That has to change. Popular or not, it's true. We're here to discuss weight training for women, and why free weight training is the best bet for any woman (or man for that matter) who has weight to lose, muscles to harden or chronic pain to be rid of.
Let me start by saying there is so much supporting information for the theme of this page, that I won't even come close to putting it all down here. Consider the information you read here as the tip of the iceberg, by no means the, "all there is to know about weight training for women" page.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to go on and on, (and usually do) but I doubt anyone would read it all. And the purpose of this site is, "pertinent, useful information", not "interesting things you may not have known". Now down to the "pertinent info" portion of the page.
(Bear in mind these aren't the only reasons, but I'm trying to stick to my "pertinent" statement above.)
From the list above, the big two are "Structurally unstable" and "Less muscle to support activity".
The structural support of the body is the skeleton. The health, size and position of the bones will determine to a large extent how "structurally sound" a body will be. Women are at a disadvantage right off the bat because their bones are smaller and less dense than a man's. They are then further disadvantaged by the position of those bones.
You see, a woman's anatomy has to accommodate child birth, which means a wider pelvis and hips, and the existence of a uterus. The wider hips give women more of a "knock kneed" posture as the thigh bone (Femur) has to come in at a greater angle than that of a man. This angle is referred to as the "Q" angle.
Next is the Uterus, which is a wonderful miracle of nature, but structurally it's a disadvantage. Functionally, it amounts to a big hollow space in the center of a woman's structure. Now, the creator has given compensation for that, but that compensation is muscle support. That's why weight training for women is essential.
Whatever is not supported by the bones has to be supported by the muscles, and vise versa. This leads me to the second of the big two “Less muscle to support activity”.
Women have about 40% less muscle on their bodies than men. That, in and of itself is a huge reason why weight training for women is more than a good idea. You see, bones can't hold themselves in place, they need to be held in place by muscles. Well actually, muscles, ligaments (bone-to-bone connection) and tendons (muscle-to-bone connections). But muscles have by far the greatest effect on the position of your bones.
So when your Chiropractor tells you that he's "creating a favorable environment for healing" when he gives you an adjustment, he's right. For the moment. What that means is your bones were out of position, and now their back where they should be (for the most part). Thus creating that "favorable environment" in which your body can do what it needs to do which is heal.
The problem is your bones, and in turn that "favorable environment" won't stay there very long. Why? Let me ask you this, how do you suppose your bones got out of proper position in the first place? That's right, your muscles must have pulled them out, or maybe moved is a better word. Stay with me here. Muscles are under tension even when relaxed. That's why our bodies always have opposing muscle groups (pushers and pullers).
For an example take a look at your arm. Look at your Biceps muscle. Now imagine someone cutting it in half crossways. If that were to really happen, your Biceps would snap like a stretched rubber band cut in the middle. Sorry to be so graphic, but it goes directly to how your muscles act on your bones even while relaxed. Now this shows tension.
Now take look at the backside of your upper arm, this is your Triceps. This is responsible for moving your wrist away from your shoulder, (a little kinesiology for you there) just as the Biceps moves the wrist toward the shoulder. So for every contraction the Biceps makes, the Triceps must lengthen, and for any shortening (contraction) the Triceps makes the Biceps must lengthen. This shows opposition, and one of the reasons weight training for women is so important.
This relationship illustrates just about every other length-tension relationship in the body. So for our scenario, if your Triceps was a great deal stronger than your Biceps, (proportionately) then your forearm would be constantly pulled toward a hyper-extended position, which of course would hurt your elbow (a joint). Now if this went on long enough you might even go to see someone about this pain (pick your expert).
You might decide you need a prescription for the what has become constant pain by now, or you might be told you need orthopedic surgery to correct this apparent mal-alignment in your elbow.
The crummy part is, no matter which way you go, the results will just be temporary. Sort of like that back adjustment. Why? Because no matter which action you chose, the real cause of the problem is still present. So within a short amount of time, you'll be back to feeling that old familiar feeling again.
