Strength training and weight lifting are very important aspects to good health, especially for women. There are many reasons why women should lift weights. Here are just a few:

• Increased Strength and Endurance. This will help make any of your daily activities a little bit easier. And you won’t be feeling so tired at the end of the day.
• Decreased Body Fat. One pound of fat burns zero calories per day, whereas one pound of muscle burns roughly 40!
• Increased Bone Density. When you strength train, you are loading your bones with extra weight. This helps to significantly increase bone density; therefore, decreasing the risk of osteoporosis.
• Disease Prevention. Since weight lifting is exercise, it helps to decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
• Reduced Injury risk and Pain. Added muscle helps to strengthen and reinforce your connective tissues and joints, which decreases your risk of injury. If you have pain in your body, lifting weights will help to strengthen these areas, thus reducing that pain.
• Improved Attitude and Anti-Depression. Exercise increases your endorphins, helps you to feel more confident and increases your self esteem. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I just need 30 or so minutes lifting weights and I quickly feel so much better.

One concern some women worry about if they start strength training is hypertrophy, or “bulking up.” It just is not possible for women. We don’t have the right hormone balance in our bodies (mainly not enough testosterone).

Another idea to keep in mind: five pounds of muscle takes up less space than five pounds of fat. Even if the scale isn’t going down, that doesn’t mean you aren’t getting in better shape. On average, people guess I weigh 20-30 pounds less than I actually do!

Here are the guidelines for strength training provided by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM):

• Adults should train each major muscle group 2-3 days per week
• 2-4 sets of each exercise is ideal
• 8-12 repetitions helps to improve strength and power
• 15-20 repetitions for muscular endurance
• Wait at least 48 hours between strength training sessions

And remember, it’s never too late to start!

References: 

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/women/a/aa051601a.htm 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/310070-how-many-calories-does-a-pound-of-muscle-burn-per-day/ 

http://www.acsm.org/about-acsm/media-room/news-releases/2011/08/01/acsm-issues-new-recommendations-on-quantity-and-quality-of-exercise