About Weight Training for Women Today

We make up 50% of the population, yet when I walk into a weight room, I often find that I am the only woman training with weights. I see plenty of women on the stretching mats and on the treadmills, but I only occasionally see another woman venturing to join me in the free weight section. Why is this?  The benefits of weight training for women include stronger muscles, a stronger heart, reduced risk of osteoporosis, increased metabolism and leaner bodies that can better keep up with your needs and activities.

Based on conversations with my family, my teammates and my friends, it seems that many women are intimidated by strength training or afraid that lifting weights will turn them into hulking, muscle-bound bodybuilders.  This long-perpetuated myth keeps them from cashing in on all the healthy benefits.  Ladies, weight training can actually make you smaller as building lean muscle improves your metabolism and helps you burn more fat throughout the day.  Oh and lets not forget all the psychological benefits of weight training such as reduced stress and mood elevation!  No matter what is going on in my life, I always feel happier after weight lifting.

The goal of this site is to provide a quality resource for women who are looking to get started in weight training. It is a collection of what I have learned through my own personal experience, coupled with my research on the subject.  Essentially, I want to synthesize the best information and make it available to you.  While it is starting out quite small, I hope to transform it, over time, into THE comprehensive resource on weight training for women.

“Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.”  For me, this site is the obvious merging of two of my favorite things: Weight Lifting and the Internet. I have been lifting weights and doing other strength training exercises for over 10 years.  My body and especially my mind can now tell when I go several days without.  Lifting is my “runner’s high” (only better) and it is my goal to share this with as many women as possible, so have created this site to serve a FREE guide to weight training for women who want to:

  • Fight the effects of aging and keep their bodies functioning
  • Have the energy to keep up with kids, grandchildren, pets or careers
  • Improve bone and heart health
  • Give themselves the physical strength to match their inner strength and courage

Whether you choose to follow someone else’s weight training routine (which I recommend in the beginning) or design a program yourself (once you understand the basics and have gained a little experience), this site can help you achieve your weight training and fitness goals.

Within the pages of this site, you will learn about:

Some Things You Should Know About this Site

1. This is a weight training and strength training site.  Going for a jog or training for marathon is not something I do so I won’t be talking about either.  I will mostly be focusing on the whys and hows of weight training for women, because I believe that it is time for all women to get stronger.

2. This site does not represent the ONE, end-all, be all program.  While I wish I could say that I know everything, you will find as you dig further into any subject that there is more to know that you can possibly learn.  As you learn more you tend to feel that what you know pales in comparison to other experts.  In creating this site, not only will I be sharing my knowledge, I will be expanding on it.  While I will be presenting what my experience and research tell me is the best way to go about strength training, it is still just my opinion and your mileage may vary.  Read the full disclaimer.

3. In observance of new regulations, I want to let you know that I do receive commissions on any product purchased through this site.  That said, I will only recommend products that I think are truly the best of the best.  You can get stronger with nothing but your own body weight and time.  So while you do not need anything else, there are some tools and information that are quite valuable.

My Recommended Weight Training Program

Don’t miss the complete reviews to two of my favorite Weight Training Programs for beginner to intermediate women

  • Full Review of Craig Ballantyne’s “Turbulence Training” - Turbulence Training is a combination of strength and interval training. Craig Ballantyne really takes all the guesswork about where to start and what to do away as he lays out over 6 months worth of training programs that are easy to follow.

Weight Training for Women Turbulence Training

  • Full Review of the Ultimate Women’s Kettlebell Workout Kit – Kettlebells are the ultimate tool for women looking to build strong, healthy and lean bodies without spending hours at the gym. This kit combines the best kettlebell in the industry with Senior Russian Kettlebell Instructor Andrea DuCane’s Kettlebell Goddess DVD. The DVD shows you how to use your new fitness tool and puts you through 6 different 20-minutes workouts.
Ultimate Kettlebell Workout Kit Women, Kettlebell Goddess DVD + Kettlebell, strength and fat-burning workouts

If you watch TV or have picked up a magazine lately, you will know that that we are getting bombarded with media images that shape our ideals of what defines feminine beauty.  In trying to live up to this ideal (often unrealistic, air-brushed ideal) we waste money and time searching for a miracle combination of crunches that you can do for only 4 minutes a day and still see any sort of  body transformation.  Or we try sitting on our butts and pedaling like a hamster for an hour thinking that will do the trick.  And we miss out on all the benefits of weight training because we still give credence to the Top Weight Training for Women MYTH and believe that we’re going to get too muscular to still fall into that image of feminine beauty.

Hopefully this site will convince you that it is time to take a break from the recumbent bikes and crunches and pick up some weights!  Or if you are convinced already that it is time to start strength training, then you will find the Weight Lifting Workouts and Programs you need to get you started quickly.  There is so much information out there, many of it preying on our self-consciousness and desire for a quick and easy fix.  I have scoured the internet to compile all the best information into a one-stop resource for women looking to get stronger and improve their health.

I have been lifting weights for over a decade and consider myself to be quite strong, but strangely still don’t have those bulky muscles everyone is so afraid of.  I have played NCAA college sports, professional sports in France and represented Team USA in international competition.  But international athlete or soccer mom, strength training is something every woman can and should be doing for herself.  Strength training isn’t just a preparation for sport, its training for life!  I have found so much joy and self-confidence in my weight training and I want to empower very woman to be a beautiful, STRONG woman.

Contact Me With All Questions and Thoughts

Have questions or comments about this site?  Have succeeded in your strength goals?  Please contact me through the Contact Weight Training for Women page.  Your feedback will be invaluable both to my own knowledge and to the growth of this website.

For now, you can keep up-to-date with the site through the RSS Feed… with a mailing list to come soon.

Thanks for checking out my site best of luck to you.

In strength,

Kathy Darling