Women and Weights

Why Women should lift weights

Want to lose weight, feel better and look better?? Weights could be the answer………

So many women are unhappy with how they look and feel, I bet some of you reading this are sat there saying yes this is true. What is it you turn to when you feel like this? or what does media portray you need to do? Being in the fitness industry it has showed me that most women turn to some form of diet and then combine this with exercise generally being cardio, which they hope will be the solution to their problems. When someone talks to you about lifting weights what do you think? I don’t want to get massive, I don’t want to have muscles poking out, I don’t want to look like a man, I am not strong enough, or ‘I wouldn’t even know where to start’.

A bit of information for you  So, firstly women’s bodies are structured differently to men, women do not produce enough testosterone to get big and bulky like men. There are however some women known to have a special case of higher testosterone levels, but the women you see who look ‘bulky’ looking have most likely supplemented with testosterone and lift very heavy to get to that stage, so you do not have to worry about that.  Why are weights good for women? When following a mainstream diet or trend the reason they work is because you enter a dramatic calorie deficit, however this can have a negative effect as your body still needs energy to function, this means it will take it from anywhere possible and this will be from your protein stores (muscles). If you combine strength/weight training with healthier choices and a good calorie intake you are more likely to keep your muscles in good condition. (Contact your local health professional to help you in more detail with this) Your muscles are what help you function, maintain good posture and keep you looking great. So why would you want to lose them? Lifting weights does absolute wonders for your confidence. There is no feeling better than being a woman who feels weak, lacks confidence and believes they are unable to do something… to being able to lift some heavy ass weights that you never thought you could lift. I witness this on a weekly basis with my clients and I can 100% promise you that you will feel FANTASTIC. I have seen so many women’s confidence and self belief BOOM in the year and a half I have been training women using weights.  Day-to-day life. How many of you are unable to lift certain items, struggle lifting or carrying the kids, rely on someone else to do the heavy work for you, would like to do something new but don’t feel you have the confidence to do it? When you introduce strength training into your exercise regime, not only are you helping your body look and feel good, you are also putting yourself in better physical fitness to aid you in every-day tasks. You will find a lot of things become easier and you are able to do so much more, whether it be at work, home or any leisurely activities. This also then links into your mental state and how you feel, if anyone is struggling with depression or anxiety I 100% recommend lifting weights, I have never had anyone tell me it makes them feel worse. Exercise is great for chemical imbalances which is where a lot of these mental health issues come from. 

Fat loss …. now this is the one that most of you want to hear about. There is a lot of information out there but let’s get one things straight to start with. Muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat. 1lb of muscle is the same as 1lb of fat: 1lb is 1lb. However 1lb of muscle takes up less space than 1lb of fat. If you take one thing away from this blog please let it be this. So in comparison to a cardio workout; on your watch you may burn more calories when running, or using cardio moves to that you would if you did a strength workout. However when you complete a strength workout your muscles and body are used differently, without going into too much detail, for your body and muscles to recover from strength training it has to work harder, when the body works it burns calories…. so the harder it has to work the more calories it burns.  How you look….. When lifting weights and implementing strength training, as you lose fat you will adopt a firmer or as most people use the word ‘tone/toned’ look. This is because you are losing fat and keeping them muscles in tact; no crazy ass deficit. This is one word I don’t like ‘tone'(sat here cringing in my seat 😛 ) Most women want to look nice, they normally associate that with being slimmer but actually what they really want is to look a nicer shape. Weights can do that for you 🙂 Look at a runner for instance, what do their frames normally look like? Is that really what you want to look like? ( I am not saying they look horrible so don’t read that incorrectly) Also when you lift weights you have to maintain a good food intake that means you still get to eat food and tasty food …. it is a win win situation 😛 If you don’t eat well you will lack the energy to get your workout done. My clients will tell you about this … 🙂  There are sooooo many other benefits to women lifting weights, I could write pages and pages on it but I feel that this for now is enough. Some other benefits are reducing the risk of diabetes, improvement in bone strength, improvement in posture, reduce the risk of heart disease and more. I will look to write more blogs on different categories regarding women in the coming months.  January 2018 I started a Ladies Learn to Lift program in my home town Milton Keynes. I have had over 100 women go through the program, and I can testify that the results have been amazing, this has encouraged a lot more women to be brave and confident with what they are doing in the gym or wherever they workout. So many of my clients have given me feedback about their confidence, ability to carry out tasks in their day-to-day life, and also confidence in themselves and how they look. Give it a go and I promise you won’t look back, and please know I am not saying you have to become an absolute massive power-lifter 🙂 just adapting to strength training on a regular basis within your needs and ability is all you need to do.