Exercise & Fitness Articles

Many women miss out on the incredible benefits that strength training has to offer because of myths and misconceptions regarding this component of fitness.

When we ask our female clients about their fitness goals, many mention objectives such as losing weight, decreasing body fat, toning muscles, feeling stronger and improving energy. Often, women try to achieve these goals by focusing exclusively on aerobic exercise because either they don't understand what strength training can do for them or they fear that lifting weights will give them big bulky muscles. Let's look at the facts and the fiction.

Don't buy into those old perceptions about weight training making you big and bulky. Women generally have much lower levels of testosterone (the anabolic hormone that contributes to increased muscle mass) than men. Unless you have unusually large amounts of testosterone in your blood stream, your fears of getting really big are unfounded. Strength training actually promotes positive changes in body composition such as decreased fat and toned muscles.

Regular strength training will produce some gains in muscle size and strength. This is desirable, because often as you increase your lean mass, you are simultaneously losing body fat. The end result is a firmer, toned body.

If one of your goals is weight loss, strength training may be the key that unlocks your potential for the strong, healthy body you dream of. While you can burn calories during both aerobic exercise and strength training, the biggest impact on weight loss or weight maintenance is a revved up metabolism.

Strength training increases the amount of lean muscle mass in your body, and lean muscle mass requires more calories to be burned both during exercise and throughout the rest of your day. Muscle is like Pac-Man--it gobbles up lots of calories to maintain itself--unlike fat which requires almost no calories to exist.

Lean muscle mass cannot be maintained or increased with aerobic training alone. Without strength training, an adult will lose approximately 1% of their muscle mass per year after the age of 30. Here's an example. If you're 50 years old and you've lost 20% of your muscle mass, you might be expending 200 calories less per day. So even with aerobic exercise and a moderate diet, if you're not strength training you will have gained weight and/or fat. The bottom line with muscles is "you've got to use them or lose them." Increase muscle and you'll burn more calories naturally, 24 hours a day. This will help you lose fat and maintain your desired weight.

Increased strength and muscle tone go hand-in-hand. Imagine how great it will feel when you can lift that heavy box, rearrange the living room furniture without help, or carry your sleeping child and the groceries into the house at the same time. As those muscles get stronger you'll probably notice a difference in how you look as well, with less body fat and firm, shapely muscles.

Your strength training will bring additional benefits such as increased bone mineral density. With osteoporosis a serious health threat to women, it makes sense to help prevent it by making your bones as strong and healthy as possible.

It's been documented that any kind of exercise can improve your energy. So continue with some type of aerobic exercise to condition your cardiovascular system, but add in the component of strength training and watch the results.

If you're not strength training already, get started today! Get ready to achieve your full potential as a strong, fit and healthy woman.