This is the first article in the series Getting into weight training: a female-friendly guide.
| 1. Why lift weights? | 4. Exercise technique |
| 2. Types of weight training | 5. Training programmes |
| 3. Starting Out |
6. Create your own programme |
Why lift weights?
Women are often not encouraged to lift weights, or at least to lift heavy. But you are missing out on many benefits if you don’t train with weights:
- Developing muscle is a very effective way to drop body fat as muscle burns many more calories than fat.
- As we get older, we lose muscle and our body fat percentage thereby increases; weight training will help to reverse this process
- Strengthening your muscles and joints will help prevent injury and back pain, both now and later in life.
- Weight training improves bone density, mitigating the risk of osteoporosis and weak bones which women are particularly prone to.
- Being stronger is useful in everyday life and brings increased confidence in your own physical abilities.
Myth of bulking up
Many women are afraid that weight training will bulk them up and make them look masculine. But this is a myth! Women can get a lot stronger without bulking up because they don’t have the same hormones as men. Female bodybuilders who actually want to bulk up have to resort to drugs in order to achieve the effect as it doesn’t happen naturally. If you watch what you eat and train with weights, you are more likely to drop a couple of dress sizes than get any bigger.
Size zero culture
Women are often put off weight training because it isn’t a mainstream activity for women. For many, the aspiration is to look thin and waif-like rather than healthy and lean, and images in the media and fashion encourage this. But the answer is simple: it’s your body and your health we’re dealing with. Women should train to suit their bodies and lifestyles, not to suit a particular media image which is unattainable and undesirable for the vast majority of people.
The tyranny of the scales
It is common for people to judge their health according to how much they weigh on the scales, using indicators such as BMI (Body Mass Index). But BMI does not distinguish between muscle and fat. This leads to the bizarre situation where athletes who have a lot of muscle and little body fat are classed as obese because they weigh more than the average! A better measurement to use is body fat percentage.
The most effective way to reduce your body fat percentage is to build some muscle. Combined with the right diet, you can reduce your body fat percentage and thus improve your health, even if you get heavier overall. You will also look leaner and have better definition.
Leading the way
Lastly – but importantly – it is difficult to be a trailblazer. Many women don’t know any other females who train seriously with weights and it can be a daunting prospect to be the first woman in your gym to pick up a heavy barbell.
That’s where this article series comes in. This series gives you all the guidance you need to start weight training, whatever kind of gym you are in. So take the plunge: you have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain!
Next article: Types of weight training
Related posts
- Why do most women still avoid the free weights room?
- Why women should train with weights
- How I got started with free weights
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Oh, bless you for this.
I’m a 56-year-old woman who’s been strength training for seven years now. I’ve been looking for proper benchmarks and new ideas for challenges. Your series has really inspired me.
Thank you. Much appreciated.
I’m so pleased you find it useful!
I am also preparing a downloadable PDF version which should be up soon.
[...] by carpediemcat on February 11, 2008 Sally from Gubernatrix wrote a good little post on women lifting weights, I’d say it’s a good idea to check it [...]
Great series. You pretty much cover everything. It is so hard to get the girls to understand resistance training is where it’s at. Your series goes a long way to explaining that. Nice job and nice blog.
Thanks very much Lauren, that’s good to hear.
Hi again Lauren, just been reading your blog – it’s great!
Hey Sally,
Here is a link to one of my latest articles on this topic in Marie Claire…
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/health/features/171723/five-reasons-to-lift-weights.html
Am speaking at Fitness Forum on the topic of ‘Closing the Gender Gap’ all about females and resistance training…am hoping for a room full of Pilates and Yoga Instructors so I can really upset them!
))
Hope all is well
G
P.S Possibly the most relevant part of your post is the one about body composition. Many women are so obsessed with the scales that you are doomed to failure using weight training if that is your only measure. I have a hard time breaking this mindset with many as they still seem to have arrived at some kind of magical weight that they feel they should be. For that reason, I use skinfolds with all my clients so I can track changes more accurately. Anyone who can’t do skinfolds though can do measurements easily. Chest, Waist, Upper Arm, Hips, Thigh, and Calf are good places to start.
