If you read my about section, or my previous blog, Here’s My Story, I talk about my journey into fitness and how I started lifting weights.  Well, needless to say, I’m a huge advocate for women strength training.  Now I realize that not everyone will be interested in powerlifting and I don’t try to convince people they should.  However, I do advocate that all women strength train in some capacity.  Strength training helps preserve and enhance your muscle and bone mass, builds muscle strength, works wonders for fat loss, and creates strong, powerful bodies.  But aside from those reasons, here are 4 reasons I think all women should pick up some heavy weights.

1) It builds confidence.

I started my journey into exercise completely unfamiliar with strength training of any sort. If you told me to go to the section of the gym with free weights and squat racks (pretty much anything besides cardio equipment), I would have been totally intimidated.  I had no idea what I was doing when it came to strength training and I didn’t think I was capable of doing that stuff.  That was for strong people, and I was not one of them.  But this funny thing happened once I started training for a few months.  I started learning things related to strength training.  I learned how to properly perform exercises.  I learned the names of exercises.  I started feeling comfortable with new movements.  Pretty soon, I realized that I was getting stronger and my confidence totally grew.   I started surprising myself at what I was capable of doing.  It gave me confidence in the gym but that confidence transferred over to other parts of my life.  If I was capable of this, what else was I capable of?  It made me feel so empowered in a way that I had never experienced before.

2) It makes you feel super bad ass.

So here’s the thing.  Every time I’m squatting and I have the barbell on my back, I instantly feel super bad ass.  Every time I deadlift, I feel super bad ass.  Every time I strength train period, I feel super bad ass.  Every time I hit a new PR (personal record) or add weight to my lifts, I feel super accomplished because it’s a huge accomplishment!  Challenging your body and finding your strength is an amazing feeling.  And there’s something about being a strong, empowered woman that really rocks!

3) Transforms your perspective about your body.

When I first started working out, my motivation was purely aesthetic.  I needed to lose weight.  I was super out of shape and overweight.  I actually told my trainer that I only wanted to be skinny.  I didn’t want or need muscles.  Just sign me up for the skinny package.  When I think back at that now, I totally LOL because I was 100% serious.  Needless to say, strength training enabled me to change my focus from just being skinny and helped me focus on having a strong and healthy body.  I started working on being the best version of myself and stopped focusing on my body fat percentage (or the fact that I didn’t have a thigh gap…I still don’t btw).  I realized that my body was capable of doing so many amazing things and I should be proud of it in every stage because I’m amazing (and you are too!).

4) Basically fixes everything about a shitty day and makes a great day even better.

When I am having the worst of days, everything seems to be going bad, or I’m just crabby, I can hit the gym, and I know I’ll feel better after.  I’ll feel less stressed, more relaxed, and more at peace.  The negative energy total releases while I’m training.  I absolutely love that.  I can take my anger and frustration out on the weights (instead of my husband lol…jk).

In contrast, when I’m having a great day, I’m even more energized to hit the gym.  I look forward to the feeling of getting stronger, getting in a good sweat session, and feeling empowered by the weights.  I feel accomplished and powerful.

If you have never lifted weights before, it may or may not seem a little overwhelming to you.  But there’s nothing to fear.  There are lots of simple ways to get introduced to strength training.

And I happen to have the perfect opportunity for you. I’m running a  FREE 10 day exercise challenge to help women get accountable, get consistent, and see that you don’t need to spend hours in the gym to get results. You can be successful with short, efficient workouts. Even if you have a busy schedule, you can be in great shape. I will be providing the workouts all of which will be less than 30 minutes (including the warm up and cool down).  And the best part is, it will be incorporating lots of strength training.  But definitely don’t be intimidated by this.  All the movements will be beginner in nature (along with modifications) and there will be instructional videos for guidance.

That being said, I encourage you to join the challenge and give strength training a chance.  I think it will be love at first lift!

Xo,

Chrissy

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