The gender pay gap may have women at a disadvantage, but did you know there is another gap between women and men when it comes to exercise that isn’t so terrible?
Yep, a study by the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai shows that women can exercise less often than men, yet receive greater cardiovascular gains. Win!
If that is not enough to convince you, a huge range of health benefits can come from partaking in regular exercise, particularly strength training. Strength training, also known as resistance training, is a broad term that encompasses a range of different exercises that build muscle strength, size, and endurance.
Over the past few years, strength training has been gaining in popularity for women due to its ability to improve a wealth of health factors. Whether you are working a typical corporate 9 to 5 or studying online accelerated BSN programs, having an inactive, sedentary lifestyle can cause problems, so finding and engaging in physical activity like strength training that offers numerous health benefits is important. If you are still on the fence, read on to find out what the benefits of strength training are, and perhaps be inspired to kick-start your own strength training journey.
What is strength training?
Strength training, weight training, resistance training, or muscular training are all terms for physical movement in which you use your body weight or equipment to build muscle mass, strength, and endurance. The main types of strength training are:
Muscular hypertrophy: also referred to as muscle building, this type of training uses moderate to heavy weights to build and stimulate muscle growth.
Circuit training: a type of full-body conditioning, circuit training involves cycling through various exercises with little to no rest in between each.
Muscular endurance: high volume reps with light-weight training that work on your ability to sustain exercise for extended periods.
Maximum muscular strength: low-volume reps with heavy-weight training that works on improving your overall strength.
Explosive power: combines power and speed to improve your power output, best for trained athletes to improve their explosive movements.
The benefits of strength training
Strength training offers a range of benefits for women.
Improved muscle mass
Cardio activities such as running, dancing, HIIT, or swimming can improve muscle strength – it is just not the most effective way to do it. Enter strength training. Muscle is essential to every single human movement, so maintaining muscle mass as you age can help prevent injury, maintain your range of motion, and aid in simple daily functions such as taking in the shopping or walking up a staircase.
For some women, there is a fear that strength training will make them appear too muscular or “manly” – this is not true unless you are actively working towards achieving this. Instead, the likely outcome is simply an increase in muscle mass and improved body composition.
Weight loss and management
If you are looking to lose weight and gain muscle, strength training is the way to go. Contrary to popular belief, cardio is not the only way to shed weight, and strength training will help you burn calories to achieve a caloric deficit. Your body will burn off more of the energy from food you consume, rather than store it as excess energy in the form of fat cells, while simultaneously building muscle strength, and can actually be more beneficial for long-term fat lose and muscle mass maintenance.
Increase bone density
Bone density declines as we age, and for women in particular, the impact of menopause and their overall thinner bone structure leaves them more susceptible to developing osteoporosis or breaking bones.
Strength training can be beneficial for bone health through building bone and slowing the decline of bone. This, in turn, can help reduce women’s risk of bone breaks, osteoporosis, and even arthritis.
Improve your mental health
Not only does strength training offer physical benefits, but there a mental health perks too. While cardio has always been hailed for releasing feel-good endorphins, strength training has also been found to reduce depressive symptoms and improve cognitive abilities and self-esteem.
Strength training has also been found to help reduce stress. With women often reporting higher levels of stress than men, strength training may just be the thing they need to improve their mental state and overall wellness.
Increase energy levels
Finding the time to complete cardio training can be difficult, and long bouts of it can deplete the body’s energy stores and leave one feeling exhausted. Strength training, on the other hand, can often be completed in shorter sessions (30 to 60 minutes) and, after a quick rest, can leave you feeling as though you have enough energy to power through the remainder of the day.
Improves heart health
Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for women. Most exercise can help reduce the risk of heart disease, but recent studies have shown that strength training in particular has been associated with a 10-17% reduced right of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
The best part of this is you do not need to spend hours upon hours a week on strength training. Lifting weights for less than an hour a week may reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke by 40-70%.
Tips to get you started
If you have never attempted strength training before, it can be intimidating waltzing into a weight room. To alleviate this and get you on the right track from the start, consider:
Hiring a trainer ensures you understand proper form and can help you get started on a structured workout.
Enlist a workout buddy to make the experience less frightening and more fun. Workout buddies are also great to help hold you both accountable.
Slow and steady wins the race. You don’t need to start lifting Olympic-level weights right off the bat, as overexerting on strength training can cause fatigue or injury. Instead, start with one to two sessions a week and build yourself up from there.
Featured image credit: DepositPhotos.com
