I am a female personal trainer (PT) working in gyms around Oxford. I have my own varied ‘workout’ history and climbed the ropes from runs outside, DVDs at home, braving the gym, doing endless cardio, not going to the gym, getting back into it, only to do more endless cardio…. get bored again… stop going, getting fed up!
by Elektra Pavlou | 16th June 2013
Until I made the sensible decision to hire a Personal Trainer because I just couldn’t get it right and I wanted to start using the dumb bells and other equipment in the gym. Needless to say he introduced me to a whole new world. For a small investment (which I will never regret), he introduced me to weights, resistance exercises (using machines), and compound work such as squatting and deadlifting… and it has been smooth sailing for me, ever since. After training with him for only a few months, my transformation inspired me to share my revelations with others. I then qualified as a PT with the sole of getting women moving in much more exciting ways and to look and feel better about themselves.
I aim this article at women more specifically as we seem to be the ones who get sucked into that endless cardio loop. Every day when I walk into work I see most men doing all the seriously cool stuff with the weights, feeling completely opposite to the women on the stationary bikes who like to read a book or watch TV while they cycle, or I see some women who ‘love’ to alternate between treadmill and cross trainer and seem to just stare ahead in a daze, looking as if they’re about to pass out from some serious boredom.
I’d like to give all the women out there, who are looking to get fitter, some information about why they need to ditch those treadmills or cross trainers and start incorporating Resistance Training into their workouts, or just ditch the cardio altogether. Below I will list a few of the main advantages of changing the way you workout and give you some comparisons to other forms of exercise.
1. With resistance training you get MORE for LESS – what this means is that if you were to train on machines with weights for 30 minutes and compare this to running on a treadmill for 30 minutes (on a similar effort level) the benefits of the resistance workout will far outweigh that of the treadmill. The beauty of resistance work is that you burn calories while working out, but because of the resistance and pressure placed on your muscles (causing them to tear slightly), they then need to recover. So when you feel muscular soreness the next day and have trouble sitting and getting up stairs, you should know that you are still burning calories from the workout the day before!
2. Body Muscle % - another advantage of doing resistance training over other forms of exercise is that it builds your muscles (making you leaner). The more muscle you have around your body, the harder it needs to work to stay awake and function and … the more calories you burn. Please know, women are not built to gain crazy amounts of muscles mass so you do not need to worry about bulking up. The combination of oestrogen and testosterone in our bodies results in a firm toned look. If you are female and want some muscle then simply speak to a qualified personal trainer about the ways that you can achieve this. Just remember, building muscle is a very slow process, and for women it is a great achievement due to our lower testosterone levels.
3. From resistance exercise you will also gain whole body strength benefits, which is difficult to get from other types of exercise. Swimming is a great but the problem is you would need to do a whole lot of swimming to equal just 1 hour of weights in the gym to get the same results! Simple things like carrying your babies, physical work or walking long distances become easier. Daily tasks such as carrying the millions of shopping bags from the car into the house all become easier and less troublesome. All because your muscles are stronger and your body is more capable.
4. Especially for women, resistance training increases the production of minerals for your bones and joints. As you hit the big M, your bone density significantly reduces… but resistance training slows this process down, keeping you stronger for longer.
5. The psychological benefits are outrageous. This applies for before, during and after workouts. Would you rather be the woman eagerly anticipating a 30 minute, heavy weight resistance workout and 6 different exercises, or the one who alternates between treadmill and cross trainer, for endless minutes and hours? I choose woman number 1! In addition to this, no matter how much you weigh, the more weight you lift the less you worry about your looks and the more you start to respect yourself and love yourself.
One of the easiest ways for people to start leading healthier lifestyles is by starting with exercise…. Once you see how easy it is to maintain good habits, this has other knock on effects like changing your nutrition to suit your goals in the gym and it all just blooms from there.
So…. Women, whatever your race or creed, age or size, do yourselves a massive favour and pick up some weights. Be #BeautifulStrong
Like my FB page - www.facebook.com/eFITT.eu - to keep in touch with my ramblings and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to drop me a line. I’m offering a special 4-weeks online training deal for anyone that quotes this article!
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Elektra Pavlou is a Fitness Trainer based in Oxford and holds qualifications in psychology and nutrition.
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