3 Undeniable Reasons Why Women Should Lift Heavy
Yes, every woman. It’s too often I have to justify why it’s vital for women to lift heavier than they may think, but it’s a conversation I’ll put an end to right here with three easy points you can’t deny.
You can’t deny strength:
“Strong is the new Sexy” is a cute tagline, but doesn’t really get the point across. Strong isn’t just sexy, it’s essential. Strength is relative, yes, but strength also helps determine quality of life today and in the future.
Assuming you’re injury and illness free as you read this, you’ll never have a better opportunity to build strength than you do now. The longer you wait, the harder it gets. The kind of strength I’m talking about is the strength that allows you to move freely, pick up daily necessities and perform all aspects of your life without risk of injury.
You know what an insanely effective way to gain strength? By lifting things that are slightly-heavier than you did before, in a safe way. Strength training is key.
You can’t deny calorie burn:
“I just want to lose weight/fat” sounds like a great reason… to start lifting heavier weights. I have some quick logic for anyone looking to lose a couple pounds:
Losing fat means we need to burn calories, right? Simplified but true. Muscle is a natural calorie-burner - the more of it that’s on your body, the more calories you naturally burn. We all have been told that moving more burns more calories, but, what if we didn’t have to?
Added muscle mass can increase our basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the amount of calories our bodies burn at rest (not including activity). So, if we can add some muscle through that strength training, we’re not only benefiting from the added calories that we burn by challenging ourselves, but we also add to the calories we’re burning on a daily basis, without any added effort at all. Sounds like a win-win.
You can’t deny science:
“I don’t want to get bulky” is a poor excuse for avoiding weights; mostly because the two don’t correlate that much.
Science will tell you that on average, women build muscle much less quickly than men do - in large part thanks to lower testosterone levels. Anecdote will tell you that if it was easy for everyone to put on muscle, 90% of the men in the gym would look like Thor.
I’d like to keep this one simple, because the answer here is simple. You will not get “bulky” by lifting weights, or even lifting heavier weights.
“Bulky” is often one of two things;
Your body looking bigger because you’re also adding fat to go along with a little muscle (if you’re not sure where you’re at with your food - start here),
A negative image you have in your head that’s stemming from somewhere else whether that’s the media, the mean guy at school, your self-conscious mother or yourself.
Whoever put in your head that a couple pounds of muscle makes you “bulky” and that “bulky” makes you unattractive is wrong. A little muscle shows hard work and reminds everyone that “strong is the new sexy”.
We can make all the excuses in the world, but at the end of the day, proper strength training will do your body good. Remember: move well, feel better, get strong, look good!