7 Reasons Why Women Should Do Resistance Training

[kellyrennie]

Excellent Laura!!

I talk from experience, if you wanting to tone and shape your body... Weights are the way forward...

I wish you all the best with your training, even if you are the only one in the weights section!!

Kelly

[MissVanda]

Yeah I've noticed that too...I've been going to my gym for just over 2 weeks now and up in the weights section I've seen 1 woman who came in and bashed out a few bench press, did a few squats and then left again. She did bench quite a fair bit mind, and looked pretty good :-) But the rest of them daren't venture up there. When I had my induction and we got taken up there and there were about 4 women and me. The guy even said those immortal words 'You ladies probably won't be interested in this bit.' My eyes lit up, but everyone else just went 'no we won't come up here' and one girl gasped. Dear god, it's a bit scary!

[bishbosh12]

Tis a shame more women don't lift weights, my wife does and she loves it....


She told me of a session recently, where she followed this fella onto the bench press (machine), upon looking at the weight selected, she increased it as it wasn't enough and did her sets. After she finished and went onto the next exercise the same fella went back onto the bench and used the weights as she had left them

[brioni]

Point 7 is interesting as my other half is studying to be a counsellor- maybe switch to be a personal trainer instead!

I found a great program written by a figure competitor structured over 4 days a week and personally trained my girlfriend for a month to help her take the exercises off the page and onto the bench whilst timing the session correctly for high intensity. all the muscle groups are covered, many exercises are included that should be a stable of anyone’s strength training. It’s not a complicated program, it’s also quite flexible. She is training to failure on every set and loves it (except when she can’t move out of bed the following day!) Have now got her doing the occasional superset/drop set to spice it up!

There’s some good quality info here written by another female. It put my girlfriends mind at rest:


If you are a father/ son/ brother/ lover/ relative/ workmate or associate of a female you intend to *help* with a diet/ training program PLEASE read this before you ask questions to 'set her up with something.....'

GENERAL GUIDELINES:
1. Use your common sense.... Your female associate is not hugely different to you. Being female doesn't mean she can't eat normal people foods and train with normal 'big people' weights. She doesn't need to do 100000 reps to 'tone' and she doesn't need to eat 'rice cakes and celery sticks' to 'lose weight'.
2. there is no such thing as just 'toning' < If she wishes to look good nakid, she needs to LIFT to create dense, thick MUSCLE and DIET to LOSE FAT...
3. read point 2 again....
4. please....
5. she is not going to 'get bulky' accidently...
6. read point 5 again... please?
7. Overall => If your female friend desires to change her body, then she needs to follow the rules as per normal:
DIET: She needs to eat sensibly - THAT DOESN'T MEAN STARVE HERSELF! She needs a calorie/ portion controlled approach...

Overall: Focus on nutrient dense foods. These help with SATIETY, HEALTH and WELL-BEING. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, lean proteins, eggs, dairy, legumes, and whole grains. She DOESN'T need to eat 6-8 x a day... Infact, many small females do better on only 3-4 meals a day... The most important thing is that she can STICK to the plan and that it gives her what she needs!

In terms of Protein: A good starting benchmark would be 1g per POUND LEAN MASS... If you don't know her BF then 1g per POUND TOTAL WEIGHT is good. Set up options for serves so she can divide this roughly over her meals for the day.

For Fats: LOW FAT DIETS have long term negative consequences! So you need to ensure an appropriate intake of healthy fats. This can be achieved for most females through adding some fish oil capsules or including a serve of FATTY FISH, as well as incorporating sufficient serves of nuts/ seeds/ avocado/ eggs or oil such as olive oils.

Carbs: Can include carbs as she needs them.... If she exercises only a few times a week and sits at a desk all day - carbs are less important... so she will need less. IF she is a cardio fiend or is young and active - she will need more.... PLEASE REALISE THAT GLYCAEMIC INDEX DOESN'T MATTER IN THE CONTEXT OF A DIET WITH APPROPRIATE PORTIONS AND MEAL BALANCE.... BUT - in the interest of HEALTH and SATIETY she should aim for HIGHER FIBER, HIGHER NUTRIENT carbs such as legumes, tubers, whole grains, fruits and dairy.


TRAINING: IF SHE WANTS TO LOOK FIRM, TIGHT, and LEAN ->> She needs to lift heavy things in the gym then add cardio as required (if desired). DO NOT start her on a 'pink dumbbell routine'... similarly, she DOESN'T need a 6 DAY BODYBUILDER ROUTINE!

There are MANY good starting programs - things like: STARTING STRENGTH, NEW RULES FOR WOMEN (or the men version works just as well), or any well designed THREE DAY FULL BODY, or UPPER/LOWER ROTATION (3-4 days a week)....

Focus on the BIG lifts that add intensity to a workout. Squats, deadlifts, leg press, OH and bench, pulldowns, rows, push ups.... Adding dynamic work (lunges, step-ups), and core stability work is also a good idea. For these => Lifting in the 6-12 rep range is a good place for most females. If she is only new - start her in the 10-12 ranges. If she is a little more experienced, she will be able to handle more weight without issue.

She doesn't NEED TO DO CARDIO EVERY DAY.... This can actually MAKE THINGS WORSE: In females cardio usually INCREASES HUNGER and MAKES IT HARDER TO DIET.... Additionally - adding LOTS of cardio in the face of LOW CALORIES will cause her hormones to do the wacky and she'll bloat up like a puffer fish with water.... So: If her diet is ON TRACK cardio CAN be 'the last resort' to help increase calorie expenditure.... So a FEW DAYS of HIIT could be all she needs!
^^
Basically: USE YOUR COMMON SENSE! Undoubtably, if you have a history of lifting, then this is all stuff you KNOW ALREADY from yourself...

LASTLY: If she is SERIOUS about doing this -> ask her to come in herself and take a look around to ask her own questions.... Chances are she'll get a better understanding of things, and she will be able to create herself something she will be better able to stick to.

[sarahrobbo85]

#7 is a brilliant point. I've suffered from depression since I was 8 years old - yes it does happen. I've always found that my mind is healthier when I cam exercise and if I haven't done any I know about it. A few years ago an ongoing illness made it too painful for me to do most things and it really allowed the depression to kick in badly and because I couldn't help myself by doing something it really created a vicious cycle.
Fortunately my illness is now managed a lot better and I now go kickboxing once a week plus I try to cycle, run and swim when I can. My moods have improved vastly and my hormones don't seem to be in the driving seat the way they once were. Counselling can be brilliant and I won't knock it as it really helped BUT by far the most effective thing has been the exercise. My physical fitness and improvements are fantastic but the improvement to my mental health is what keeps me motivated and it really has changed my life, three years ago I wouldn't have thought it possible.