Strength training for women has exploded in recent years with sports like power lifting, Olympic weightlifting, cross fit and most recently StrongWoman competitions having huge increases in female participants.
Here’s why. Women for years have been basing their fitness and health routines around improving their aesthetics, To lose weight or look a certain way, To be skinny and at all costs avoid weights because you will turn into the Hulk in high heals.
Then we started to get a lot of female role models coming through social media and all of a sudden there is this new reality. Women are lifting heavy weights sometimes more than men, are actually getting smaller from it, looking incredible without even focusing on looks with the added bonus of forgetting about the scales and are more concerned with improvement inside of the gym and being proud of the hard work they have put in compared to the external rewards that being healthy and strong deliver.
Getting started is often intimidating and can take some stepping out of your comfort zone. In most commercial gyms the weights area is normally dominated by men, often no one has shown you how to lift correctly and you are not sure which exercises or what weights you should use to get the results you are after. These are just some of the barriers women face when starting their strength training journey.
Over the last two years of having our all female gym and personal training studio here in West End, we have found a few trends. Those who are successful and get the best results have these things in common
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Resilience – Strength training is hard, You are changing your muscles, movement, nervous system and you as a person every time you pick up a weight. There are days when it will be tough and you are feeling like you are tired and not progressing as fast as you would like. Those who have the resilience (or develop it through training) soon learn that this is exactly the point where on the other side of these feelings is your next break through.
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They have a Growth vs Fixed mindset – You have to love being challenged and know that just because you may not be strong yet, with hard work and persistence you will improve and with time reap the rewards vs This is not for me I cant do this my body, genetics, history tells me that this is not for me. Some of the key indicators of life quality as you age are directly correlated to strength and muscle mass. If your “genetics” are telling you that an improved quality of life is not for you then maybe you need to ask yourself some hard questions.
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Consistency – Our long term members feel like there is nothing better than feeling strong and healthy. The key part of the last sentence *Our long term members*. Strength doesn’t come over night. Our members have realised that there is no quick fixes and soon find out that with consistent actions comes consistent results. We are all going to have off weeks, but its those who decide commit to long term consistency that reap the rewards. The long term transformations of our members are something we are extremely proud of. Everyone can produce a before and after photo, but can they continue to produce the after and after and after photo that only long term consistency can bring. Our members can for sure!
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Lifestyle – Strength training improves, lean muscle mass, decreases body fat, Burns a ton of calories, Improves bone density, helps improve blood pressure and other vital health markers but only when coupled with improved lifestyle routines. You can be the strongest women in the world but if your diet and lifestyle routines consists of: no thought into what you put into your mouth, you’re sleeping less than 8 hours per night, constantly in a state of stress and you only put time into the gym you are leaving not only most of your potential for being stronger on the floor but also your health and quality of life. Training is a big part of the health equation, but it is also a part of a bigger wheel. If you have one part of your wheel nicely smoothed off but the rest are broken and crooked its not long before you veer off course and performance, motivation and health will drop off a cliff. Our most successful members build healthy lifestyle skills over time and are prepared to put in the work to make it happen.
The template for female strength training is slightly different to men. In general women recover faster, Have higher pain tolerances and can handle larger volumes of training. A cleverly designed program that factors in these variables, the individuals history, experience, goals and also the fact that women have a menstrual cycle (more on this in next weeks blog) will help women progress a lot faster with their strength training. In a world we all want everything yesterday this can make a big difference.
Our template for a someone new to strength training.
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Asses movement quality – Have someone make sure you are moving correctly, are not irritating any injuries, can work around your unique body and structure and can make you feel more comfortable in the weights room.
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Move well before you add weight – Your beginner strength gains will be rapid, just because the weight feels easy doesn’t always mean you should add more weight. Take the time to feel the positions and learn how an exercise should look and feel and listen out for your coaches cues that resonate with you. When you start to get a good grip on technique the extra load will come naturally
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Create a balanced body – Make sure your program has lots of unilateral (single leg and arm) work and helps to bring up your weaker areas. Women in general have less muscle mass so spending sometime learning how to isolate key muscle groups like the glutes can make a big difference over time. Key areas that most females get big benefits from are – Mid and upper back, Glutes and hamstrings, shoulders and arms. Spending some time bringing up these muscle groups can rapidly improve your strength potential
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Have a goal – Whether it be a 12 week challenge (ours starts June 1 😉 ) a novice in house or external strength sports competition (anyone with 6 months training can do one) or just purely having clear goals around what you want to achieve will make a massive difference to your motivation and will help to keep you consistent. Knowing you have a specific event or goal you are working towards is an amazing motivator and will help you get faster results.
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Have fun – Strength training is all about self improvement, Each day you walk in have something you want to work on. Maybe its a technique cue your coach has been working with you on, maybe you want to hit a pb on your favourite lift, maybe you have been working hard on your sleep and are excited to see how that translates to this weeks training. All of this is great but when you just enjoy the process and have fun magic happens. Make sure you finish each session with a high five and a smile and you will find you will create a lifelong healthy habit that can have many benefits outside of the gym. Life’s too short to not enjoy yourself.
Laugh, Love, Lift that’s the moto!
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