Why all women should try strength training

Did you know that strength training is one of the best things women can do to improve health, boost fitness and alter physique?

We get it, when you think of strength training – also known as weight training or resistance training – you might picture big, muscly men grunting away in a sweaty gym. But when it comes to strength training for women, we’re here to set the record straight and explain why you’ll benefit from this amazing type of training.

So first of all, what is strength training? Well, it means working your body using opposing forces, or resistance. It can involve lifting free weights, or using weight machines to create resistance, but you can also use your own bodyweight to great effect.

Examples of key strength training moves include squats, deadlifts, overhead press and bench press.

The benefits of strength training for women

Developing muscular strength through training has many benefits to women. Being physically stronger helps with so many aspects of everyday life, from carrying shopping bags to lifting up kids.

Strength training is also fantastic at helping you manage your weight and build a more toned body, if that’s what you’re after. Cardio has long held the top spot on the podium of weight loss methods, but actually, by increasing your muscle mass, you burn more calories, both during and after your workout.

Then there are the wider health benefits. Training with resistance works wonders for our bones, joints and hearts. It increases bone density, which is important when it comes to maintaining strong and healthy bones as we age, and can even lower your risk of osteoporosis, which is especially common in women. Strength training is largely low-impact, too, meaning it’s less taxing for the joints, which also benefit from the support of stronger muscles.

Weight training can improve heart health too – a 2019 study* found that people who did an hour of strength training a week had significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack or stroke.

Busting strength training myths; Myth 1: lifting weights makes women bulky

Let’s address the biggest strength training misconception right away. No, working out with weights, or any type of resistance training for that matter, will not make you resemble Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It’s very common for women to worry about “bulking up” from lifting weights, and it’s completely understandable, too. But here’s the thing: building significant muscle mass takes a long time, and a LOT of hard work. In fact, it takes years, and incredible levels of commitment to both weightlifting and nutrition. Just ask Ellie, our head trainer at Ellie’s Gym. A muscular physique is just not something you can end up with by accident, we promise.

And even women who do put in this sort of consistent effort over a long period of time won’t ever become as “bulky” as a man might – we simply do not have enough testosterone in our bodies.

Myth 2: strength training prevents weight loss

Actually, the opposite is true. Muscle boosts your metabolism, meaning the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

Plus, strength training is one of the best tools in a woman’s arsenal if her goal is fat loss. You may have heard that “muscle weighs more than fat”, but what is more accurate is that muscle has greater density than fat. After all, a kilo of fat and a kilo of muscle both weigh, you guessed it, a kilo. But the kilo of muscle will take up less space in the body, and look very different to a kilo of fat. This means that by focusing on building muscle, your body composition will change drastically, irrespective of weight.

Myth 3: lifting weights can reduce fat in specific areas

We hate to break it to you, but it’s not possible to spot reduce fat in any one part of your body, through strength training or any other type of exercise. Sorry.

It’s a really common belief that it’s possible to melt away fat from a certain part of the body, and “tone” the muscle instead. Well, sadly fat doesn’t melt, and muscle doesn’t tone. Fat can’t turn into muscle, either.

What DOES happen, though, is that muscle grows, and fat can be burned (actually, what really happens is that fat goes through some clever metabolic processes, the byproducts of which leave your body via water and carbon dioxide). This means that fat can be replaced by muscle, which as you now know, takes up less space and is firmer and tighter beneath the skin, producing a “toned” appearance.

So, now we’ve convinced you that strength training is friend not foe, it’s time to get cracking. Why not book a session at Ellie’s Gym and kickstart your own strength training journey?

*Liu Y, Lee DC, Li Y, Zhu W, Zhang R; Sui X, Lavie CJ, Blair SN (2019) Associations of Resistance Exercise with Cardiovascular Disease Morbidity and Mortality