“I’d like to start training, but I’m worried……
Strength training isn’t going to make me too bulky is it?”
10 years ago, this conversation was one that I’d have with most women coming to see me. I remember it vividly. These women would come to me looking for help, and feel SO worried that touching a barbell would make them look like a bodybuilder.
They’d say it with such conviction! They KNEW that weights made THEM bulky, because THEY were DIFFERENT!
Luckily for me, this rarely happens nowadays.
Nowadays, I’m more than likely to hear things like this:
“I really want to focus on BUILDING my BUTT”
“I want to look TONED, I hate my wobbly arms”
“I’d just like to feel STRONG and CONFIDENT”
“Just tell me how to get JACKED!!!!” (Might be embellishing this one a little……)
Anyway, you get my point. For the most part ladies aren’t anywhere near as afraid of the weight room as they used to be. Instead, we see them pumped to train, as most know they’ll gain newfound strength, weight loss, confidence, and results like they’ve never seen before.
This is said, I’m sure there are a few of you out there that still need a little ‘convincing’ to join our strength tribe. Let us help with our top 5 reasons girls should be STRONG and no just SKINNY!
1.YOU’LL BE A BAD-ASS AT LIFE!
Whether it’s lifting things at home, picking up kids, or carrying around that new active wear you’ve bought (because you’re rocking a bad-ass body now), you’ll be better at it. Just being stronger is going to make most day-to-day tasks easier and you’ll have more energy doing it!
I mean seriously, do you really want to go through life weaker than you could be?
2.NO BODY WANTS TO BE ‘SKINNY FAT’
Ok, so lets imagine you have 10kg weight you’d like to lose.
You get yourself on a low calorie diet, and you’re hammering out heaps of cardio. 10 weeks later you achieve your goal. You’re 10kg down! Congratulations!
But guess what, because you weren’t lifting throughout that process, a large portion of the scale weight you dropped WAS muscle!
Rather than a lean, mean physique, you’re left with a body 10kg lighter, that closer resembles a ‘bag of milk’ than a toned, athletic, healthy physique.
Great news here is just by adding 2-3 strength sessions per week, you’d likely hold onto that muscle (maybe even gain a little), speed up your fat loss throughout, and achieve the toned body you were after to begin with.
3.YOU’LL BE ABLE TO EAT MORE, AND GET AWAY WITH IT
If I told you that doing strength training might allow you to eat a burger on occasion and get away with it, would that change your mind?
When you lift weights, you not only burn calories IN the workout, you burn them at an increased rate AFTER the workout as well (in some cases up to 36 hours after).
On top of this, lifting long term is going to help you build some lean muscle mass and this is a GOOD THING (don’t freak out now). A little more muscle is only going to add to what we call your BASAL METABOLIC rate (the calories you burn just being you).
Add all these contributors together and you end up with a decent shift in your metabolic rate.
4.YOU’LL BE CONFIDENT!
Being stronger just feels good! Whether it means getting your confidence back after having kids, feeling like you’re able to hold your own in the workplace, or just feeling empowered to make physical decisions regularly and not doubting your ability. Lifting weights is only going to make you feel great.
Of course, these are all great, but one of the things I love hearing the most is that people just start to feel better in their own skin. Whether that means feeling better in the clothes you wear, or just walking around feeling strong and athletic, you’re going to just LOVE being STRONG!
5.YOU’LL BASICALLY BECOME BULLETPROOF
Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but let me explain.
Increased levels of strength and muscle mass have been strongly linked to so many important health markers. Here are a few:
- You’ll have stronger bones (bone density)
- You’ll live longer
- You’ll move for longer, while you live longer
- You’ll look younger
- You’ll be less likely to get injured
- You’ll get less disease (like diabetes)
- You’ll basically become Wonder-woman (no research on this one).
Seriously, the list could go on.
As you can see from all the info and points above, nowhere did we mention that lifting weights is going to cause you to grow arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Seriously, it’s just not going to happen.
Instead, lifting weights in combination with a sound diet and a little cardio, is going to leave you feeling, looking and moving around like never before. Time well spent in the weight room can create so much potential for change.
Ready to make your move? Great! Now go and make that change happen……
Want more information on how the team at Performance Personal Training can help you achieve your goals, contact us & we will be in touch.