Hi all!
I wanted to write this to explain why resistance training, (training against your body weight with a suspension trainer or with added weight (kettle bells/barbells/ dumbbells), is so important for women.
I was overweight for the first time in my life after my pregnancy. I gave my body enough time to heal, I then started to train myself and read everything possible about fitness. At first I start working on building up my endurance and my strength endurance. It took me about 6-8 weeks. I then started to add weights. After focusing on how I train and what I eat, The results were amazing, not just because the scale showed 25 kg less than when i start, but because of my body shape. It was totally different and in a way that i was happy with. Now I’m more confident, stronger and feel incredible.
Why Use Weights?
I’ve heard so many negative opinions and comments of women and resistance training. My aim is to encourage women in to resistance training. I believe it could be the single most important decision you will ever make regarding how you work out.
It could benefit you in so many other aspects of your life too. You will experience a boost in confidence and feel better in your day to day life. So many women found that by using resistance training, they lost weight, shaped up, developed curves in the right places, improved their quality of life and felt so much better.
Is Resistance Training Good For Your Health?
Every woman can benefit from strength training regardless of her age or goals. Younger women can use strength training to sculpt an attractive body, athletes can increase their strength or endurance by training with weights, older woman can negate aches and pains with core strength supporting the back or being stronger to carry yourself in later life.
Weight training helps cope with daily stress, fight obesity and avoid cardiovascular problems. It’s also the best way to shape or reshape the body after giving birth.
Resistance training benefits middle- aged women by counteracting many of the health issues associated with menopause by preserving the integrity of bone and muscles. With age, bones become thinner and weaker, this effects more women than men.
Strength training significantly boosts bone mass and slows down bone density decline. Also, it may be effective for reducing lower back pain, and easing discomfort associated with arthritis. This healthy habit can help us all live longer and better.
This is so not true!
Let’s be clear. The reality is that women aren’t genetically predisposed to gain large amounts of muscle. Women do produce testosterone and its production can be increased as a result of working out. Overall its effects are much smaller than those it has on a man in terms of building muscle because of the smaller amount of muscle that women carry compared with men. Couple this with a limited testosterone release, building more muscle is always going to be much harder compared with men.
How Many Times A Week Should I Train?
Resistance training requires rest and recovery. More sessions won’t get you more results. What really counts is the quality of your training and the quality of your rest, recovery and nutrition.
If you don’t allow enough time to recover, you run the risk of over training. You won’t burn as much fat or tone and shape the body you desire. You could actually feel tired and not invigorated by your workouts. Three times a week strength training, plus one cardio workout per week will be enough to have great results.
Do I Need Protein Supplements?
You can usually get your protein needs from your normal diet, as long as you build in optimum amounts. Lean cuts of meat, fish and dairy, nuts and beans will provide you with what you need.
I Feel Like I Should Be Restricting My Diet Though!
Restricting your calories by keeping a crash diet can lead to short term weight loss but long term weight gain. Yo- yo diets slow your metabolic rate and stunt fat burning or weight loss.
You won’t get the nutrients that you need to support your resistance training efforts. So my advice is don’t yo- yo diet! Eat according to your activity and workout needs. Try to add in your diet, good quality unprocessed food that gives you all the nutrients that you need.
Resistance training is designed to put extra pressure on muscles. It does place pressure on the tendons, ligaments and joints as well. When resistance training is done properly, the added pressure results in a strengthening effect. Done improperly, that pressure can damage tissues.
A personal trainer can ensure a proper form while you execute an exercise, a trainer can push you beyond your comfort zone while staying within your limits, (you won’t push yourself beyond your comfort zone). Added Benefits of motivation, can help you to exercise safety through proper form and adequate rest .
If you would like to know more about what you can achieve then contact me at the club or call me on 07435 321 869 for a free consultation and talk on how i can help you achieve a healthy body, healthy mind and healthy life!
Andreea
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