Every single woman wants to look her best and ensure that she has a fit body that keeps her glowing both inside and out. Women, in general, are very sensitive with respect to the fat percentage of their body. For us to decrease fat percentage and bring it to the optimum level according to a BMI level is quite a challenge. According to us, for women, in order to maintain correct muscle mass – an apt and best way to do so it’s by keeping your body fat within the healthy range and improving overall fitness through resistance exercises. One of the most common resistance exercise examples is lifting weights – it’s considered to be the best way to build healthy muscles. However, when it comes to weight training we don’t really see a lot of women coming forward and participating. Most of the women tend to spend the majority of the time performing cardiovascular exercises. But we need to understand that no matter what your fitness goal is, strength training is crucial. Let us understand how weightlifting can benefit women’s health. Read on.
Some of the key benefits for women from weightlifting
Weight lifting is looked upon for several reasons, and the advantages that one derives from it applies to both genders of people. If we pursue a consistent weight training routine, we will be able to change our brain and our body in the right manner.
Improved strength
One of the best ways to strengthen muscles is performing weightlifting. As we grow stronger, performing daily tasks and doing your teen exercises will become less fatiguing and you are very less likely to end up with an injury. Working on one’s muscle strength and mass immediately increases the body’s functions and also life satisfaction.
Better athletic performance
Strength training boosts once athletic ability. Even golfers can benefit as it increases their power to drive. Cyclists can also ride on for a longer period of time without feeling any fatigue. Skiers as well reduce the chances of injury and improve the techniques. No matter what is the nature of the sport that you play, if you dedicate time towards strength training it will naturally improve your overall performance and also reduce risk of contracting any injuries.
Lowers body fat
Several studies have been performed with this regard all over the world, and the majority of them have found out that for an average woman who does strength training at least 2 to 3 times a week for almost 2 months is likely to gain two pounds of weight when it comes to muscle and lose 3.5 pounds of fat. And as the amount of lean muscle in your body increases, your body‘s requirement of resting metabolism also increases and together this will allow you to burn many more calories throughout your day. And women because of their hormonal nature do not tend to develop big muscles when they do strength training because women have lesser hormones that can lead to muscle growth. Therefore the notion of weight training makes women bulky needs to be put out of the door.
Less injury, arthritis, and back pain
When you consider investing time on strength training, it not just helps in making your muscles stronger but it also helps in strengthening your connective tissues while increasing your joint stability as well. This acts as a shield that prevents any injury especially with respect to joints. And when you work on the gluteal muscles, it either eliminates or alleviates knee pain and low back pain. Weight Training has always been known to strengthen joints of the body and ease any pain caused by osteoarthritis.
Lowers risk of few diseases
Cardiovascular health improves because of weight training in several ways – it lowers bad cholesterol LDL, increases good cholesterol HDL, and lowers one’s blood pressure. And when you include cardiovascular exercises along with weight training it will only maximise these benefits.
The bone mineral density in our spine is increased because of the training and it also enhances R born modelling as well. weight training also has a body in processing the sugar that we consume and this reduces the risk of type two diabetes or any diabetes for that matter.
An increase in confidence and quality mood
Exercising in general helps decrease depression because when one exercises, the body produces neurotransmitters that improve a mood such as dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Therefore, when women perform strength training exercises, to become more confident and feel capable of themselves and their body. And most importantly, women will begin to love themselves and their body. Loving oneself is very important by fighting depression.
How much weight training should women do?
Every country has its own physical activity guidelines, however, in the USA, performing strength training or resistance training for two days in a week is recommended. If you want to reap additional benefits you can include more days of resistance training in a week but one needs to always remember that recovery time of 48 hours is required if you have been indulging in heavy training sessions. This recovery time is nothing but the rest time that your body needs to repair the muscles.
Dear women, it’s never too late to reap benefits from weight training. No matter what your ages, no matter what your confidence level is, begin your journey with weight training and ensure that you begin to love your body and yourself the most.