Why should women lift weights. Last week we discussed toning vs bulking up and dispelled the myth that women will get huge if they lift weights. So the question is, as a woman, do I have to lift weights? Well in actual fact, there are quite a few reasons why you should be adding regular weight lifting to your fitness regime.
WHY SHOULD WOMEN LIFT WEIGHTS
Get rid of sagging muscles. This is pretty self explanatory. Strength training builds muscles which in turn, fill out your skin giving you an overall tighter and more toned look.
Speed up your metabolism. That’s right. Looking for a great way to increase your metabolism? Strength training will do just that. Muscle tissue burns energy and continues to do that even post workout.
Added fat burn. Think of it this way, you burn more energy/calories when you stand than when you are sitting and in turn, resistance training burns even more fat.
Muscle takes up less room than fat. Since fat takes up more space than defined muscles, what this means for you is that by building some muscles, you’ll be able to fit into a smaller clothing size. Hey, that has got to be good for anyone’s ego, right?
Healthy heart healthy bones. This is a bit technical, but good information to know. By building muscles you are diminishing your risk of type 2 diabetes, because they help remove triglycerides and glucose from your bloodstream. In addition, weight lifting drops your heart rate for up to 12 hours after your strength training routine. We have all heard that as we get older, we lose bone mass. Well, you guessed it, building muscle helps stave off bone density loss.
As you see, strength training has many added benefits to a general fitness routine. Hopefully, all of these reasons have convinced you to step away from the cardio machines for a little while and to head over to the weights section of your gym. If you aren’t quite yet a believer then here’s the best tip of all: lifting weight and being strong and powerful is actually an amazing feeling!
What’s your favourite strength training exercise?
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17 Comments
Great post
Candice | Beauty Candy Loves
xoxo
Thank you!
xo
I need to start doing weight lifting!!
Baci,
Coco et La vie en rose – Valeria Arizzi
I keep telling myself that as well!
xo
I did some weight lifting for a while, just with those little weights and I really noticed the difference. Then I stopped, and now I’ve got ‘floppy bits’ on my arms. Haha! I probably should get back to it.
They really do help! Try upping the weight just a little bit and you’ll see even better results!
xo
This was a really great post. I had never really thought much about weight training until I watched a youtube short Kate Upton was in. She described that her work out mainly consisted of resistance training rather than cardio and it piqued my interest.
It would be really cool if you could do some tips for beginners on who to use the machines at the gym. That’s my biggest apprehension is not knowing how to set it up properly and either A. Hurting myself or B. breaking the equipment!
Have a wonderful weekend!
XxMO
madame-ostrich.com
Consider it done and thank you so much for the request! (As a trainer it was so hard to convince women to lift weights….no one ever wanted to)
xo
I need to get some weights! (my husband’s are too heavy)
http://www.sweetwordsprettypictures.com
Absolutely! You can actually buy adjustable weights that you can both use.
xo
Thanks for the tips! I love Cardio but really need to add weight bearing exercises!
I’m definitely more partial to cardio as well but weight training can be super fun too.
xo
More motivation to start hitting the gym in 2015!! Thanks for sharing the info 🙂
Ha! My pleasure, I hope it helps!
xo