When you think strength training for women, do not think you will bulk up like a male weight lifter. Women do not bulk up with strength training in the absence of extraordinary efforts and medical intervention.
Actually, strength training (ST) slims down women. If you perform an ST routine 3 times a week, you can easily lose four or even more pounds in a year without cutting a calorie. Better still: Lean muscles weigh more than fat, so you will have lost a lot more fat than the scale alone will show. You will lose inches, which you can measure in smaller clothing sizes.
Better yet, ST diminishes calorie consumption long term. People who perform an ST routine have a higher metabolism for the rest of the day than if they had invested the same amount of time in aerobic exercise. It adds up to about 100 calories a day, over 350,000 calories in a year (10 + pounds) — for doing nothing! Also, every pound of lean muscle consumes seven to 10 times as many calories as a pound of fat. Lean muscle requires 35-50 calories per hour while fat requires only five. ST gets rid of fat and makes it easy for you to keep it off.
Another really significant pretty much women-only advantage is the benefits in warding off osteoporosis. ST strengthens muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones. All of them reduce the dangers associated with bone loss. Should you tumble– and the balance gained by ST will reduce that likelihood– your more powerful body parts will help protect against the often disabling effects of such a fall.
OK– ST can be accomplished in many ways. What’s best? Novices may want to use just their body for the weight they lift, but not too far into your program, you need more. The most typical equipment has been dumbbells and barbells, but resistance bands/tubes and exercise machines, too, may be put to use.
Dumbbells and barbells come in increasing weights that keep your program on track. You have to change what you are doing every 3 weeks to avoid “accommodation” to the routine, when your body ceases using as much energy to do the same work. If you visit the fitness center, you will have the ability to choose among a large set of both hand-held dumbbells and the larger barbells. To exercise at home or at the office, you require something that takes up a lot less space. The Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells are a great option for women wishing to exercise at home. A twist of a knob is all that’s needed to adjust the weight from 5 through 52 pounds, all most people will need. And they take about the same amount of room as a single pair of traditional dumbbells.
Elastic bands or tubes, also, are excellent equipment for small places. The darker the shade, the more resistance the bands give, so you will desire an entire rainbow eventually.
Alternating lifting your own weight, pulling on bands, and lifting dumbbells can give years of strength training for a woman.