All gyms around the world are somewhat similar to each other. No matter where you go, you will see a similar density of women and men in the cardio and strength zones: girls and women densely occupy the treadmills and steppers throughout the workout, while men – with grimaces expressing inhuman effort – resist the gravitational pull of the barbell to the ground, secretly glancing at the girls in tight leggings…
There is nothing wrong with being passionate about cardio. Such workouts are considered beneficial for fat burning and weight loss… Or so it is believed. However, recent scientific data suggests that they may not be very beneficial…
But even if that were the case, think for a moment about the following: suppose you managed to lose the desired 5-10-20 kg (insert the number you have in mind). What next? What kind of body is actually hidden beneath the layers of fat? The dream of every man or a skinny-beautiful-anorexic girl, whom it is shameful to show off, but harsh to embrace?
Main thoughts:
In a state of stress and bad mood, weightlifting in the gym is the best therapeutic remedy
Strength training is one of the most effective means to combat osteoporosis in women and girls
Strength training for women improves sleep quality and even helps get rid of insomnia
Many girls are afraid and embarrassed by strength training, although its benefits for appearance undoubtedly outweigh the benefits of treadmill and stepper exercises. One reason for such fears is that they are afraid of becoming masculine, having seen steroid-using individuals of ambiguous gender with breasts and resembling male genitalia when searching for “female bodybuilding.”
Such fears are unfounded. You will never become like that (the testosterone level is not the same). All you see is a reckless attempt to argue with nature, which is always harshly punished. And not only by the loss of health but, which is much more cruel – the loss of femininity, tenderness, beauty, attractiveness, and the ability to have children.
Strength training for women helps to add grace to their bodies, emphasize details and shapes, increase tone, and improve self-esteem and self-perception – important components of sexuality, desired by most girls and women, as well as men 😉
This does not mean that cardio workouts are unnecessary. They have been, are, and will be an important part of the regimen, as they help maintain shape and are beneficial for health. It’s just better to slightly shift the focus towards what not only exhausts but also creates form.
We have prepared a list of 9 advantages of strength training for women to finally convince you of the necessity of warm and tender feelings towards the cold metallic parts of the gym.
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1 The combination of strength training for women with cardio workouts further stimulates fat burning and weight loss
Focusing solely on running, stepping, and their analogs for weight loss quickly leads to stagnation in the process, as the body eventually adapts to such loads, switching to energy-saving mode, where the internal metabolic rate decreases. This is confirmed by a detailed scientific review of recent research on the benefits of sports for weight loss.
And what does the internal metabolic rate have to do with it? Given that it is the main consumer of calories in the body: it accounts for about 70% of all daily calories, while sports account for only about 15%.
From a practical point of view, this means that the most effective weight loss methods are those that activate the metabolic rate. And frankly speaking, sports by themselves are not very helpful for this.
Scientific research shows that the combination of strength training and cardio has a significantly stronger impact on metabolic rate than either type of training alone 1. This also explains the particular effectiveness of high-intensity interval training for weight loss, which is a combination of cardio and strength exercises.
The effectiveness of cardio exercises for weight loss is higher when combined with strength training
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2 Increased calorie expenditure
Strength training leads to explosive activation of internal metabolic processes (and thus fat burning) not only during the workout but throughout the entire day.
The likely mechanism of this effect from a scientific perspective is the increase in the size of mitochondria in cells 1,2. Mitochondria are the components of the cell responsible for energy production. The larger their size, the higher the metabolic rate, and the greater the calorie expenditure.
Numerous scientific studies confirm that strength exercises lead to such biochemical transformations in the body, whereas too much cardio exercise has the opposite effect (the size of mitochondria decreases and metabolic rate declines).
Strength training leads to transformations at the cellular level, resulting in more active calorie burning throughout the day
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3 Strength training for women improves body shape
Most women and girls believe that the best use of a gym membership for improving their shape is hours of training on the treadmill, stationary bike, and stepper.
In reality, as we noted at the beginning, if you lose all the fat, in most cases, you will end up with nothing but a bony, linear mess.
The best way to achieve a beautiful feminine silhouette – a toned backside and a full chest – is to strengthen the muscles that support them. Many fitness enthusiasts conquering the realms of YouTube and Instagram have consciously or subconsciously come to this understanding. Look at some girls with millions of followers on Instagram in the photos below. They are all showered with tons of likes from drying boys (and girls), and they all are into lifting weights.
Constant and prolonged cardio sessions actually exhaust your body, making it “flat,” as they lead to muscle mass loss. That is why they are recommended to be almost completely excluded from training programs during body cutting in professional bodybuilding.
And since the speed of internal metabolism also slows down, the movement of the scale towards reduction most likely means that simply the ratio of fat to muscle is changing (muscle is heavier than fat), i.e., you may be “losing weight” due to muscle loss, while the fat percentage may not change and may even increase.
Don’t be misled into thinking that to lose weight and achieve a toned shape, you need to spend an insane number of hours on a treadmill. This is a myth.
Strength training improves the shape of a woman’s body in the right feminine places, while exhausting runs on the treadmill deplete it, revealing a flat relief
4 More energy throughout the day
I am confident that I won’t be far off in the following assumption: the reason many girls and women decide to go to the gym is dissatisfaction with their appearance. This is followed by a huge number of cardio exercises for weight loss, which rarely change the picture. As a result, dissatisfaction remains, just transforming into another form.
