Why Women Must Include Strength Training In Their Workout Routine

When it comes to strength training, there is a general assumption that it makes women bulk up. Many women, hence, avoid including it in their workout routine. Quashing this myth, Dr Manan Vora, who is a sports medicine doctor, said in a social media post that “it’s unfortunate that a lot of women aren’t lifting weights. And the small percentage that does, lift very little weight.” It is one of the reasons that more women suffer from osteoporosis as compared to men, and strength training is as crucial for women as it is for men. In this article, we will look at why women should include strength training in their workout routine.

What Is Strength Training?

Strength training, as per a leading health website, is any physical activity that targets a particular muscle or muscle group. In this, you put your muscles under tension to build strength and endurance. Some examples are weight lifting, squatting, planking, lunging, etc. Strength training goes by other names, too, such as weight training, resistance training, and muscle training. Experts generally recommend including some amount of strength training in your workout routine for building muscle mass and strength.

Also read: Does Strength Training Help you Gain Weight

Benefits Of Strength Training For Women

(Photo Credit: Unsplash)

Strength training, or resistance training, or anything you call, doesn’t make you bulky. It, however, provides you with the following health benefits:

• Promotes Bone Health: Osteoporosis is one disease, which disproportionately affects women more than men. It’s a disease characterised by brittle and fragile bones. Many studies have shown that strength training promotes bone health and muscle mass, which in turn, helps in preventing osteoporosis.
• Improves Strength: It’s in the name itself. Your muscle strength improves once you start including strength training in your workout routine. With more strength, you’re better able to perform the day-to-day activities at work, home, and otherwise. 
• Reduces Your Risk For Diabetes: Women, of age averaging around 62 years, who did any kind of strength training regularly, reduced their risk of getting diabetes by 30%, a study showed.
• Reduces Your Risk For Cardiovascular Diseases: The study also showed that women who did strength training reduced their risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases by 17%.
• Helps You With Fat Loss: Research suggests that the prevalence of obesity is greater among women as compared to men. Strength training can help you with that, too, as it helps in losing fat and gaining muscle mass.
• Help You With Stress & Anxiety: Balancing work and domestic duties, many women deal with a significant amount of stress. Anxiety is another common mental health issue that they face. Strength training, or any other form of exercise for that matter, can help you with that. This is because when you work out, your body releases endorphins or the ‘feel-good’ chemicals that make you feel better, thus, helping with stress relief and anxiety.

After a good workout, you might have experienced, you can sleep better. Hence, strength training can also promote good quality sleep. This one holds for men as it does for women.

Also read: 4 Strength Training Myths Debunked

Strength Training Workouts

(Photo Credit: Unsplash)

Now that you know the health benefits of strength training, here are some exercises you can do:

Squats

This exercise targets your glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings, groin, calves, and quadriceps. Hence, multiple muscle groups are worked upon when you do squats. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

• Stand straight with your feet hips-width distance apart.
• Tuck your glute muscles and lower down as your spine remains erect.
• Lower down till your thighs are parallel to the floor.
• Lift back up.
• Repeat the same 5-6 times.

Push-Ups

Just like in squats, you use your body weight in push-ups to work your muscles. Here’s how to do it:

• Start on your all fours with palms under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
• Curl your toes and straighten your legs.
• Raise your body such that just your palms and toes touch the ground.
• Your core and glutes should be tucked in while your spine should be straight. This is the plank pose.
• Next, gently lower yourself down till your upper arms are parallel to the floor.
• Raise yourself till your arms are straight.
• Repeat 9-10 times.

Lunges

Doing lunges is another strength training exercise you can do for building strength. Here’s how to do it:

• Stand straight with your feet hips-width distance apart.
• Take your right leg forward as if you are going to take a walk.
• However, keep your left leg where it was.
• Bend both knees and lower down till the right thigh is parallel and the left one is perpendicular to the floor.
• Rise back and repeat 5-6 times.
• Repeat on the other side.

These are just three of the many strength training exercises that you can do. Having weights or not, it doesn’t matter, once you have the resolve to include strength training in your workout routine, you can use your body weight to build strength.

Photo Credit: Unsplash