4 Reasons Why Women NEED to Lift Weights

Below I will outline a number of scientific or logical reasons why women specifically NEED to lift weights to maintain their health, mobility and fitness.

Reason 1: Bone Density & Osteoporosis

It is well known that women have a substantially higher chance of developing osteoporosis in comparison to men who have a much lower chance or risk.

Mansoor U. Keen, Anil Kumar & Reddy Reddivari via the National Library of Medicine describe osteoporosis as having:

‘‘a tremendous negative impact on the physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing of postmenopausal women. It is a chronic disease affecting one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50 years’’

According to both the HSE & Get Active Ireland, 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men over the age of 50 will break bones from Osteoporosis.

As we can see from the above data, osteoporosis is overtly a female issue.

  • But, why is osteoporosis a female issue?

Why is osteoporosis a female issue?

  • Women tend to have smaller bones than men.

  • When women go through menopause, some women can lose up to 30% of the overall bone in their body during the process.

  • If a female’s period started later than age 15, they are at a higher risk for bone loss as their sex hormones were not regular.

  • If a female has or had PMT (Premenstrual tension) their hormones are not regular, so they are at higher risk of bone loss.

  • If a girl/woman loses their periods NOT due to pregnancy. Eating disorders and/or over-exercising are a common cause of this and places the person at high risk to develop bone loss.

  • If a woman has endometriosis, their sex hormones are not regular, and they are at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis.

  • If a woman is on the contraceptive Depo Provera, this has been proven to cause bone loss.

  • If a woman has a hysterectomy, she is at a much higher risk of bone loss.

So, what can be done about this?

Well, according to the HSE and the Irish Osteoporosis Society, women who weight train from the age of 16 have an 83% reduction in the risk of Osteoporosis.

Now, that is no small decrease. 83% from just going to the gym and lifting some weights. You can be sure those with osteoporosis would retrospectively appreciate the simplicity of this fact and preventative remedy.

In conjunction with these claims is Robert Marcus MD’s work on the positive correlation between increased female bone density and the decreased risks of osteoporosis following heavy resistance training.

Now, what exactly is heavy resistance training?

Firstly, we must remember that ‘heavy’ is a relative term, which means what is heavy to one person may not be heavy to another. So first and foremost, heavy resistance training is weight training that is typically weight training that is performed between 60-90% of YOUR maximum capacity. Your capacity, nobody else’s. Now that does vary of course, but that is a good rule of thumb to understand.

The second part that must be understood when considering the term heavy resistance training is the long term goal or physical standard of strength that you are aiming towards. This is important because standards of strength are quantifiable/objective and not subjective. Strength is examined on a relative basis to bodyweight, therefore making it applicable for every human being equally.

For the typical 25-45 year old, the long term strength goals should follow a ratio of strength as follows;

For the typical 25-45 year old, the long term strength goals should follow a ratio of strength as follows;

Optimal Standards of Strength to ensure efficient Mobility, Posture & BioMechanics:

  • Male Standards

  • Vertical Pull: Bodyweight x 5 repetitions

  • Horizontal Push: Bodyweight x 1 rep

  • Squat: Bodyweight x 1 rep

  • Hinge: Bodyweight + 50% of Bodyweight x 1 rep

  • Female Standards

  • Vertical Pull: Bodyweight x 1 repetitions

  • Horizontal Push: 50-70% of Bodyweight x 1 rep

  • Squat: 75%-100% of Bodyweight x 1 rep

  • Hinge: Bodyweight + 25% of Bodyweight x 1 rep

Reason 2: Effectiveness & Return on Investment

When it comes to training in a gym (regardless of the goal ie. weight loss, muscle building/toning, mobility, athleticism, cardiovascular fitness etc) it is important to keep in mind the hierarchical nature of different training disciplines.

What does this mean?

Well, some forms of training are more beneficial for the general population than others.

We know this by creating an objective, scientific and physiological lens known as ‘The Hierarchical Lens of Physical Training’ to analyse the benefit of different disciplines of training. By doing so we can confirm that resistance/weight training is of most benefit to the general population for

  • Weight Loss

  • Muscle Development

  • Mobility

  • Posture

  • Bio-Mechanics

How is Resistance Training best for addressing weight loss, muscle development, mobility, postural or bio-mechanical issues?

Because intelligently programmed resistance training, which values each joints Range of Motion (ROM) above all else, provides the following results as a free byproduct:

  1. Joint Mobility

  2. Joint Stability

  3. Muscle Mass

  4. Weight-Loss

  5. Cardiovascular Health

  6. Pain Prevention/Management/Alleviation

  7. Mental Health Benefits

    Unlike many other popular forms of physical training such as:

  • Yoga/Pilates

  • Cycling

  • Running

  • Aerobics

  • Martial Arts

François Billaut’s work on muscle growth and weight-loss through the use of full Range of Motion resistance training confirms this hypothesis.

