How important is it for women to strength train?

Strength training is just as important for women as it is men.  Did you know that, on average, men & women lose more than 5 pounds of muscle tissue each decade between ages 25 & 55, and they experience an even greater loss during their senior years? (Forbes 1976; Evans & Rosenberg 1992).  Because muscles act as the engines of our bodies, less muscle leads to a lower resting metabolism, which in turn results in fewer calories being burned and more calories being stored as fat.  Many health professionals believe that an important underlying factor in fat gain is muscle loss.  So strength training should be part of any adult exercise program, if we want to address the problem of the alarming growth rate (65%) of overweight & obese people in our country.

Strength training is very important for everyone, including women. The human body is very adaptive; if you put your body under the stress of resistance training then it will adapt to the demands. The opposite is also true; if you do not use your muscle then the body will get rid of it. Strength training helps to build strong bones, control your weight, protect the joints, increase stabilization, boost stamina, increase self esteem, and decrease the risk of chronic diseases. One of the more important benefits of strength training for women to consider is the impact it will have on bone health. As women age, their risk for osteoporosis increases. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone mass decreases. One of the best ways to combat this is to work on increasing peak bone mass as a young adult. The stress of strength training on your bones will help to increase your bone mass.

It is extremely important for women to strength train. Weight lifting has many benefits including:

Increases bone density (very important especially as we get older)
Increase lean mass (helps with metabolism)
Positive emotions (proven to boost self-confidence)
Balance, stability, joint health
Maintain healthy weight

I believe the number one most important factor why women should strength train is for bone health. As women age we are at a much higher risk for osteoporosis and strength training is the biggest counter we have against that condition.

In the past mostly men weight trained but as time went on more women started to get into weight training themselves.  Weight training is good for men and women.  Two of the major things why weight training is important for women is one that it increase your metabolism so you burn more calories throughout the day.  Second it helps reduce the chance of decreasing our bone density.  Not to mention a nice tone look doesn't help either.

Yes, it is very important for women to strength train. Strength training builds and tones muscle. Since muscle is the bodies best fat burner, this means slight increases in muscle will help aid in weight loss. Strength training will help keep the muscles long, lean and healthy. It will also help keep the bones strong and dense, which is very important for women (and men) since bone mass peaks around 30 years of age.

Unfortunately, it is very common for women to avoid strength training because they don’t want to 'bulk up' like a male bodybuilder. The good news is that this simply cannot happen without the use of steroids. Women do not have high enough testosterone levels to build muscle like men.

It is also common for women who do strength train to avoid lifting heavier weights. In order to tone muscle, you need to lift weights that are heavy enough to stimulate the muscle to change. I think Joe Defranco explained it best when he said women should view strength training like cooking a burger. When you cook a burger (strength train using heavy enough weights) it shrinks as all of the fat is cooked off. What are you left with? Nothing but lean, toned muscle!

Strength training for women is very important, especially as we age. Strength training is an effective method for losing weight, gaining lean muscle mass, losing body fat, toning the body, and improving your physical fitness appearance. The additional lean muscle mass will improve your overall body structure, strength, and repair system, while increasing  your metabolism, resulting in more calories consumed.

As we age, some muscular, connective tissue, and bone structure benefits received from strength fitness training are: keeping or increasing muscle mass and help prevent muscle loss or atrophy, reduce or prevent bone loss, improve posture, stability and balance, maintain a healthy range of motion and flexibility. Exercising also helps improve our state of mind and self-esteem.