Many women skip strength training and completely avoid lifting weights. They think of it as a male type of exercise, but they’re wrong. Everyone needs strong muscles. One reason for the misconception and avoidance is the concern that using weights will create bulk. It’s far harder for women to bulk up because they don’t have the right balance of hormones. Strength training does provide a great service to women by helping to balance hormones that can cause weight gain and other issues.
You’ll build muscle tissue and burn more calories.
Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, so the more you have, the more calories you burn 24/7. It’s also more compact. A container that holds precisely one pound of fat will be larger than a container holding exactly one pound of muscle tissue. If two women weigh the same amount, the woman with significantly more muscle tissue will look thinner and wear a smaller size.
Avoiding illnesses like osteoporosis should be reason enough to exercise.
Weight-bearing exercises can reduce the potential of osteoporosis. When your muscles tug on the bone, the body sends more calcium to the bone to recalcify and strengthen it against the muscles tugging it. That strengthens the bone. If you don’t do weight-bearing exercises, the stress on the bone never occurs and the bone begins to lose calcium. That’s when the potential for osteoporosis increases. Hormones protect younger women from osteoporosis. Once menopause occurs, that protection ends. Exercise helps. Inactive women lose twice as much bone mass during menopause as active women do.
Control blood pressure and blood sugar better by including strength training in your workout.
Because strength training burns calories and builds muscle tissue, it can cause weight loss. That can help reduce the risk of high blood pressure and control blood glucose levels better. Resistance and muscle-building workouts also help reduce the point of arthritis by strengthening the muscles and tendons around the joint. That helps relieve the pressure and stimulates fluid movement in the joint to keep the joint moving smoothly with less pain.
- When you workout with weights it helps burn the most dangerous type of fat, visceral fat. Visceral fat builds deep in the abdomen and crowds the organs. It is the hardest to burn.
- If you have hot flashes or other signs of menopause, strength training can help. One study showed that after just 15 weeks of strength training three times a week for 45 minutes, it cut the symptoms of hot flashes in half. It also helped women to lose the weight they gained in menopause.
- Women of childbearing age should exercise, especially if they plan on having children. It makes childbirth easier and reduces complications. Exercising during pregnancy is often recommended by doctors.
- Exercise can help reduce back pain. It builds muscle strength and improves posture. Always check with your healthcare professional first before starting any program of exercise.
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