I have been a weight lifter for over 20 years. I love lifting weights. Most women are not comfortable walking into the weight room of a gym. They prefer to be on the cardio machines, or the machines that “simulate” weight lifting. Yes, those machines are big money makers in the world of fitness. They are easy to use. Anyone can pretty much walk up and look at the diagram on the side of the machine, and use them. Sometimes, I even see someone waiting for a certain machine, standing right next to the weight rack.
I co-own a gym with my husband. We both have full time other jobs, and are both certified in Fitness Training. He also has a certification in Kettlebells, and I have a certification in Sports Nutrition. I do personal training, and bootcamps, for women only: he does bootcamps for both men, and women. Every day, I find myself having a conversation with women about weight lifting. Most conversations are about why they don’t lift weights. “I don’t want to get big”…..”I did it before, and I gained weight”….or my favorite…”I don’t want to look like those girls on the stage”. My all time favorite was the girl that signed up for my bootcamp, and told me that she just got down to a size 14, and didn’t want ME to get her too skinny. She wanted to be sure that I wasn’t going to get her down to a size 5. Uhhhhhhh, no problem. Boy did her and I need to talk!
Ladies. I am taking a deep breath right now to be able to say the next few sentences.
You will NEVER get too big, you don’t have the testosterone.
The only way you could even get big enough to look like one of those girls on the stage would be years of extreme heavy weight lifting, and weeks and weeks of extreme dieting. Those girls hire trainers specifically so that they CAN get like that. Not at all what I do with my girls, nor is it the type of training that happens with my bootcamps. We train for strength, and we train so that we NEVER have to diet again.
Weight lifting for women is absolutely necessary if you DO want the following…
Strength and Confidence.
The ability to stop fad diets.
A raised metabolism.
A tight, flab free body, that most 20 year olds have.
Besides keeping your metabolic furnace fired up, we also need to build muscle to keep our bones strong. Did you know that after age 30 studies have shown that we will lose 50% of our muscle by the age of 70 if we do not strength train, and 75% by the age of 80!! We need to be strong to take care of ourselves, not to mention others!
There are a few books that I have spoken of often. I am an avid reader, and never go more than a day without either reading from one or the other of these.
Oxygen Magazine
Oxygen Magazine has everything from weight lifting workouts, recipes, and nutrition, to cut out sections that you can take to the gym with you.
The New Rules of Lifting for Women
The New Rules of Lifting for Women is co-written by one of the leading authors in the fitness, and fat loss industry. It has everything from commonly asked questions, to a workout plan, to nutrition information.
I urge you to look at my Constant Energy Fitness Store on the right, and click on those items. I have personally entered items that I use on a regular basis. Those two items alone, have changed my life! Information that is user friendly, and requires no trainer.
Get started today on your plan to get stronger, and fitter as you age. There is no reason to keep the myths going with women. Put them to rest by showing your body what it needs to age beautifully! Stop dieting, and start learning more about why your body will change completely once you incorporate strength training into your life!
Hoping to inform and motivate you, so that you can achieve optimal health and vitality!
Dawn