Three Reasons Why Women Don't Lift Weights

- Endless Reasons Why They Should Reconsider

By Janet Ford, President, PowerFit LLC
Despite overwhelming evidence showing the benefits of weight training, statistics show women still rely on aerobics and use aerobic fitness equipment to be slim, healthy and young. See NSGA statistics. Resulting joint injuries and persistent cellulite, however, call for alternative methods of exercise.

Some may remember the Tufts University research that found unexpected results from a study performed with women in their 50s and 60s. The women lifted weights for two, 30 minute sessions per week. After one year, they dropped two dress sizes without dieting, and their lean muscle mass, cardiovascular fitness, coordination and bone density measurements were comparable to younger women in their 30s and early 40s. Prior to this research, frailty was thought to be an inevitable part of getting old.

Yet, the promise of youth and body transformation has not exactly led to a weight lifting revolution in fitness training among women. The reluctance appears to turn on three factors:

1. Women are uneasy about entering the same weight training rooms that are dominated by hulking body builders.
2. Women still fear "bulking up," even though it has been demonstrated many times over that weight training does not have this effect on the female body.
3. The fitness industry manufactures equipment engineered for male bodies, often making it difficult for women to safely begin or advance in a strength training program.

These obstacles should not prevail on women's lives, as women are particularly vulnerable to osteoporosis, muscle loss, joint disease, decreased coordination and hunched-over posture - the very problems that weight training addresses.

Some solutions include:

(1) obtain home weight training equipment, which will enable you to exercise in a comfortable and convenient atmosphere and with exercise partners of your own choosing;
(2) understand that women do not bulk up without the assistance of steroidal chemicals or extraordinary genes - for more information, read about the differences between bodybuilding and weight training; and
(3) find weight training equipment suited to women's needs - many space-saving, adjustable dumbbells increase in only 2 ½ lb. increments, rather than the male-sized 5 to 10 lb. increments. Resistance bands and medicine balls provide excellent strength training benefits and come in varied weights, sizes and shapes to accommodate a woman's workout program. Workout gloves, especially those with wrist supports, help women to grab and hold bars more comfortably.