Lifting Weights For Women – 3 Easy Steps To Get Started Even If You Are A Busy Professional

Lifting weights for women can be a big step in getting the results you want – toning and shaping.

Firstly the problem is knowing where to start and for some women how to keep going. The problem I see for the women who come to do Personal Training is seeing where lifting weights fits.

In addition most women are told that lifting weights is either for men, will make them bulky or should be secondary to cardio. I call bullshit on all of these things which are wrong, sexist and self-limiting.

Creating muscle or toning is your ammunition to fight gravity.

Got a saggy bum – good weights will fix that

Have tuckshop arms – good lifting will fix that

Getting a jiggly inner thigh – excellent start doing some squats and we can fix that

Now we know that lifting weights for women is the way forward here is the next piece of the puzzle. It has to be done in a way that you are going to do it forever, not 6 months and stop. Lifting weights works on the premise on continually improving by getting stronger, building muscle and improving fitness. Consequently it becomes a lifelong choice that can be exciting and rewarding as you want it to be.

We are going to have a look at 3 east steps to get started that are all to do with education on the important things to focus on

Lifting Weights For Women 3 Easy Steps To Get Started

1.Understand the main principles

Firstly knowing what you are trying to achieve by lifting weights is a good place to start. By lifting weights you are trying to get your body adapt to what you are doing to it – Adapting in this case means getting stronger, building muscle or increasing fitness.

In addition now that we know we are trying to make our body adapt there are universally accepted principles we can follow to achieve this

1.Specificity

if you are reading this then your goal is toning and shaping also know as dropping body fat and building muscle. To be specific with this goal lifting weights is the exercise choice that is the best to achieve this. Consequently anything that is moving away from this is getting less specific and will move you away from your goal. An example would dropping back on lifting weights to do more yoga if your goal is specifically to tone and shape – yoga is not a specific enough exercise to achieve your goal.

2.Progress Overload

Over time to keep your body adapting you have to make things progressively harder. That is progress overload in a nutshell – lift more total reps, more total weight or lift more frequently. This becomes especially relevant when you have been lifting for longer periods than 3-6 months and your ‘newbie gainz’ would have started to decrease. ‘Newbie Gainz’ are the wonderful improvements you get in strength and toning when you first start – they come really easy.

3.Tracking

Lifting weights is something that needs to be tracked and one of the best things someone who is just starting can do. Each workout you will record exercises completed with sets,reps and weight lifted. As a beginner you can simply look back at the weight you lifted before and try and beat it – which works well with progressive overload.

As a result most women will then move on to a bigger picture form of tracking which is working off a program. A program commonly will outline the training for 3-4 days and run for 4-6 weeks blocks.

2.Decide On Your Goal

Firstly you gotta know what your goal is and the way we look at this may be slightly different. For members at Fortitude Performance we get them to look at their goals from a top view down

Intention – This is your big why and is the reason that keeps you going e.g I lift weights because it gives me confidence in life and control

Outcome Goals – Along the way you will reach many outcome goals and it is your intention that will keep you going e.g I want to fit into back into shorts this summer and feel confident in them

Process Goals – These are day-to-day goals and habits such as lifting goals, tracking your food goals and goal setting choices in your life that align with your intention and outcome goals e.g I will make 90% of scheduled lifting sessions this month

3.Take The Time To Learn Proper Technique

In addition it is important that when you are learning to lift you take the time to learn the technique properly. Each exercise has important things to learn so can get the most out of them and stay injury free.

The main exercises you will learn at the beginning are (Checkout The Tutorial Video For Each Exercise)

• Squat
• Deadlift
• Bench
• Lunge
• Overhead Press
• Bent Over Row

While learning technique from our tutorials is a good start – we always recommend seeing a professional Personal Trainer.

You will have some really good steps to get you started though what is the next step – Glad you asked

WE HAVE YOU BACK

At Fortitude Performance we want to give you the education and direction to get life-changing results.

Most of all life-changing results happen when you are full of confidence from being in the best shape of your life.