8 Strength Training Benefits women should know about, from improved confidence to a faster metabolism.
We‘ve been championing Strength Training for Women here at BodyRock for years, because when you combine it with a sprinkle of HIIT (high intensity interval training) it packs the biggest fat burning punch of any workout. Strength Training delivers the most sought after results - faster fat loss, improved self confidence, body shape re-contouring, increased sexual desire and pleasure, and the list goes on.
What is Strength Training?
Strength Training and Resistance Training are one and the same. You will hear people use both terms for this type of exercise, but when it comes right down to it, Strength Training is training against the force of resistance. This ‘force of resistance’ can include different options - Dumbbells, Barbells like our Sculpt Bar (specifically designed for home workouts). You can also optimize your won Bodyweight by adding a Strength Training Weighted Vest for hands free resistance.
The focus of Strength Training is on getting stronger and building lean muscle. At BodyRock our mission is to encourage women to build their functional agility, endurance and explosive strength. Let’s look at the benefits of doing just that.
1. Strength Training supports Weight Loss & Weight Management.
Strength Training is one of the most powerful workouts for burning fat, losing weight and transforming the shape of your body by building athletic, lean muscle. Why is lean muscle so important, and why can people with lean muscle maintain their shape and weight significantly easier than those without it?
Let’s break it down - 1 pound of fat on your body burns 3-5 calories on average a day when you are largely at rest. 1 pound of lean muscle on your body at rest burns 15-25 calories per day. Building lean muscle by Strength Training will boost your body’s caloric burn by up to 5X. This is 5X more calories burning while you sleep, eat, work and watch NetFlix. It’s a game changing advantage that most people don’t know about. The compounded effects of this will transform your body over time. Now add your workouts and daily movement on top of this and you can see why Strength Training sets you up for a lifetime of consistent fitness and body goals success.
2. Strength Training Fortifies and Protects Your Bones as You Age.
As women get older, they lose minerals from their bones faster than their bodies can replace them. This often leads to Osteoporosis. Strength Training helps to strengthen your bones so that they are less brittle and prone to breaking or other forms of injury that can hamper your mobility.
3. Strength Training will Set Fire To Your Metabolism.
As we highlighted above, adding long, lean and athletic muscle tone will lower body fat. Increase your lean muscle to dramatically amp up your body’s capacity to burn more calories - even when you sleep. The more lean muscle that you can add to your legs, gluteus, back and shoulders, the more efficient your inner fat burning engine will become, 24/7.
4. Strength Training Will Improve Your Posture So That You Look & Feel Confident.
If like most people, you find yourself hunched over and schlepping around all the time with terrible posture, then you need Strength Training in your life. Building strength in your core and glutes will help alleviate back and joint issues and eliminate aches and pains in the body which will help in correcting your overall posture. In today’s world a woman has to be strong and capable - and standing or sitting up straight with your shoulders back and proud projects confidence and ability.
5. Feel Less Crazy and Have Much Better Sexy Times.
Strength Training is great physical therapy for clearing out any emotional and physiological stress that you may be holding. It also increases the body’s flow of Dopamine (the feel good / love chemical) which amplifies our experience of pleasure. This can extend into better sexual performance, increased desire and off the charts sexual enjoyment (even alone). You can read about one woman’s ‘sexual rebirth’ after following our strength training workouts here.
6. Strength Training Builds Your Mobility & Stability.
The new lean muscle that you build and strengthen around your joints will help you maximize your joint stability which will help prevent a variety of injuries and keep you mobile, longer into your life. This point might be the least ‘sexy’ out of all, because people don’t tend to think long term about their body goals, and surface and cosmetic concerns are usually the most common and powerful motivators for exercise. That said, simply being able to stand with strength on your own two feet and being able to move freely without pain or encumbrances is one of the biggest benefits to Strength Training that exist.
7. Strength Training Will Keep Your Strong for Your Pregnancy and Beyond.
If you are planning on having kids, or you are looking to rebuild your body afterwards, Strength Training will help repair and correct some of the enormous changes that a woman’s body goes through, throughout her pregnancy. Many woman have reported that Strength Training helped their bodies perform better during their deliveries. We halve a popular series called ‘BodyRock Baby’ in our fitness streaming service that covers pre-natal fitness with our BodyRock coach Krista, who was pregnant at the time of filming. You can check out that series on BodyRockPlus.com with our free 7 day trial.
8. The Right Tools To Deliver the Fastest Results.
If these benefits of Strength Training have motivated you to give it a try, we have a free 5 day, Introduction To Strength Training Bootcamp for Women that you can sign up for here. The program teaches some of the fundamental strength training exercises at a beginner level.
In terms of gear, we recommend the following tools to help you break into strength training. All of our BodyRock equipment has been specifically designed to give you a gym quality workout at home, and our weighted vests have been tailored to fit a woman’s body.
The BodyRock Weighted Vest.
Hands free resistance (allows you to keep your hands free for balance and stability, or to pick up additional tools like barbells or dumbbells). Perfect for adding strength training to any exercise or movement like walking, biking, hiking, skipping, Hiit workouts etc.
The BodyRock Sculpt Bar.Designed for home use, and with a grip that is easier on the hands, our Sculpt Bar comes with a set 35 lbs of interchangeable weight plates, enough weight to challenge beginners or intermediate level BodyRockers. The plates are coated so that they won’t scruff or damage your floors, and each plate has handgrips so that you can use them as free-weights as well.
The cornerstone of any home gym - we recommend having a heavy and lighter pair for your strength training workouts. Try a 10lb set to get started and then add a lighter or heavier set.
Finally, we have some incredible Strength Training Workouts in BodyRockPlus, that you can try for free on our 7 day free trial. Come and give Strength Training a shot, it will change your body and your life forever.