It’s no secret, anyone who’s ever set foot in Buck around four p.m. has seen it– every elliptical machine occupied by a girl reading People or mindlessly staring out the window at passersby for what must be the most boring hour.
I’m not going to lie, I have found myself in this very position many a time before and frankly, I was so bored that I’d rather pass the time counting the number of people on Facebook during my Econ class. In order to keep gym-motivated, I had to find myself a new and much more exciting routine.
That’s when I discovered the miracle that is the weight room. Please don’t stop reading now! I promise it’s not as scary as it sounds. It might seem like the basement is the holy land for male athletes, but who says it has to be that way? The weight room is meant to be for the whole school and now as I stand on my ‘soap box’ that is this article, I’m screaming to the female population to try it out! Just once, take a trip down the stairs. Most of the guys won’t even notice you’re there. The benefits to weight training for women are so numerous, that once you are hooked, the elliptical will be collecting dust.
Studies performed by Wayne Westcott, PhD from Quincy Mass. found that the average young woman who strength trains two or three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and lose 3.5 pounds of fat. Increasing lean muscle will boost your resting metabolism and you’ll burn more calories all day long. For each pound of muscle that you gain, you burn up to 50 more calories a day (yes–even when you’re sitting in the library or watching the Bachelor on the couch)!
Worried that you’ll turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger? Researchers have also found that unlike guys, women don’t gain size from strength training. We have 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will however, boost muscle tone and definition. Sign me up!
Got the Bowdoin Blues? A Harvard study found that 10 weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms better than counseling with a professional psychologist! Women who strength train are generally more confident and have more energy than their peers who solely utilize cardiovascular training in their workouts.
Maybe I’ve convinced you at this point that strength training is a good addition to your usual workout, but you might be thinking to yourself… I would be so lost in the weight room. If this is you then I’ve got some good news! There are tons of online resources like WorkoutsForYou.com or iBodyFit.com, where workout routines are posted weekly. You can even customize a workout program, track your results and talk to trainers online. If you’re an ‘on the go’ girl with an iPhone, there are several apps such as MyFitnessPal that will also give you workout tips. Online versions of Women’s Health and Fitness Magazine have entire sections devoted solely to almost every imaginable type of strength training workout—with videos and photos.
So—Next time you go to the gym, be adventurous! Try out weight training, even if it’s just a little bit. Because you know what they say, “Try one thing every day that scares you,” It might just give you exactly what you’ve been looking for.