7 Reasons Women Should Be Lifting Weights

DITCH your typical cardio routine, believe me, you won’t get bulky or manly. Tone up and look fit by adding strength training to your daily routines and you’ll be happy with the results.

Working against resistance, whether it be with machines, dumbbells, or your own body weight, transforms your body, and provides a lifetime of health benefits. 

# 1. Lose Weight With An Increased Metabolism

There are a few ways in which strength training increases your metabolism and helps you lose weight. 

The amount of skeletal muscle you have affects your metabolic rate, i.e., how fast your body uses your food's energy. Muscle tissue is an active tissue, unlike fat, and requires more calories to maintain. The more muscle you gain from strength training, the more calories you burn.

Your metabolism also kicks into high gear during the muscle repair process. Putting your muscles under stress causes small tears within the muscle fibers. As your body repairs the damage and strengthens your muscles in preparation for your next workout, you burn calories, even while at rest.

Besides burning more calories for muscle maintenance and repair, you'll increase your metabolism with the afterburn effect, or EPOC-- excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. 

After a high-intensity workout, your body consumes oxygen at a higher rate than usual to restore itself to its pre-exercise state. To get that extra oxygen, your metabolism once again kicks in, burning away the fat.

#2. Shape Your Body Without Getting Bulky

Perhaps you've avoided strength training because you think you'll end up big and bulky. You're in good company, as this notion is a common misconception. Though, women don't have enough testosterone to grow huge muscles. 

Sure, female weightlifters are way larger than you'd like to be, but remember, these women are professionals who train heavily and eat the perfect diet to look the way they do. You won't bulk up with a few strength sessions a week.

We’re talking about toning up here, not bulking. Plus, as we’ve all heard 1000 times before, diet is about 90% and fitness is 10%. There are different types of diets, either cutting, maintaining, or bulking. When you’re bulking you’re gaining some fat but gaining more muscle, these diets tend to be 2000+ calories.

When you begin incorporating 3-4 strength training sessions per week—you'll shape your body in ways you never thought possible. While cardiovascular exercise will help take the weight off, it does little to change your body composition and shape. Strength training will give your muscles definition and help you appear firmer and tighter.

#3. Stay Toned & Lean

As you age, you'll lose muscle tissue at a predictable and steady rate, a staggering average of 6.5 pounds a decade. And, the decline begins as early as your 30s.

With muscle loss, our metabolism slows. The result can be fat gain and an increased risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. 

Strength training with a proper diet slows our muscle decline and can even rebuild lost muscle tissue. And it's never too late to start. Studies have shown that even women in their 80s can gain muscle strength and endurance from weight training.

#4. Reduce Your Risk of Injury

Resistance training will strengthen your bones, joints, and connective tissue, ligaments, and tendons along with your muscles. A strong and balanced musculoskeletal system helps prevent injury from daily tasks, regular exercise, and sport or play. 

As you get older, it'll keep you coordinated and agile, reducing your risk of devastating falls. 

#5. Strengthen Your Core

Because you're always working your core during weight training and the multitude of core-specific exercises available, your core benefits greatly from strength work. 

Your core is more than just your six-pack. It is the entire set of abdominal and back muscles that surround your spine. A strong core from resistance training limits stresses on your spine, preventing nagging lower back discomfort and pain.

#6. Decrease Stress & Feel Empowered  

Looking good and feeling well physically are not the only advantages of strength training. You'll enjoy therapeutic benefits as well. 

A regular strength routine helps you deal with stress and gives you a sense of empowerment over your own body. Like all exercise, strength training stabilizes your mood through the release of two anti-depression brain chemicals, endorphins, and serotonin.

#7. Improve Insulin Sensitivity

Strength training improves insulin sensitivity and lowers blood glucose levels, according to the American Diabetes Association. 

As weight training builds muscles, it improves insulin sensitivity, allowing muscle cells to absorb glucose efficiently. The more muscle you have, the more insulin sensitive your body will be. 

One study shows that 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week lowered the participants' diabetes risk by 52%, and the same amount of strength work by 34%, showing aerobic exercise together with resistance training is the best defense against diabetes.

Resistance work is for women of all ages, and it's never too late to start.

Start your training program today with SHOCK! Tell us about you, your goals and current fitness level, and we'll come up with a personalized training program just for you! Enjoy workouts at home or in the gym to help you feel strong and confident. Join today for 7-days of fitness training for free!