The Marriage Between Women and Weight Training

So, you’re a woman approaching 30 years old; perhaps 40; maybe even 50. Question: What is the #1 reason your body does not look as it did when you were a youthful, fit, and energetic 21 years old? Answer: It’s the loss of muscle-mass. Ladies, it may be time to say “I do” to weight-training. Now most women would say, “Hey, I don’t want big muscles!”  The fact is; weight-training and women may just be a perfect marriage.

First-of-all, it’s important that women understand a common misconception that too many still believe. Women do not “bulk-up” as a result of lifting-weights. Even if that was a women’s goal, unfavorable genetic factors such as low testosterone levels and higher levels of estrogen simply preclude 99.9% of woman from developing “big muscles.” Now, stay with me as I explain why muscles are the key to attaining the body you desire.

As women age – men too – their over-all muscle mass decreases; it is simply a natural process of aging. The loss of as little as a half pound of muscle can eventually lead to additional fat-deposits on your butt and thighs. Why? Because muscle is active tissue which makes high calorie demands – even while resting. Contrarily, less muscle means a slower metabolism. As early as your mid-20’s, the average woman will experience a slight decline in her metabolic-rate each year. By no real coincidence, it exactly parallels her loss of muscle mass.

The relationship is obvious. As muscle-mass decreases; metabolism slows. As a woman ages, even if she continues to eat the same number of calories per day, her body-fat levels increase, and the cycle is established. The loss of muscle, when combined with the passage of time, leads to an over-fat, out of shape body. The good news is that this entire unpleasant scenario can be mostly avoided by engaging in as little as three 30-minute, high-intensity exercise sessions per-week, performed on non-consecutive days.

It is also important to note that “exercise” doesn’t have to be performed in a health club, using fancy exercise-machines. It can be just as effective to workout in your home using resistance-bands and body-weight exercises. The key is that you must perform exercises that put a work-load on all the major-muscle-groups of your body. In this instance, casually plodding along on your treadmill day-in and day-out just won’t cut it!

Resistance bands are quite inexpensive, and can be purchased at most discount retailers – Walmart comes to mind as a place I have seen them. Of course, local sporting goods outlets like Dick’s Sporting Goods will provide you a great variety of choices for home exercise equipment as well. I am not advocating exclusively for resistance-band workouts; you can get a very productive muscular workout in-a-pinch, without using any equipment what-so-ever. A combination of various body-weight exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, towel-pulls – combined with a few isometric-type exercised like pushing your palms together in front of your chest for 60-seconds, can constitute a great hotel-workout for travelers, or anyone who needs a good workout, in a pinch.

The bottom-line is this: Whether you are an aspiring swimsuit model, a career-minded woman looking to get back into shape, or just the average woman who is simply unhappy with her body’s appearance, do not shy away from weight-training (a.k.a. resistance-training or strength-training). It can be essential to retaining the youthful, lean and shapely body you desire – at any age!