Women shy away from weight training due to psychological and physiological perception. Female athletes are less likely to perceive weight training as beneficial to their training because they think they are going to get to big. However, weight training is a significant aid to female athletes not just because it helps to improve sporting performance but also because it helps ward off osteoporosis by enhancing bone mineral density (BMD).

Athletes need to be aware of these benefits as well as the social/cultural barriers that may discourage women from participating in weight training.

Women seem to have an adverse perception of weight training, perhaps because they link it in their minds with the image of muscle-bound, testosterone-fuelled bodybuilders. Weight training is essential for female athletes & females in general because. In our experience all our clients whom weight-train have a reduction in body fat, lowering their weight and body fat. We have observed that strength training increases fat-free mass while reducing fat mass and has particularly significant implications for female athletes in terms of their risk of the bone thinning disease osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis affects as many as 25 million people in Australia & the US and of 80% of them are women (The condition has been linked with a lack of load-bearing physical activity as well as other risk factors, including calcium insufficiency, smoking and use of oral contraceptives). In the past, it was believed that strength training was unsuitable for women because they were ‘incapable’ of improving their strength. But more recent research has challenged this theory. Professor Jack Wilmore from the University of Texas showed that after a 10-week training programme women showed a 29% improvement on the bench press and 30% improvement on the leg press, compared to a 17% and 26% improvement from men. However, while the men showed hypertrophy (enlargement) in the leg and arm muscles, the women did not. The reason for the increased strength in women must be due to an increased ability to recruit muscle fibres and coordinate the movements.

Women can improve fitness, athletic performance and reduce injuries through strength training, just as men do.

And the great fact to know here ladies is that the more muscle you have the more fat you will burn even while you are sleeping.

So call us today to increase your muscle mass and burn more fat.

source: peak performance manuals & Vibes Fitness client experiences :)