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Over the years, fitness centers have grown enormously. Starting with Celebrity Fitness as a pioneer, followed by Gold’s Gym, and the last one is Fitness First. In each of this extremely well built gym, a vast array of equipments is provided for the customers to train. It ranges from cardiovascular machine (treadmill, bike, and even stepper for hill climber) to weight lifting machines. Logically, the entire customer (in this case, women) could take a huge amount of benefits from the training regime. But, as shocking as it might be, they don’t. The women who train there only train their cardiovascular system. They do not take the weight resistance training. They spend more and more time on the cardiovascular exercise, and less on exercises that challenge their bodies. Doing weight training does not always involve lifting heavy weights of dumb-bells, but there are a lot of fun varieties that women can use; such as using medicine ball. A medicine ball is a tool that provides women with the chance of training their muscles without giving too much stress on it. The bottom line is that women can get a lot of benefits from doing resistance training.

The biggest controversy that keeps women away from doing resistance training is that they are afraid of getting a bulk muscle mass. Women fear that they will get a big and muscular posture and eventually every one will cast a weird look at them. This is really incorrect. Researchers found that unlike men, women typically don’t gain size from strength training. This condition happens because compared to men; women have 10 to 30 times less of testosterone. Those hormones cause muscle hypertrophy (an enlargement or overgrowth of an organ or part of the body due to the increased size of the constituent cells). Women will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus. Besides that, there are still other benefits that women can get from resistance training.

The other reason why women refuse to get weight training is that they are all looking at the same old misguiding myth, and that is to lose weight. Actually, there is a big difference in losing weight and get healthy. Losing weight does not always mean that the body is healthy (having a cancer, for instance). The correct way to acquire a healthier physique is that women must lose their fat instead of their weight. And this is the first benefit of doing resistance training for women. The benefits are that women will lose body fat faster than the non-resistance training groups. There are studies performed by Wayne Westcott, PhD, from the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, who found that the average women who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly one kilograms of muscle and will lose two kilograms of fat. As their lean muscle increases so does their resting metabolisms. Resting metabolisms is the body’s metabolic rate (rate of energy use) early in the morning after an overnight fast and a full eight hours of sleep. The higher their resting metabolisms are, the faster they burn calories. Generally speaking, for each kilogram of muscle they gain, they burn twenty to thirty more calories each day. The number of calories they successfully eradicate will rise exponentially if they train regularly. That can really add up. The harder they train, the faster they lose the fat. Lose fat not lose weight.

Women have a high risk of getting osteoporosis. The risk gets higher for especially those who are in the age above 40. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become fragile and more likely to break. Osteoporosis is a disease of bone leading to an increased risk of fracture. The bone mineral density is reduced; bone structure is disrupted so that the bone will become much, much weaker than the normal density bone. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks. These broken bones, also known as fractures, occur typically in the hip, spine, and wrist. This is where resistance training comes in handy by preventing osteoporosis. A research has found that weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density (and enhance bone modeling) by 13 percent in six months. This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be women’s best defense against osteoporosis.

After having healthy benefits from reducing fat and preventing osteoporosis the women still have another ?profit?. They will improve their athletic performance. Over and over research concludes that strength training improves athletic ability in all (including the very elite athletes). Golfers can significantly increase their driving power. Cyclists are able to continue for longer periods of time with less fatigue. Skiers improve technique and reduce injury. Swimmers heal faster from lung fatigue. Whatever sport they play, strength training has been shown to improve overall performance as well as decrease the risk of injury. This is really useful for everyone, not just athletes.

There are other benefits as well from resistance training. Women will for sure increase their strength. The improvement will make them far less dependent upon others for assistance in daily living. Chores will be easier, lifting kids, groceries and laundry will no longer push them to the max. Also, there is another bonus. If their maximum strength is increased, daily tasks and routine exercise will be far less likely to cause injury. Research studies conclude that even moderate weight training can increase a woman’s strength by 30 to 50 percent. Research also shows that women can develop their strength at the same rate as men. Not only those women will build stronger muscles from resistance training, but they also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability. This acts as reinforcement for the joints and helps prevent injury. A recent 12-year study showed that strengthening the low-back muscles had an 80 percent success rate in eliminating or alleviating low-back pain. Other studies have indicated that weight training can ease the pain of osteoarthritis and strengthen joints. Yes, women already having osteoporosis or osteoarthritis can still also gain benefit from resistance training The most important benefit a person can achieve is learning basic fundamentals in training techniques in order to minimize the risk for injury and maximize the overall health status and functional strength. This is especially true for the patient with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. So basically, women will reduce their risk of injury, back pain & arthritis.

The last benefit, but definitely not the least, from doing weight training is that women will reduce their risk from having a degenerative disease such as a heart problem or diabetes. According to Dr. Barry A. Franklin of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure. When cardiovascular exercise is added to the training regime, these benefits are maximized. Besides having a healthier heart, Dr. Franklin also noted that weight training may improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months. In the end, they will have a healthier body.
In summary, there are really a huge number of benefits from weight training that women can get. On the contrary to the popular beliefs, women will not gain a bulk muscle mass. Instead, they will have a healthier and better body than women who only do cardiovascular training. Sure, cardiovascular training is great. But, the benefits of weight training for women,, far outweigh those who just choose cardiovascular. As stated earlier, cardiovascular is very important, but to add weight training will add many benefits. The body will get more challenge from the mixed training. So, to all of the women who really appreciate health, stop worrying and start resistance training!

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