A Women’s Guide to Strength Training

The number one misconception I hear about weight training from women is that they are going to get too big.  Sure, if you lift heavy all the time you will become muscular, but you don’t have to.  What is your goal? If it is to be stronger, have a healthier heart, increase tissue health, maintain strong bones, improve your balance, strengthen your connective tissue, create a neuromuscular connection and prevent injuries, then you should do strength training. 

Muscles grow and change when stimulated.  You have to provide increased resistance to create  your body’s response to repairing  damaged tissue, this is what leads to muscle change. You can control how much resistance and how often you apply it, this controls your muscle growth. Simply put, you can strength train in order to maintain your muscle not just to “get big”.

Now that you know how important strength training is, here are 5 ways to establish an appropriate and healthy strength training routine.

1. Find the weight that is best for you. This will be different for everyone, listen to your body.  Try a few different weights. Find one that you can lift 10 times without struggling, but then those last 2-5 reps are challenging.  Watch your form during this, if it is not solid then you must decrease your weight.

2. Lift challenging.  Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.  Even if you don’t want to “get big” you still have to apply tension to your muscles and put them into overload.  You will not see any changes at all in your health if you do not stimulate your muscles.

3. Complete an appropriate amount of reps based on your goal. Performing 8-12 reps is recommended. 2-3 sets of each exercise. If you do want to increase muscle, complete heavier weights that you can only do for less reps.  This combination increases strength.  If you want to maintain your muscle and just have some tone, lift lighter weights and complete more reps. This combination increases your endurance.

4. Create a routine. The most important part of frequency is consistency.  You will only gain strength and/or endurance if you are consistent in your schedule.  You can do full body or only upper or only lower, but keep the routine the same. Complete this 2-3 times weekly.

5. Get started. You can use my suggestions or create your own program.  There are countless routines that you can create!  Pick less challenging ones to start with so you can work on form and build confidence.  Complete exercises using your larger muscles first because these need the most energy, it's easier to perform smaller movements at the end of your routine.  Pick 7-10 movements. Create circuits or perform them separately.  Make it exciting and fun, but challenging. Make sure to keep track of your process.  Create a journal or log so you can write down your weight, reps and sets.  I also suggest measuring yourself so you can celebrate your progress.

For a 30 minute beginners routine visit:

https://www.elizabethrosevitality.com/s/Body-Weight-Strength-Training.pdf