So what's the solution? It's the topic of this page! It's weight training for women! Yes, the solution is to strengthen your Biceps muscle by lifting free weights so that it can catch up to, and counteract the over pull the Triceps is inflicting on the elbow.
Not as well. When you're using an unstable weight in space, all of your supporting muscles are likewise called into action. On a machine, that's not the case. Your body (even your elbow), is stabilized and supported by the machine. Thereby allowing the muscles that support and stabilize the elbow to become even weaker. Weight training for women especially is the solution to many of these problems.
Whew! Boy it never seems to take that long when I'm explaining that to a client. Then again, maybe if you asked my clients they would say, "No, it seems like it takes longer!"
I don't hear this as much as I used to, many of these old myths are falling by the wayside as the "pop culture" becomes more educated. But it still comes up from time to time.
"Weight training for women is dangerous" or "Weight training for women makes a masculine body".
Let me just assure everyone that muscularity doesn't happen by accident. Simply "lifting free weights" won't give you a masculine physique. Let me also assure you that you can't build a physique like this one without weight training for women or otherwise.
When discussing weight training for women, it's even more of a stretch because of the low levels of testosterone in women. Trust me on this one, as a fitness professional I can tell you that if you control your calories, you can't get bigger.
What you can do is get harder. Not many folks have much of a problem with getting harder. This is why you must go by your size as a gauge instead of your weight. Hard muscle does weigh more than soft muscle because it's dense. But if you're eating right, you'll be losing far more fat at the same time. This means you'll still weigh less overall.
You must understand your body really only has one primary way to burn fat. Muscle is what burns calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. If you don't use your muscles, you won't be burning many calories. (Yet another reason weight training for women should be more appealing.) If you suffer from chronic aches and pains chances are these are caused by weak muscle support, or muscle imbalance of some sort.
Don't get me wrong, we burn calories every moment of the day. We burn calories when we think. But if you're looking to burn enough calories to change the composition of your body, you're going to need to use your muscles. I will cover this in greater detail on the following pages.
Weight training for women...why it burns more fat than cardio.
The connection between your diet, muscles and fat.
Common misconception, HUGE MISTAKE! By machines I'm referring to those big multi-station type monstrosities, or the pieces that you see in health clubs. They usually have a selectorized weight stack attached to them, you sit and perform some movement. Usually seated and almost always made to isolate a single muscle.
This is why free weight training for women is so essential. Machines actually encourage the weakening of stabilizer muscles, thereby increasing your risk for injury with every passing weak you work on them. The science behind this is extensive, but I'll try to illustrate it in a simple, short example.
Let’s take a standard military press machine (you are seated, and press up on two handles already positioned above your head). This movement is completely one dimensional, the weight is guided for you and you need only apply force (push) in one direction, up. You feel like its working because you can feel the front of your shoulders burning after about 7-8 reps. Good exercise for your shoulders, right?
On the other hand, take any chair, preferably a Swiss Ball or some other type of exercise ball and sit on it holding two dumbells.
Now perform the same movement with those dumbells, but without a back support and having to stabilize the weights in three dimensional space as you move them up and down. See the difference? Not only do the small muscles in the front part of the shoulders get worked, (anterior deltoid) but all the muscles that are involved in stabilizing the entire shoulder itself are strengthened as well.
If you don't realize the benefit of this, you will the next time your hanging a curtain rod or throwing a baseball with your son.
If you choose the machine route, you'll be strengthening the prime mover (anterior deltoid) while at the same time all the muscles that stabilize the prime mover get weaker. Squats are another prime example, you’re told to avoid them because you might hurt your back. The only problem is, squats are a part of life. We all do squats every day in our real lives, and women probably do them more than men!
What am I talking about? Getting in and out of your car, picking up kids, picking up groceries, going to the bathroom, (sorry, but it's true), doing laundry, cleaning up the house, cleaning the stove, gardening, I could go on and on. (And sometimes do.) See my point?
You are not going to escape doing squats, so you might as well develop the strength to do them correctly!
Bottom Line? Weight training for women is even more important than for men. Women need to develop that stability to support their unstable structure. Weight training for women is the way of the future; it's the only way to solve many of the ailments that plague so many women today.
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