Women and strength training...

Strength training is extremely important to a womens regular workout. It increases the metabolic rate by producing more lean muscle (burning more fat), it will help to improve the shape of your body, improve bone density and joint strength, decrease risk of injury and muscles also play an important role in certain hormone production. It also has a role in reducing blood pressure and the risk of diabetes...pretty much everything will improve!

Ok so I'd like to debunk a few misconceptions before we go any further:

1. that strength training is only for men who want to be Shwarzenegger; and
2. that strength training will cause women to bulk up.

First off, for muscles to increase in size requires testosterone, a hormone which is predominant in men. Women who strength train will not become big and bulky, because testosterone levels are much lower in their bodies. only a small percentage of the population of women will be able to increase their muscle size dramatically, and this would take a very long time to achieve. So to conclude, women who strength train will not end up with enormous biceps. You do not have the necessary hormones to increase muscle size to the proportions that a lot of men in the gym can.

you can, however get all of the benefits of strength training. ever wanted to be more toned, have less fat, fit into your old clothes or just feel heaps better? Then it's possible you aren't doing enough strength training, if any! The thing is, if you do a strength training session then your body will continue to burn calories even hours after the session is finished. The mojority of calories that the body burns is actually not at the gym...it's throughout the day when you're doing everyday things (ie. sitting to drink coffee with a girlfriend after your session) also, after a session your metabolism will be working overtime to restore equilibrium to your body, which burns even more energy. think of how much more fat you would be burning if you exercised like this?!

Check this out;

1. increase metabolism,
2. decrease fat,
3. body burns calories throughout the day to recover muscle cells,
4. body burns more calories during and after strength training than it ever will during a cardio session!

Finally, cardio...it has its place definately. However I should tell you that point 4 of above is scientifically proven (as are the other points), that the body stops burning calories as soon as the heart rate returns to normal after cardio, whereas after strength training it will continue to burn fat for a few hours! Bearing this in mind, your cardio should take place after a strength session, and to optimise fat burning, use intervals. this will allow your heart to peak, therfore burning more fat than it would at a steady state. Remember, the higher your heart rate, the more calories are burned.

To finish, your body has two major energy sources;
1. glycogen (carbs), and
2. fat

Strength training will burn through your bodies carb source, so that when you do your cardio training afterwards, you will be cutting straight into your fat sources, in stead of burning mostly carbs when you do your cardio! This is a much more effective way of training which will get you long term results that you can stick to, and will be rewarding for the rest of your life.