Have you been thinking about adding strength training into your workout but you’re not sure why it’s important? Strength training is an essential component of any successful exercise routine. For women, in particular, strength training has many benefits that you might not expect.

Benefits of Strength Training for Women

Improves Bone Health

Women have much higher rates of osteoporosis and osteopenia than men, and they tend to have fractures 5-10 years earlier. Strength training maintains and can even improve bone mineral density preventing the loss that often happens with inactivity and age.

Increases Metabolism and Fat Burning

As muscle decreases with age, strength training helps to not only maintain but to increase lean muscle. Lean muscle is more active and requires more energy from our body than fat. This results in higher metabolism and more calories burned throughout the day. More muscle and a higher metabolism also raise body temperature to keep you from feeling cold all the time.

Makes Cardio More Effective for Fat Loss

Contrary to popular belief, strength training is more effective than cardio for fat loss due to its ability to increase metabolic rate. If you have more lean muscle, this also means your cardio sessions will result in more calories burned.

Raises Self-Esteem

Lifting weights and the satisfaction that goes with it can improve mental fortitude in women. To become physically independent of others can have lasting effects on self-belief. Strength training has been shown in many studies to improve positive body image as well as self-esteem.

Prevents Injury and Reduces Pain

While stretching is known to improve muscle tension and body tightness, chronic pain has also been related to muscle weakness. For example, a weak core can lead to chronic back pain, and weak muscles in the thigh can lead to knee pain. Stronger muscles can handle more demands on the body and will help to support and protect our joints.

Builds Resilience

Women are more likely to be diagnosed with both depression and anxiety, and exercise is often used to prevent and improve symptoms. While almost any activity will cause a release of chemicals that improve mood, strength training has the added benefit of making you stronger, more capable, and physically independent.

Common Question: Am I Going to Look Like a Bodybuilder?

The short answer is that for most women, it would take an unbelievable amount of long-term lifting and a very high-calorie diet to build muscle as a man would. If you have concerns, focus on lifting lighter weights with more reps. This will reduce your ability to build size if you feel you are someone who gains muscle mass easily.

Overall, it’s clear that there are many benefits of strength training for women. If you found this blog post helpful and decide to give strength training a try, give us a shout on Instagram. We would love to hear how it’s going!