As ever its good stuff, think you might have missed your calling….the U.K needs more strong female personal trainers!!
Cheers Graeme! We do need more female strength-training role models out there – and not just bodybuilders either.
I learn something new every time I visit. Thanks for the great post.
Cheers!
Like others said thank you so much for this site! I am on a weight loss program and have lost 17lb and 19 inches since July (although I am not really overweight, just “skinny fat”), but was quickly in the first few weeks became bored with the machine/treadmill workout shown to me at my local gym. I also am disillusioned with the “body parts” focus of the mainstream weight magazines, without an emphasis on functional everyday life strength. I am a nurse, and see everyday in my job the consequences of not keeping yourself strong, such as caring for yet another little old lady who has broken a hip because she could only shuffle and not lift her feet properly and tripped on the rug.
More and more, I am attracted to fitness and function like I see on your site. I have been slowly adding different things into my workouts, and today did not use any machines at all other than a cable machine for a pulldown. It felt so FREAKING good to MOVE ALL my parts, to feel my muscles interconnected. I did dumbell snatches and swings (can hardly wait to get my kettlebell!!!), alternating with burpees and that was waaay better than any old treadmill. I set up some blocks using aerobic steps, placed that bar that previously looked so intimidating to me on it (no one around to show me the squat cage unfortunately) and did my first 3 deadlifts (no weights on it yet but I am working on it…I think that the bar weighed about 15kg or so. In July when I started I could barely even do 3 sets of 12 with a 3lb dumbell for lateral shoulder raises!) Yay! All that practicing with my broom handle in my kitchen has paid off!!! I am on a mission to someday do a pullup too, and flip a tire or carry a a sandbag!!! Rowwwwwrrrr!!!
Sad to say, I saw so many women just ambling along on the treadmill, and not one of them picked up a free weight. I myself feel such a big difference in how my muscles are working when I do! I am loving it and am really excited to find your site!!!
Tina, well done on your awesome weight loss! It’s so great to hear from people like you: those who ‘get it’ about weights. You’ll go far because you work things out for yourself and you are very motivated.
One pullup? Aim to do ten by this time next year!!
Hey, guber, I had to make yet another comment and share an experience I had today.
I just got back from a gym workout this afternoon. I have been practicing my squat and deadlift form as I mentioned above with a broom handle…LOTS. I was determined today to be shown how to work in the cage with the bar and the pins, so I could squat on my back. Well, the first person (female employee) I approached was so shocked, and extremely hesitant to show me this…asking why on earth I would want to deadlift especially (for my hips, glutes, hamstrings and all other muscles like core involved and personal satisfaction, I replied) She tried to dissuade me to using dumbells, the exercise ball for my glutes, etc. I was really miffed and annoyed about that, especially after I had to work up the courage to do this in the first place…I NEVER see females using the cage so I was a little shy for some reason. After I was really nicely insistent about it, she went and got a male employee to show me the ropes.
I used the shorter bar, which is about 35lb. (15 or so kg) with no weight and did my deadlifts and squats (squats on my back, I just could not get the bar balanced well on my front and found it uncomfortable). He actually was impressed with my form and told me so, LOL! He was great in his instructions, I should refer that certain other employee to your site, to stumptuous.com, stronglifts.com and all the others that have helped me and encouraged me to quickly leave the machine circuit and go to the “big girl” weights. I still use a cable machine at times for pulldowns, and the assisted dip machine in my goal to do pullups, and find the kitchen table in my house sturdy enough to do inverted rows.
Oh, and for the squats, he suggested not going much below parallel…is that OK?
Thanks again for the obvious hard work on your sight and you ambassadorship for women’s strength.
Tina
Hi Tina! Good on you for being politely insistent. I can’t believe someone who works in a gym actually questioned the desire to deadlift – what the hell do they teach them?!
Regarding squatting below parallel, generally I think you should aim to squat as low as your flexibility allows. This will improve over time. Squat down until just before your lower back starts to round – wherever that is. The lower you can go, the better but just below parallel is okay.
[...] Getting into weight training: a female friendly guide [...]
[...] convinced? Read Why lift weights? for a simple answer to that [...]
[...] convinced? Read Why lift weights? for a simple answer to that [...]