Today’s topic is one that’s very near and dear to my heart: women’s health and fitness! While all genders and people face unique and individualized situations, I feel that there can be some commonalities among folks that share similar identities.
Fitness Tips For Women
Being a female, at least in my experience, comes with some relatable territory when it comes to fitness, exercise, body image, esteem, nutrition, and weight.
Because of this, I feel it’s our duty as women to help empower each other and support each other.
In short, that’s what this whole piece is about-learning how we can be kinder to ourselves, which can only help us be kinder to one another.
First, I’d like to dispel some common misconceptions a lot of women believe concerning nutrition, fitness, and wellness and then dive into some great fitness tips for women.
Lifting Will Make You Bulky
This is a myth I have heard a lot throughout my years in the Fitness Industry.
Trust me, lifting weights won’t make you bulky. To build muscle takes a certain weight range and rep range. Lifting on the lighter to moderate side will not bulk anyone out. If anything, it will promote lean muscle that will make someone appear trimmer and more in shape.
Like anything, including fitness, everything needs to be individualized. With this principle applied, resistance training will/can yield different results based on so many factors-diet, weekly workouts, set and rep ranges, weight range, fitness level, body compensations, mental/emotional health, physical limitations/injuries, sleep, metabolism, age, etc.
With this in mind, it’s so important to find a resistance training program that will work best for you and your goals. Furthermore, I highly recommend some sort of weight training for most individuals. Resistance training allows one to keep their muscles intact which will only help to promote functional movement and the body operating at max capacity.
Lastly, adding some lean muscle to your body can help you maintain your weight. For every pound of muscle, you add to your body, your body burns 50 calories at rest. This can create a failsafe for you during cheat meals. However, I do not recommend relying solely on this to keep your weight at bay.
Theoretically (I say this because everyone loses weight differently), it takes a 3500 weekly caloric deficit to lose a pound a week, So, 50 calories per pound of muscle are not the only thing to implement when wanting to healthily tackle weight loss. One would have to gain 70 pounds of muscle to rely solely on this, which is not realistic for nearly all females.
However, I find this comforting and helpful info to know!
Protein Is Only For Men/Body Builders
In truth, everyone needs protein in their regular diet. How much and what type of protein depends on your goals and dietary restrictions.
Someone wanting to massively build and/or compete for bodybuilding competitions needs more protein than most.
Choices such as chicken breast, lean turkey, and egg whites are awesome healthy protein choices for most people. This of course does not touch on vegan options for protein which would require a whole other article entirely to fully discuss.
Furthermore, one can get enough protein while being vegan. However, I find that it is easier to build muscle while not being vegan-definitely not impossible though.
I personally love whey protein powders such as Quest and Isopure. Again, this is not a viable option for vegan and lactose-intolerant folks.
Owyn and Evolve powders are great, healthy plant-based protein options that I would definitely recommend.
Lastly, if you are unsure of the kinds and amount of protein you should be consuming, I highly recommend seeking the advice of a dietician and/or fitness professional.
Women Don’t Need To Work Their Chest
This is quite false. Working the chest allows our upper bodies to operate at max capacity/ functionality and avoid upper body compensations.
For example, if you have strong triceps and biceps but weak pectoral muscles, then the biceps and triceps might take over for the chest, which could create unwanted imbalances in the body, which could lead to injury at some point.
We want all of our muscle groups strong and ready to work. This is how our bodies can work like a well-oiled machine.
On top of this, doing chest exercises such as push-ups and chest presses can help lift the breasts/keep them lifted, which can promote overall heightened self-esteem for women.
We Have To Stick Together
I recently started working at an all-women’s lifting gym and the amount of support and community there is amazing.
I feel as women we are taught to be threatened by each other and be in competition with each other.
However, I feel like that’s the wrong way to go!
We need to support and empower each other. The only person we should be in competition with is ourselves. Just because someone does something well, does not mean that we are less than.
When we put someone else down, it’s usually coming from a low self-esteem trigger point within ourselves.
With this being said, I encourage everyone, when you feel like saying something negative about someone else, to check in with yourself, realize where they need to say x is coming from, and replace the negative thought/sentence with something positive about yourself and ideally the person you originally wanted to put down.
This will lead to self-empowerment and can lead to the empowerment of others.
It’s no use tearing other people down. There will always be someone more in shape, more athletic, more agile, but remember you have strengths too! And that person you’re jealous of also has weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses are part of the human condition for everyone.
With all this being said, I wholeheartedly encourage compliments to fellow females kicking butt in the gym.
We all need to do a better job uplifting each other-especially when the media continually tries to tear females down and make us question ourselves.
Wrap-Up
I hope all women that read this piece gain a sense of sisterhood and heightened self-esteem as well as gain a better understanding of why some fitness myths are false.
If you have any questions or comments about fitness tips for women or anything in general please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
I hope you all have a lovely day! As always, thanks for reading, and stay tuned!
Alexis is grateful to be a NASM-certified personal trainer and a Mad Dogg Athletics-Certified Spin Instructor. Her mission is to help all individuals achieve their best selves, and have the happiest and healthiest lives possible. Her specialities are resistance training, TRX, bodybuilding, HIIT/VIIT/LIIT, spin, corework, functional moment, nutrition, and weight loss.
She is honored to be a guest contributor for DIY Active and wishes to inspire and motivate all readers. Please feel free to email her at [email protected] for more info about wellness, fitness, and personal training including virtual options.
