Strength and resistance training is an important component to a regular exercise routine in order to keep the body and mind strong for women through all ages. Stressing the body with weights and resistance provides maintenance to muscular balance, bone density and metabolism.

Strength training provides the physical demands the body needs to maintain bone density.  Bone density decreases as women age, causing the bones to become brittle and weak. Low bone density will increase the likelihood of stress fractures, breaks, and increases the time needed for injury recovery.

Weight training can efficiently and effectively increase or maintain our muscle mass, which will allow the body more joint stability, flexibility and balance. As women increase in age, the body becomes tight and inflexible over time. Without proper strength training the risk of overuse or muscular compensation can develop. Compensations start to form in the body from repetitive daily activities, exercise routines or living a sedentary lifestyle. The body then becomes used to these overused positions and can lead to common regional pains such as back, neck or shoulder. 

After the pain sets in, our activity level continues to decline as metabolism begins to slow down.  If a proper strength-training program is performed at least three days a week the onset of compensations can be reversed or prevented. Thus, movement returns to the body and the metabolism increases. Consistent strength training can improve balance, amount of muscle mass, and boost your metabolism.

Strength training has many benefits for women. Implementing a strength training routine can provide stronger bones which reduces the risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia, increases metabolism, lowers blood pressure, increases the balance of hormones, regulates sleep and even increases energy levels.

Taking a look at fact versus fiction leads us to a few misconceptions:

Myth 1:  “If I lift weights (strength training), I will ‘bulk’ up”.
 Answer:  Lifting weights does not make a woman get large muscles because the body has to be under frequent extreme amounts of stress or tension to increase the muscle size and there are a lot of other factors that effect muscle grow (ex. Hormone levels, nutrition, genetics, etc.)

Myth 2:  “My scale shows that my weight gets higher when I lift weights, so I must not be losing weight”.
 Answer: When lifting weights, you sustain some chance of the scale not budging because you are shedding the fat and replacing it with muscle weight. So it’s important to focus, not on the scale, but how your clothing fits.  If you are going down in clothing size, but you still weigh the same on the scale…don’t worry.  You have reduced your body fat percentage and are working on toning your muscles.

Myth 3:  “My muscles ache after I work out, so it’s hurting my body”
 Answer: It’s okay to feel sore after a workout.  Most likely you are developing your strength and the muscle is tired, so make sure you stretch at least 10 to 15 minutes after your workout to reduce the amount of soreness.

When starting a strength-training program it is okay to experience a little soreness, but remember the benefits are rewarding. Strength training, for women, is important in order to maintain bone density levels, mood regulation, sleep patterns, muscular strength and mass, metabolism and energy.

By Shelly Barbic

Articles Provided by Women of Influence. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of Entercom, or Women of Influence.