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Is there anything special about strength training for women? Although many gyms offer different programs for men and women, the truth is that strength training for women follows exactly the same rules as for men.
The rules of human physiology apply to all of us. What is different about strength training for women is the effects of the workouts. This is due to the effects of hormones - the key hormone that affects our response to tough weights workouts is testosterone. The reason men can bulk up when they train is that they have around 30 times as much testosterone as women - thus women very rarely add significant amounts of muscle.
What you will get from this type of training, however, is improved muscle tone, increased strength, and a far more efficient fat burning machine. This is because muscle burns fat, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even adding as little as 5 extra pounds of muscle will boost your metabolism and your fat burning.
So how do you get stronger and more toned? The first key is the rule of adaptation. What this means is that any time the body is forced to do something that is harder than it is used to, it will find ways to adapt. In the case of resistance workouts, it means that if you begin to work out regularly, your body will adapt by making the muscles stronger.
Pretty quickly you will stop making progress, as your body learns how to deal with the demands you throw at it. To continue to progress, you have to up the workload a little.
You do this by increasing the weight you use, doing more reps and sets, or reducing the rest you take between sets. As long as you continuously change your workouts, you will continue to make progress.
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