Hi and this Wednesday, we will see why it is important that women do their weight training. Till about half a decade ago, women shied away from picking weights at the gym and those who did them were seen through a mist of ill-founded myths. However, today we see a good number of women at the weight stations at gyms. Studies on women doing weight-bearing exercises have come up with the following benefits:
1. Reduces Chances of Breast Cancer: The American Cancer Society in a January 2007 report stated that weight-bearing exercises were encouraged in post-treatment phase of patients. A study of 3000 survivors in the Nurse’s Health Study showed that those who increased their level of activity to include fitness and especially weights reduced their chances of cance recurrence by almost 40%.
2. Increases Body Strength: This is obvious but not in the way it is for men. Because of the presence of female hormones, women do not develop the bulging muscles you see in men, unless they are on artificial proteins, steroids etc. However, they gain tone, condition and definition to their body muscles. They are able to tackle picking a child, lifting heavy grocery or moving office equipment themselves more efficiently and without help.
3. Betters Posture and Balance: As you will train more regularly with weights, you will have notice better overall coordination and better motor ability of joints and muscle systems. This will enhance your balance as well as posture while performing everyday activities. This is especially important as women age and tend to lose muscle mass and steadiness.
4. Raises BMR: Our muscles use approximately 25% of our total energy requirement at the state of rest. This building some muscle mass is good value. It directly leads to higher BMR. Thus if you weight-train regularly and develop even mild muscle mass, you will actually burn more calories even at the state of rest.
5. Reduces Body Fat: Though aerobic activities increase aerobic capacity, condition the heart and other muscles, anaerobic training like weight lifting helps burn more calories. No weight loss program is complete without strength training. It is a quick, tested and effective way of fat burning.
6. Prevents Onset of Osteoporosis: Studies have also found that training with moderate to mildly heavy weights increases both bone-density and bone strength. This is especially important for those post-menopausal women with rapid calcium depletion and those whose families have recoded and established cases of osteoporosis.