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WHY WOMEN SHOULD LIFT WEIGHTS

Holly Rolfe
May 3, 2016
3 min read

Women lifting weights has a massive reputation for being detrimental to the way their physiques look. This is a common misconception, which is inaccurate and is based majorly on the way that some women in the industry look. However, they only look this way because they have increased the levels of testosterone in their bodies.

THE FACTS: Researchers also found that unlike men, women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus

For me (being a women), I had the same worries and concerns about lifting weights. I thought I needed to do copious amounts of cardio to be able to shift my unwanted weight. Looking at pictures of the likes of Jodie Marsh (when she was competing) and thinking, I do NOT want to look like that. But that was before I knew the facts, before I had tried lifting weights myself and before I had the results for myself.

Here are some of the benefits you will have if you lift weights at the gym:

YOU WILL....

Burn more fat: According to a new study, strength training is better at helping people lose more fat, compared to cardio. This is because weight lifting burns almost exclusively FAT, whereas cardio burns fat and muscle.
Burn more calories: Your muscle mass determines your resting metabolic rate – that is how many calories you burn when doing nothing at all (living/breathing). Therefore, the more muscle you have the higher your resting metabolic rate, you build muscle by lifting weights.
Increased flexibility: Going through the motions of weight lifting moves (techniques), can increase your flexibility. If you are able to go through the entire range of motion when lifting weights, this will increase the range of motion within those muscles used, making you more flexible.
Women will DECREASE in SIZE: Testosterone is what gives men the bulk when lifting weights, as women have 5/10% of the amount of testosterone that men have. Therefore they cannot build muscle like men do. In fact, as women lift weight, their muscles become leaner and therefore they reduce size (not increase), therefore their dress size will decrease.
You Decrease Your Risk of Osteoporosis: Research has found that weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density (and enhance bone modeling) by 13 percent in six months. This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be a women's best defense against osteoporosis.
Healthier Heart: Cardiovascular exercise is not the only thing that will ensure you have healthy heart, weight lifting has the same impact. To enable you to lift weight, your body has to pump your blood to the area that you are working, therefore the heart has just as much or a workout as the muscles in your body.
Better Stress Resistance: It has been proven that the blood pressure levels of people with the most muscle, return to normal levels faster, than those with less muscle.