1 Ever wanted to go into the weights area of your local gym ladies, but felt intimidated by the presence of a few big strong men that seem to dominate the area. Well my advice is be brave and get in there, women should train strength. They’re probably too busy looking at themselves in the mirror to pay you any attention anyway!
The amount you can lift in relation to those guys is not important, the important thing is your lifting weight. Start light if you need to but gradually increase the load over time.
When you start out simplicity is key to the fastest progress, NOT complexity. Stick with a few compound exercises (a compound exercise involves multiple joints at once so more muscle is used). Include a squat for legs and a push and pull for upper body and that’s it. Train no more than three times a week at first, recovery is as important as the exercise.
After doing a few warm up sets, do either three sets of five reps or five sets of three reps when it gets harder.
If your worried about your technique get an experienced personal trainer or strength coach for a while till your confident to lift by yourself.
BENEFITS OF STRENGTH TRAINING FOR WOMEN
Even if strength is not your main goal strength training is a great way to start any fitness programme. Strength training can have a massive positive effect on self-esteem, body composition, bone density and hormone patterns.
Imagine the feeling of being able to lift your own body weight or more? Now think how easy everything else will be in comparison.
Combine with the right nutrition you will increase the activity levels (demand for calories), without a massive increase in muscle size. Don’t worry about bulking up you won’t unless you start eating significantly more calories. Women’s hormonal patterns don’t support rapid or significant muscle gain.
For women of any age but especially as they age, bone density should be a consideration in any training programme. Stress or load on the skeletal structure is key to the maintenance and even improvement of bone density. The heavier the better, within reason.
Hormones dictate how your body functions and feels. If a hormone is absent or over dominant it can put the body into disarray, causing health issues, weight gain or excessive loss and/or ill health. It can also have a major effect on mood.
Refrences