Weight training refers to physical exercise with different types of weights including barbells, dumbbells, cables, bands, and even the weight of your own body.
To start, I would like to offer a few reasons for why in the world women (or anyone really) would want to train with weights:
- Weight training helps prevent osteoporosis. Training the muscles causes increase in bone density, which counteracts the deterioration of bones to which women are especially susceptible after menopause.
- You develop strength and endurance which can help with everyday tasks such as carrying groceries, lifting heavy objects (i.e. babies and pets), running after the last bus and others.
- If you are on a diet or doing a lot of cardio, weight lifting will prevent you from losing a lot of muscle mass and instead you will lose more fat.
- Larger muscle mass also means faster metabolism, which in turn results in more burnt calories even at rest.
- Training your muscles improves your posture.
- It also improves your mood and overall outlook on life.
- Weight lifting conditions not only your body but also your willpower.
- And last but not definitely not least, lean, healthy muscle looks great! (especially when you're naked)
- You will need to sacrifice some time on the altar of weight training. Training itself will take about 3-5 hours per week, depending on how often you train. Preparation and research will also take some time.
- You will have be very persuasive trying to convince yourself that today is not a particularly good day to straddle the couch and not go to the gym. Remember the benefit to your willpower? It does not come easy.
- There is a chance you might injure yourself. However, if you watch your form and don't do anything extreme (like bench press 200lb on your first upper body workout), you should be fine. Moderation is the key.
weight lifting 4 women = weight lifting 4 men
Whatever men do in the gym, women can do in the gym. Women and men train exactly the same way, with the only difference being that perhaps the wieghts you start with will be lighter than those of the big guy on the nearby bench. But that's nature.
That does not mean that after a couple of years lifting weights you will look like that big guy on the nearby bench. Your muscle mass will increase and your muscles will become more visible, but you will not look like the bodybuilder ladies on TV. To reach that look almost all of them have to take male hormones and train very hard years after years. Moreover, during competition season bodybuilders maintain an extremely low level of body fat to ensure good visibility of their musculature. To reiterate, unless you specifically aim for it, weight training will not make you look masculine or terminator-like. We just don't have the hormones for it.
I'm ready, where are the weights?
Ok, let's say I was convincing enough to get you interested. How do you start weight training?
When I first entertained the idea of lifting weights, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a wonderful website of an even more wonderful woman, Krista, who spent much time and effort to put together a bulk of information on weight training for women.
I built my first program using the sample workouts provided by Krista. If you are serious about it, I strongly recommend reading the following sections of the website:
- Basics of an exercise routine
- Starter program
- More program ideas
- Maintaining correct form during exercise
If you don't feel confident about your knowledge and have money, you could hire a personal trainer at the gym. They will show you how to do exercises properly and will create a routine for you. However, if money is an issue, you can manage on your own perfectly well by reading about each exercise and the proper form it requires. You could also ask a friend to watch you while you are performing the exercise and note any problems.
to be continued..
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