How Strength Training Changes The Female Body and Mind

As a female, I can tell you something straight up; There are a myriad of reasons to pick up the iron. When programmed and executed well, the heavy metal you thought you never could lift, can be literally life changing.

Check out my article here as I hone in on this exact topic, as part of the print of the Fitness First magazine.

Strength training in Women is anti-ageing As we age, our muscles also atrophy. This means that our muscles can get smaller as we age. That is, until we intervene with a progressive strength training program. On an aesthetic level, this has a huge influence on body shape.

For example, If women opt for cardio only training or no training at all, this eventually entails loss of good body shape via muscle loss over time. Posture and a saggyness of skin tone suffers as a result. Roundedness of the shoulders, lack of organ health and confidence in themselves is the result of not staying upto date with being strong. The women that I have seen over the years, that have youth on their side for their age group have an overall firm, toned body because they have benefited from decision to work on strengthening their body to create an anti-ageing effect. It is well documented, that strength training over time improves a females body composition. (Feito Et al 2018) This means that as a female, when you undertake a specifically designed resistance training protocol your lean mass increases whilst fat mass decreases. (Willis Et Al 2012) We have all heard that muscle weighs more than fat. This is a misconception. Indeed, it’s the the density of muscle is far higher than fat. (Zemel 2012)This means that when a woman takes up a strength training regimen, muscle actually takes up less room in her body than fat. This is because, strength training has been shown to increase the cross sectional area of the muscle. This in real life terms means that the muscles in the body, start to take better shape. Strength gains allow the induce muscular hypertrophy in a woman’s body. Because the muscles get bigger on an aesthetic level, you actually get to take control of the ageing process, reversing the signs of ageing, since your body looks firmer and tighter from you taking action. All these amazing changes can occur no matter how old or young you are. All the so called problematic areas the waist, hips and thigh areas begin to look far better from strength training. The beauty is, this can happen all along the lifespan. It really is never too late to start working towards the strongest version of yourself. Strength training allows us to remain independent If we allow the ageing process to set in, this effects the quality of our primal movements (the squat, deadline, lunge, upper body push and pull movements) negatively. When we don’t move well, we tend not to be able to do all of the important stuff in life and the heavy manual tasks around the house that keeps us independent. As a female, being stronger means, you no longer have to rely on your significant other to help you with the heavy manual tasks around the house. You have a new level of independence since you’ve trained your body to deadlift heavy weights, and clean and press heavy metal over your head, when you start moving furniture (or your significant other ;-)) around your house, you can lift just about anything with much more ease. Important to note here, that as we age this becomes ever more important. Strength training helps women to live longer Can you believe that it has been proven now that strength training actually helps the female population to live longer? This is because it prevents all the terrible diseases associated with weakening muscles through ageing. With resistance training interventions, the aging female population keeps control of their health and dignity for longer without the need for outside or home help preventing that feeling that we might get of being a burden. Evidence suggests that the maintenance of a large muscle mass may reduce metabolic risk factors such as obesity, dyslipidaemia, and type 2 diabetes mellitus which are all associated with cardiovascular disease. According to Strasser & Schobersberger, 2011 strength training promotes a stronger longer more healthy life. So to stay looking young, to keep our muscles in good shape, to move well incorporating strength training into our training routine is a crucial ingredient to any good anti-ageing program. Strength Training keeps your body's engine sharp. Your body's metabolism is likened to an engine. When we have a bigger engine we burn off more fuel, more quickly during exercise and even at rest. So how do we increase the size of our body's engine? We build more muscle. How do we build more muscle? By participating in a progressive strength training program! Historically women have attacked the cardio theatre for 'weight- loss' only to be dissapoiunted that very quickly once they take a holiday all the unwanted bodyweight comes piling back on. We now know that strength training boosts the body engine so to create better shape for longer duration. Women can finally stop slogging it out for hours and hours of cardio, instead perform a mixture of resistance training and cardiovascular work, knowing that when they do, do cardio, it will burn more energy even at rest since their body is now more sharply tuned. Accentuates a woman’s beautiful feminine curves: From the many thousands of female clients that I’ve seen, strength training is far from making women look masculine. In fact when following a proven protocol, strength training helps to accentuate femininity at all ages. Women cannot produce enough testosterone for a bulky look. Hormonally as a female this is impossible. So when a female tells me that they are worried that they will ‘look bulky’ from strength training, I assure them that they will not be used we know that strength training accentuates the natural curves of a woman. It’s more likely a over consumption of calories that attributes to a ‘bulky’ look. Therefore if this is the case hire an expert to help you diligently follow a decent nutritional program along side your strength training regime. Improves bodily awareness and posture As well as all the obvious improvements, females who partake in a strength training program will benefit from increased bodily awareness which positively correlated to postural improvements. The females that I have trained for strength tend to carry themselves better and this had positive ramifications to their health and life events. Remember that your posture speaks a thousand words and especially can create positive vibe and an impression of self confidence which is super important for first impressions at critical business meetings and first dates for example. I love seeing a females postural improvements via strength training. They literally stride into a room and light it up with their energy and composure. Allows women to live pain free Allows women to function in your life pain free- the reason why most injuries happen is that the muscle has atrophied. Females who partake in a solid strength training program can expect to improve posture (Kim Et Al, 2015) which then reduces pain from injuries allowing females to move painful free. Another unequivocal benefit from strength training.

