John Shepherd - Strength Training for Women

Contents

WHY WEIGHT? YOUR JOURNEY TO A NEW YOU STARTS NOW!

Welcome to Strength Training for Women. Im John Shepherd and Ive been writing on health, nutrition and sports and fitness training for over 20 years. In this time Ive also trained a lot of people from all backgrounds and levels of fitness and abilities and for numerous purposes and goals. I wanted to write this book to explain why resistance training (training against your body weight, with a suspension trainer or with added weight, such as kettlebells or barbells) is so important for women. In my many years in fitness and sport Ive heard many negative comments, opinions and falsities on the subject of women and resistance training, so its my aim to put these to bed and to encourage women to resistance train. I believe it could be the single most important decision youll ever make regarding how you work out. And it could benefit you in so many other aspects of your life, too. Many women who train the resistance way experience a boost in confidence and feel better just going about their daily lives.

In what I refer to as the gymscape, i.e. the world of gyms, there can appear be an order to things when it comes to working out and selecting training options. Its a sort of gender-divide, and is relevant to the subject matter of this book. Men are naturally drawn to lifting weights and often initially unrealistic ones at that! while women tend to go for more creative fitness options such as dance-based classes, like Zumba or one of the multitude of hybrids of aerobics now on offer in health club studios. Women can also favour steady-state aerobic (cardiovascular, or CV) exercise, such as cycling, running and stepping, in an attempt to burn calories in the so-called fat-burning zone (a concept that is challenged and in many ways incorrect). It often seems that the weights room, and in particular the free weights area with its dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells, is restricted to men, so not surprisingly you may feel intimidated should you want to enter this world.

I edited ultra-FIT magazine for over ten years and we had many features sent in and commissioned from and by women who were initially mistrusting of weights and what they perceived resistance training could do for them. They expressed thoughts such as, Itll bulk me up, I dont want to lose my curves, I dont want to become manly, yet by the end of their resistance journey they wondered why they had put it off for so long. They found that by using weights, they lost weight, shaped up, developed curves in the right places, improved their quality of life and zest and felt so much better. In this book youll read testimonials from numerous women (of various backgrounds and with varying starting points) who have all succeeded with resistance training, in ways that exceeded their expectations.

As well as these testimonials, youll also discover as you read some of the reasons real, scientific ones why resistance training is a must in your workouts. But dont worry, Ill cut through the jargon to provide you with the information youll need as simply and practically as possible.

As a writer, editor, personal trainer and sports coach I have come into contact with some of the foremost training and nutrition experts and fitness brands in the world and have had the chance to pick brains and really understand whether whats being said is hot air or hot stuff! I certainly believe that the tips, strategies and plans provided in this book will get results. Our lives are continually time-poor and everything seems to come at us at a million miles an hour consequently, you dont want to waste your workout time or follow some spurious weight-loss plan quickly lifted from social media or the web. Resistance training will boost your health and quality of life and have such a positive influence but you need to do it properly. This book takes you on a complete resistance training journey. The initial chapters inform on the numerous reasons to resistance train and the types and benefits of each. Well then progress to how you can construct a relevant training programme, for example by considering training systems and training variables. In Chapters 4 and 5 youll find a 24-week progressive workout programme (divided into different training blocks respectively). This programme introduces different exercise options and training systems, which are fully explained and illustrated by way of description and photographs.

In , therefore, provides some great ideas, thoughts and tips on how to stay positive and give yourself the best chance to work out and eat to achieve your best you.

Id like to thank the numerous women (and men) who have contributed to this project over many years (youll meet them as you turn from page to page). My editorial and fitness/sports training experience has enabled me to learn from, read, listen to and publish so many womens inspirational and life-changing stories.

By the end of Strength Training for Women, I hope youll wonder why you ever resisted resistance training before.

John Shepherd

Why Women need resistance

Health benefits of resistance training

Im now about to convince you why you need to resistance train! Well first take a look at numerous health reasons and then move on to dispelling a few myths that seem to have entered workout folklore when it comes to women and weight training.

Resistance training is feel good, look good medicine

With ageng and increased inactivity comes a loss of muscle mass, which can range from 3 to 8 per cent per decade. You might not be alarmed by these figures, thinking that you dont want muscle anyway. Well, with muscle loss comes a loss of strength, mobility and body shape, as well as poor posture. These negatives become more pronounced over time. So you might now want to rethink things. For inspiration, read what happened when Sonjia Ashby decided to get off the CV machines and lift heavier weights.

Whether young or old, you will bolster your bones with weight training.

Resistance training improves bone health irrespective of age

With age, bones become thinner and weaken this is something that has a more significant effect on women than men. Known as osteoporosis, this can make fractures all the more likely as decades pass. However, resistance training when young, throughout life and after menopause (of which more later) can make a big difference and significantly boost bone mass and slow down bone density decline. One study involving thirty 22-year-old women who completed 12 weeks of squat training using heavy weights (85-90 per cent of 1 rep max thats the maximum you could lift only once) discovered that the women increased their hip bone mineral density by 1 per cent and their lumbar spine bone mineral density by 2.2 per cent. Their 1 rep maximums incidentally increased by 97 per cent so they got a lot stronger too!