Strength training for women produces internal psychological changes that affect self-feeling and self-perception. Hours of running exhaust and kill the desire to live; strength training charges the brain and the whole body with beneficial chemicals, providing a pleasant feeling of lightness, tone, and self-confidence 7.
Scientists explain this amazing effect by the fact that during strength training, the concentration of endorphins in the blood increases, which positively affects mood 3,4. This confirms the long-known fact of why stress is well treated with physical activity.
In a state of stress and bad mood, weightlifting exercises in the gym are the best therapeutic remedy
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5 Stronger heart health, lower blood cholesterol levels, better insulin sensitivity
Our heart is also a muscle that can and should be trained just like skeletal muscles.
A small paradox is that it is the most important muscle in the body, directly affecting life, but the most modest: no one has ever been able to admire it in the countless mirrors of gyms. But this does not diminish the importance of training it as well.
Most women and girls are convinced that aerobic exercises are the best way to train the cardiovascular system.
This is indeed true. However, a combination of aerobic exercises with strength training is equally effective for this purpose.
According to research, strength training not only lowers the level of bad cholesterol (low-density) in the blood but also increases the concentration of good (high-density) 5.
Additionally, weight training enhances insulin sensitivity. This means that the body uses carbohydrates from food more efficiently for energy and muscle cell nutrition and is less likely to store them as fat 6.
Strength training improves cardiovascular health and prevents the conversion of sweets, which we sometimes indulge in, into fat, thanks to increased insulin sensitivity.
6 Strength training for women strengthens bones
Osteoporosis or brittle bones is one of the widespread diseases in the modern world, affecting not only older women, as is commonly believed, but also young girls. Its cause is low physical activity and lack of weight-bearing exercise.
Our body is organized in a remarkable way. If any organs and systems are not used, they die. This happens with the brain: when it stops being challenged, thinking, remembering – dementia develops; with muscles: when they do not work – atrophy occurs.
The function of bones is supportive. If a person spends most of their life in an amorphous jelly-like state, it signals the body that there is no point in spending energy and nutrients to maintain strong bones. Bone mass decreases, and they become more prone to fractures.
Conversely, creating a stimulus in the form of load triggers the mechanism for strengthening bone tissue to meet the load. Strength training for women is recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat osteoporosis 8,9.
However, let’s not deny the benefits of cardio exercises for this as well. Any load is beneficial.
Strength training is one of the most effective means to combat osteoporosis in women and girls.
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7 Improved sexual function
Those familiar with the internal structure of the female body know that the main female sex hormone is estrogen. It is responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics.
However, the female body also produces a small amount of testosterone – the main male sex hormone. In men, this hormone is responsible for the formation of male sexual characteristics (muscles, facial hair, reproductive organs). In women, its action manifests in the formation of sexual desire and positive influence on mood and self-perception. Why such different effects? The answer lies in the difference in its levels in men and women.
In particular, the mutants from the world of female bodybuilding, who cause many girls and women to develop a strong immunity against iron sports, are a product of hormone therapy: through injections, they introduce themselves to elevated doses of testosterone (anabolic steroids), which are dozens of times higher than the natural level, stimulating transformation (not only does muscle mass increase, but the voice deepens, facial hair grows, and even the clitoris increases in size, striving to resemble male genitalia).
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Why normal girls should not fear such transformation – because their natural testosterone level is very low.
Strength training contributes to a slight increase in the natural testosterone level in women (as well as in men). This has a positive effect on sexual function and improves mood 10. But this increase is negligible compared to what athletes introduce into their bodies.
Strength exercises stimulate a slight increase in testosterone levels in women’s bodies, enhancing sexual desire and positively affecting mood
8 Stronger sleep
For human health, and women in particular, 7-8 hours of sleep is necessary.
Strength training significantly improves sleep quality 11.
Sleep has a clear physiological purpose – rest and recovery. During training, muscles develop fatigue and are slightly damaged. Sleep is the time for their recovery. The more we work out in the gym, the greater the need for rest. It’s very simple.
The effectiveness of strength training for treating insomnia has been scientifically proven as a natural alternative to pharmacological drugs 12.
Strength training for women improves sleep quality and even helps get rid of insomnia
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9 Strength training for women will never make you masculine
We have already talked about this and explained why.
Still don’t believe it? Take a close look at the women in the gym who train with weights. Are there many embodiments of your fears among them?
Even the overwhelming majority of men who have been going to the gym for years do not undergo dramatic changes. Most often, their efforts result in a flat stomach and a toned appearance. No more.
Strength training for women will never make you masculine. Remember: mutants from the world of female bodybuilding (just like male) are always on steroids
Conclusion
We have covered several key benefits of strength training for women.
Everything mentioned above does not negate the importance of cardio workouts.
But when it comes to achieving the ideal representation of your body shape within the limited time of a gym membership to work on yourself, strength training definitely has many more advantages, including those traditionally attributed solely to cardio exercises.
Feel free to shift your focus from cardio workouts to strength training. This way, you will reach your ideal body faster.
And don’t be afraid of transforming into a man. It takes a lot of effort to do that… just give nature the middle finger.
