We know you don’t want bulging biceps or thunderous thighs…
…but that doesn’t mean you should skip the weight room and here is WHY:
1) Weights won’t turn you into a manly bodybuilder
Don’t worry – It is simply physiologically impossible! How? In any case, women have up to 15 times less testosterone than men, so to gain a ‘manly’ physique to that level of muscular development naturally is not going to happen. Even if you are lifting heavy weights. In fact if you do a few bicep curls and eat some spinach, you’re not going to wake up looking like Popeye! To get to a bulky or body-builder level of muscularity, you’d not only have to train and diet in a very extreme fashion, but you’d have to keep at it for years. Those types of athletes work extremely hard to look the way they do; so you won’t end up there by accident, we promise!
2) Mind over matter – Reduce your Stress levels!
Don’t we wish that losing weight and fat loss could be made less stressful? Well it can be! Focusing on diets and our numbers on the scales often leads to anxiety. Undoubtedly the willpower required to not give into our cravings can create high stress situations, which increases the hormone cortisol. Whenever our cortisol levels are elevated through stress, this can then block our fat loss and progress! Relax, there is a solution!
Research shows that resistance training can help beat the blues. One Australian study found that people who did three strength workouts a week (chest presses, lat pull-downs and biceps curls) reported an 18 percent drop in depression after 10 weeks. In addition, exercise reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, potentially relieving feelings of anxiety and agitation.
3) Better Body Composition, Less Fat and Stronger Limbs
Don’t we all want that perfect toned body? But would it surprise you to know that there is no such thing as ‘TONING, ‘SHAPING’ and ‘TIGHTENING’ of the muscles i.e. no such thing as ‘getting toned’. Instead, what most women need to focus on is building muscle and losing fat, which is essentially the most successful way to TRANSFORM your body.
When you build muscle, you’ll burn more calories through an elevated metabolic rate, and as a result become leaner and look better! When it comes to body composition, weight training has shown to give superior results compared to other forms of training. There is evidence in numerous studies that women who change their workouts and intensively weight train for four weeks have reduced their body fat by 1.3% and lost an average of 1kg, whilst gaining 0.5 kg of muscle. So ladies the numbers you need to be focusing on are your body fat % and not your weight on the scales when it comes to obtaining the body you desire!
4) Boost Your Overall Health
You can gain a HEALTHIER HEART, BRAIN, BALANCED HORMONES and INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM all from weight training. Sounds good right? This is due to the fact that when you’re lifting weights, it causes metabolic and functional changes in your muscles and in your brain, ultimately defending your body from injury, disease and fat gain!
Lifting weights activates the protective genetic pathways that are responsible for keeping your heart healthy and your metabolism working. Furthermore, it resets the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis that is easily dysregulated by chronic stress. Ultimately improving your overall health and helping you achieve the body you deserve! Studies have also shown that consistent weight training over time improves our BONE DENSITY. Generally, bone strength is one of the hardest health aspects for women to improve, due to hormonal changes that happen during menopause. Lifting weights can therefore help you to avoid health implications like osteoporosis as you get older.
5) You will feel more Confident!
Lifting weights, will do wonders for your self esteem and confidence. Through achieving your personal best and seeing results from your hard work. Can you imagine how good it would feel to push beyond what you thought was impossible?
Seeing yourself progress is very satisfying and will make you feel braver and more empowered. Additionally, a lot of women do not realise they have this wealth of strength and competitive drive waiting to emerge. Although your body releases endorphins (the happy hormone!) through both cardio and strength training, your body produces more endorphins in a faster period of time when you’re weight lifting. Therefore you will quite literally feel happier as well as more confident through strength training! Once you have tapped into this, you will literally TRANSFORM your life for the better!
