The number one priority in your fitness arsenal should be strength training. (The only exception I can think of would be if you are training for something like a marathon where you need your body to be efficient and are focusing on endurance.) Strength training is SO important! After age 30, you can lose up to ten percent of your muscle mass each decade. When you lose this muscle mass, you not only lose strength and power, but your metabolism slows down and you burn less calories. Your percentage of fat goes up. Your body gets flabby. So, what's good about any of that??!!
An alarmingly low percentage of women lift weights; it's something like 10-15%. Why? Women are afraid of getting "big and bulky." THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Those female extreme body builders that you see in competitions spend whole days in the gym and take body altering things like hormones and supplements. Spending an hour lifting weights at your gym isn't going to have that effect on you. Take me, for example: I lift challenging heavy weights three days each week. My body has gotten smaller, tighter, and stronger. I'm adding muscle instead of losing it. My metabolism has skyrocketed and my body fat is burning off because MUSCLE BURNS FAT.
Let me say it again. Women, you will not get big and bulky when you lift weights! The more muscle on your body, the more fat you burn, the more calories you burn. You will get smaller, tighter, stronger bodies because muscle takes up less space than fat.
So, when you get up the nerve to lift weights, do you use machines or free weights? I personally think free weights are superior- they challenge your balance and core stability. We sit enough already, do we need to sit at machines too? I feel that you challenge yourself more in free weights. Ladies, don't be nervous about all of those "tough" guys in the free weight area. Many of them are lifting too much weight with poor form. They may check you out at first, but it's because you are so awesome for trying something new! Go for it!
If you don't strength train now, add it to your routine a few days per week. Put that above everything else and tag your cardio onto the end of your routine. Don't belong to a gym? Do body-weight-only exercises at home like push ups, planks, squats, lunges, etc. If you do belong to a gym, find a total body routine in a book or online. Hire a trainer. Go to the free weights and challenge yourself. Pick a weight that feels hard. I mean, we lift children, grocery bags, and heavy laundry baskets every day. Our purses can weigh ten pounds or more!
Remember, you are stronger than you think you are. Surprise yourself. Challenge your body to change your body.
