Benefits of Strength Training

There are a lot of women out there who are afraid of gyms and especially strength training. All the equipment can be overwhelming and scary, especially if you have never used it before and easy to injure yourself. The other reason why many women are afraid of strength training is they don't want to bulk up or look like a body builder.

There are some great benefits to adding strength training to your workout.
1) You continue to burn calories even after your workout. In cardio workouts, you can burn lots of calories, but once you finish, your body will only burn a few more in the next half hour. With strength workouts, you body will continue to burn calories for hours, and the more muscle you build, your body will need to use more calories for these muscles on a daily basis. So strength training can help you reach your weight loss goals faster.

2) Once you lose the weight, your body will looked toned and sexy. When you do strength training with smaller weights and do higher repetitions, you are toning your muscles rather than bulking up. It is harder than most women think to bulk up and build big muscles (although some women naturally have an easy time building muscle).

When doing strength training, especially at a gym with heavy and strange equipment, it is important to get proper training on how to use it. There are usually people working there who can show you how to use it safely, as well as show you exercises that can help you reach your goals. If you are doing it at home, and don't have lots of money to buy weights, there are some easy ways to do strength training.
1) use cans or other household items as weights. Keep them small, especially to start with, between 2.5 and 5 lbs.
2) buy tubing or exercise bands. These can be used for lots of different exercises and you can make it as hard or easy as you want or need for that exercise.
3) buy 2.5 or 5 lb weights. They don't cost that much and that is all you will need especially in the beginning.
4) use your own body weight. Lots of exercises can be done just using your own weight.