Why women should lift..

Why women should lift! 

In today’s blog I want to provide you with 5 reasons why all women should strength train!

Lads – don’t leave just yet. You could learn a thing or two aswell and apply it to yourself!

So I’ve heard it SO many times

‘ I don’t want to get big and bulky’

‘ I just need to do cardio to lose weight ‘

‘ ok I’ll try lifting weights, but I’m going to go light weight just to tone ‘

Does this sound familiar?

In my time as a trainer and online coach, 85% of all female clients (if not more) has said one of the above to me, or a variation of.

It’s so sad that the media portray such a poor image of women lifting weights that the general public get the wrong impression, which then worries women about weight training (particular for strength) having them think it will make them bulk up and look manly.

Let me set this straight

Not. Going. To. Happen.

In today’s blog I want to debunk some of these myths and give you reasons to why ALL women should strength train.

#1. It WONT make you big and bulky.
One of the key factors in building muscle mass is testosterone, and women have around 10% of the testosterone that men do. That, plus the fact that to be building muscle you have to be eating lots of calories. Like LOTS of calories.

But will you build some muscle? Yes. But this muscle will improve your shape, give you curves in the right places, definition and a fab figure. This isn’t going to turn you into She-hulk overnight

#2. You turbo charge your metabolism. 💥

Getting in shape is not just about the calories you burn in your session. The calories you burn day in day out from subconscious activities such as eating, breathing, digesting & circulation etc all add up to create a total calorie expenditure.
These calories, known as your BMR, as well as calories burned from activity that isn’t specific exercise (also known as NEAT- non exercise activity thermogenesis) create the vast majority of your calorie burn.

By lifting weights and building lean mass, you increase your daily calorie burn.

1 pound of muscle may only really burn a few extra calories a day, but that adds up over the week, over the months and year – all adding up to fat loss

#3 You keep burning fat after you finish.

Your body is put under more stress when you lift weights, so it has to work harder to recover. This extra energy needed for recovery makes you burn more calories, giving you an effective metabolism ‘boost’. This effect can last up to 48 hours

#4. Build strong bones

Women are at a higher risk of osteoporosis than men. Yes that sucks, but you can massively reduce the risk of getting brittle bones by hitting the iron. Lifting weights doesn’t just build strength and muscle – it strengthens your bones, joints, and all the connective tissue that surrounds them too.

# 5 You get a body you love..finally
Ok so there’s no science to back this one up, BUT anecdotally, every single female client who has come to me with the goal of looking better, increasing body confidence, feeling fitter and having a body they can be proud of has been amazed with the results that follow from lifting weights.

I can also say that the ‘Visible changes’ happen much quicker with lifting weights in comparison to cardio
I could go on and on!