscle:  Strength training helps to increase lean body mass. Muscle is much dense than fat which means it takes up more space in our body. By building muscle, probably your weight on the weighing scale might or might not be the same, but women look much leaner and stronger.  More muscle equates to a good metabolism, balanced hormones, strong bones, good cardiovascular health and healthy body.

Strength training over cardio:  cardio is vital for a healthy body & should be part of your fitness plan.  Cardio has many benefits, also aids in fat loss.  By overdoing cardio or pushing cardio over strength training has a severe negative effect, we lose a lot of lean body mass which is precisely the opposite of what we want (if you read the above paragraph). Have you ever wonder someone thin but flabby, this is called muscle loss ( skinny fat ). Now you understand why few dietician wants you to do more cardio, weight loss only by cardio will show on scale ( happy customer ). But Muscle loss = slow BMR=weight gain in the long run. Weight lost by doing cardio is regained in a matter of time.

Strength training for fat loss: How many calories and muscle force would be required to push the truck (strength training)  & now compare the same with pushing a motorbike (cardio), Choice is yours, you decide. Strength training put a very high demand on our energy system, which makes it a fat loss machine. EPOC (exercise post-exercise oxygen consumption) is very high post strength training than cardio. EPOC means to increase demand for oxygen & energy body requires to recover from post-exercise.

Strength training & hormones: Growth hormones plays a very important role in our body, it help in fat metabolism, growth of all tissue, cell replacement, bone strength, brain function, sexual function, energy level, enzyme production, hair skin & nail integrity. Growth hormones start declining with age, making it more important to build muscle mass to have high HGH. More muscular and strong the women are pre-menopause, it becomes easier to maintain the fitness and muscle mass post-menopause.

Strength training and bone health: Strength training is not just about getting fitter and losing fat, but also about increasing our bone density. Hormone Estrogens facilitates bone formation; estrogens level starts declining with age and menopause. As we know osteoporosis is the symptom of long term demineralisation of bone density, Accumulation of bone mass before menopause is essential because the higher the bone mass before menopause, making it more easily to retain or build post-menopause.

Strength training for senior women: strength training has no age; of course, you are in an advantageous position if you start training at an early age. Most women in their 50’s or above are sceptical of lifting weight and prefer cardio machine.  As we age, we lose both muscle & bone mass, and lifting can slow or even reverse that, not to mention all the other benefit. Training helps to build confidence, strength and fitness in an older population, making it easy to go through daily chores without aches and pain and keeping illness/disease at bay.

Strength training helps to boost happy hormones: Dopamine and serotonin are our happy hormones.Dopamine is critical in regulating memory, motivation, reward and attention, serotonin affects mood, sleep, emotion and appetite. Our body releases neurochemical in response to a good workout. Our dopamine and serotonin levels are high for about 60 to 90 mins post-workout and get better over the period. Dopamine and serotonin tend to be low in people fighting with depression. There are lot of research shows exercise helps to fight anxiety and depression.

Strength training boost self-confidence: pushing heavy load is more of a mental workout then physical. A woman who lifts weights knows the feeling of “Yes I can do it”. The euphoric feeling of self-belief that she has the ability, strength and confidence of lifting heavy weights is the biggest motivation for everything in life.

Focus on Lifting !

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