One of the biggest attributes to strength training from what I've seen over 21 years , especially in women is that it brings about a strong sense of self confidence. Seguin Et Al (2015) in their research agree. When studying 341 older rural women, during a Strong Women Program, over 10-weeks, twice per week weekly strength-training program, the authors found that strength training was associated with significant improvements in several dimensions of body image, health-related quality of life, and physical activity behaviors, satisfaction, and comfort among rural aging women—an often underserved population that stands to benefit considerably from similar programs. Strength Training keeps the mind sharp: As females, we often forget how strong we can be for ourselves, mentally and physically. Strength training in women not only creates a strong body but also a strong mind. Often the mind can play tricks on your body saying that it cannot do anymore. When you are pushed with a demanding physical program such as strength training you also push your mind as well as your body which creates an intense change in your behaviour and attitude towards work, both in and out of the gym. Taking on a progressive strength training program shows your mind that you can push further successively, allowing you to no longer settle for second best, instead always push for the best in yourself. If this relays in real life situations, then what a positive bonus you get from taking up strength training.

Boosts self-confidence. Once a women commits herself to a physically demanding strength training program, she gets to push herself way out of her comfort zone. Once out of the comfort zone, this is when the real magic happens. Women find this amazing sense of self confidence that they are capable of being stronger, than they thought ever possible. They push their body further in training that they ever dreamt of. This is an instant confidence booster which is an extremely empowering emotion for women. When they tap into this truly, the transformation that I see as a trainer and instructor is not just physical one, is it highly mental and I've seen it right before my eyes trading off into their real life situations. They then get to go out in the real world with this new found confidence. They go to interviews, they now have the courage to go all in and ask for pay rises, they get better results in exams, get what they want more often and rightfully declare what's theirs in the world, simply from partaking in a strength training! It's truly amazing to see. This transformation alone is one of the main reasons why I love my work so much. Improves self esteem Strength training changes a womens body for the better. By tightening and toning all the areas that were listed in their goal setting, such as the waist, hips and thigh areas, I've seen my female clients find this whole new magical level of self esteem. This allows women to finally be proud of their body, that they themselves have created through improved strength. This means they can finally go to the beach wearing their bikini that was slung in the back of their wardrobe because they never thought their would ever be a day in their lives that they would be able to wear it. They can wear the shorts, skinny jeans and sexy tops without feeling embarrased in front of their family members, on the contrary they feel amazing. They finally can do all the activities they wanted to do with their kids, family and partner and do it feeling truly happy within themselves. REFERENCES https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3544497/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198324 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/body-density https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4354895/

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