The Hierarchical Lens of Physical Training gives 1 point to each different discipline of training if the training provides the participant with the following physiological result:

  1. Joint Mobility - 1 Point

  2. Joint Stability - 1 Point

  3. Muscle Mass - 1 Point

  4. Weight-Loss - 1 Point

  5. Cardiovascular Health - 1 Point

  6. Pain Prevention/Management/Alleviation - 1 Point

  7. Mental Health Benefits - 1 Point

Benefits of Different Forms of Exercise

Reason 3: Mobility for Free

It may come as a shock to you, but good physical mobility is a free development/result from intelligent weight training. Don’t believe me, check out my article Mobility: a free gain of intelligent weight training, an elusive dream in yoga.

But to summise, check out this info below:

Deadlifts Vs Sun Salutations for Hamstring Mobility

Take deadlifting, correctly performed, as an example:

  1. With each rep you’ll stretch your hamstrings, loaded with your additional weight of the bar or dumbbells, to its full range of motion.

  2. Not only will you perform this hinge many more times in a weightlifting session than a yoga or stretching session, but it will be much heavier and more beneficial than simply hinging and touching your ever elusive toes.

  3. With deadlifting you will build muscle, burn calories, improve posture, strengthen your bones and joints and reduce your risk of injury by a staggering amount and your toes will come ever closer to you when you do choose to drop in for a quick yoga session.

So the question arises, why salute the sun if you can just deadlift twice a month. It seems that in this instance, deadlifting can improve the length of your hamstring, but yoga doesn’t seem to help your deadlift?

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Strength training and dynamic movements are superior to static stretching for improving mobility, posture and bio-mechanics according to numerous scientific studies:

  • In 2005, Hess et al. subjected a group of octogenarians to a resistance training program at 80% of 1RM, three times per week; after 10 weeks of training, participants improved their performance on the TUG test (Mobility Test) by 15.7%.

  • Fiatarone et al. demonstrated that resistance training raised functional mobility even in people over 90 years old.

  • In 2006, Holviala etal. proved that both muscle power and strength are important determinants of mobility, and that resistance training is a powerful tool to induce specific neuromuscular adaptations that translate into improved mobility in healthy older adults.

  • Greek researchers looked at a group of men who trained with loads at 40, 60, or 80% of their 1RM or one-rep max. The results showed that higher intensities were linked with greater improvements in mobility/flexibility. That is, the men who trained at 80% of their 1RM were the ones who saw the greatest improvements.

Resistance Training and the Female Body

Borges-Silva et al., analysed whether or not heavy-resistance training could improved mobility in older women.

His group study involved 3 groups.

Group A: Weight Training (Traditional Resistance Training: TRT)

Group B: Strength and Conditioning (Circuit Resistance Training: CRT)

Group C: Control Group (CG)

His study found that Group A and B experienced significant improvements in functional mobility as a direct result of heavy resistance training, while naturally the Control Group did not.

Reason 4: Addressing Weight Gain through N.E.A.T. and Muscle Mass

You have been consuming, let’s say, 2000 calories daily (14,000 calories weekly).

You have gained weight as you only need 1500 calories daily (10,500 calories weekly).

Then you went to the gym for running or spin classes 3 times a week. Lost 3kg, but have now stagnated. Why?

Well the spin class burns, lets guestimate, 400 calories. 3 sessions weekly is 1200 calories burnt. Leaving you at 1600 calories consumed on the days you do spin, but an overall of 12,800 calories weekly. This is enough to lose you some weight, but it wont do the full trick.

To drop you below 10,500 calories weekly, you must do 7 full spin classes. Yeah, I’d rather be shot than do that myself.

So, what to do?

Train weights!

Why?

Cos they are N.E.A.T., of course!

What is N.E.A.T.?

What is N.E.A.T.?

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT, is a term used to describe the number of calories you burn through daily physical activity outside of a formal exercise regime. The rate of NEAT in a body is directly proportional to the amount of muscle mass in the body.

NEAT can account for up to 15-30% of the daily calorie expenditure in a healthy and optimally muscular female, however for a person with low muscle mass, it is often well below this level. The lower the NEAT level, the higher the chance of obesity.

Now, how does this calorie expenditure come about (or more importantly, how do we make it increase expenditure to help you lose weight?)

We build muscle. The more muscle, the more NEAT calorie expenditure.