Our mission has always been to get a barbell in every woman’s hands because we truly believe that strength training can be the key to a successful and confident life. Not only do our coaches have years of lifting experience, but the science also backs it up. We’re passionate about advocating for lifting heavy, and we’ll discuss the reasons why. In this article, we’ll talk about the four reasons listed below. Additionally, there are more reasons why women should lift heavy here.
It burns more calories
It burns fat
It changes your body composition
It gives you confidence
Watch what Megsquats, our founder, has to say about this topic!
Reason #1: It Burns More Calories
A common question we see is, “Does lifting weights burn more calories than cardio?”. Every bit of movement you make throughout the day contributes to how many calories you burn in a day. Your body begins to efficiently use the calories you consume daily the more muscle you have in your body. Estimates suggest that at rest, every pound of muscle burns roughly three times as many calories as a pound of fat.
In a society that often tells women to eat less, lifting can help you direct your focus on eating to properly fuel your body. Once you start progressing and increasing your weights this can equate to eating more. Eating becomes less of a focus on weight gain or loss, rather it’s to support your new lifestyle along with lifting weights!
Reason #2: It Burns Fat
What’s better to lose weight, cardio or weights? Heavy strength training causes your body to consume additional oxygen in the hours after your session. What this means for you— the more oxygen your body uses, the higher your caloric expenditure can be. This is one of the advantages that weight training has over just cardio. Your body continues burning calories even after you’ve finished working out! It’s not magic, it’s science and biology.
This is why weight training doesn’t necessarily mean adding more mass, especially if you are still incorporating some form of cardio. You would just generally be burning more calories and fat. The key to retaining muscle while losing weight is to make sure your nutrition is in check and consume the appropriate amount of protein.
Reason #3: It Changes Your Body Composition
Typically aesthetic goals like a firm butt, sculpted arms, toned legs, etc., are associated with lower-intensity weight training or cardio alone. But in fact, it’s the opposite! Something like a firm butt is developed by harder, more rigid muscle tissue, which is achieved through building muscle and losing fat. Muscle building is the result of heavy resistance training, and losing fat can be accomplished through heavy resistance training and goal-aligned nutrition.
If this sounds like a goal of yours, and you want to see body recomposition, it’s time to lift heavy! We recommend a lifting regimen with progressive overload. If you don’t know where to start or what to do, you can join Stronger by the Day, which is our strength training app that has a feature to include conditioning!
Reason #4: It Gives You Confidence
Lifting heavy is badass! Having a strong, capable body that can do things like move heavy stuff and be resilient is something uniquely beautiful that lifting heavy can give you! Plus, people who weight train have reported reduced anxiety and increased happiness.
For Megsquats (and many of our lifters), she’s found the concept of progressing in the gym the most confidence-boosting aspect of physical fitness. Nothing in the gym beats the feeling of hitting a new personal record.
Finding the Why
Of course, it feels good when you’re losing weight, gaining muscle, and seeing a change in your physical appearance. So naturally, it will boost your confidence when you feel great in your skin. And although those aspects of heavy lifting will keep exciting you and motivating you, there are many other benefits for your health and mental state that will keep you going. We have additional reasons why in our blog— Reasons Why Women Should Lift Heavy— that discuss the health-related benefits. These are all amazing reasons why women should lift heavy weights!
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