Let me start by saying rather it's weight training for women or anyone else, the first thing you should do before starting any new exercise program is check with your doctor. With that, said lets begin.

Up until recently, and by recently I mean maybe five or ten years ago, most women did not train with weights. The reasons I was given varied from everything from being worried about getting bulking up, or appearing to masculine, some even worried about getting veins.

The truth of the matter is none of that depending on your program could be farther from the truth, If you design, a program tailored to what you want. There are lots of benefits weight training for women, the first benefit is the obvious you will have a fitter, toner, and more healthy looking body.

And that is just on the outside, on the inside the benefits are a stronger heart and connective tissues. There are a few differences between men and women weight training. Here are some facts before we go on, weight training does not always equal a bulked up body.

Another myth is that cardio training without some sort of weight program for women is all that is needed to lose weight muscles help burn fat. Now it is true that you will certainly burn calories, but weight training helps to speed up your metabolism.

Here in my opinion is the secret for women that want to workout with weights, but are still worried about bulking up. Start with lighter weights and higher reps. Higher reps with lighter weights tone, while heavier weights with lower weights bulk.

If you remember that you should not have to worry about bulking up like the incredible hulk. You are going to want to work hard; you want to get that heart rate up. The more calories the faster you will be fit and toned.

Many women try to avoid weight training for women because of certain fears. Fear is often regarded as an emotion without benefit, but it actually has many things to teach you about yourself. If you face it with the right frame of mind, you will not only overcome it but grow as a person.

1. Characterize your fear. Are you afraid of failure or success? Are you worried about what other will say or think about you if you fail? Or do you think you won't be able to handle success? Nail down exactly what your fear is and tell yourself that you can beat it! Understanding the enemy is half the battle.

2. Go straight at that fear. Don't run away from it, and don't try to go around it. You only go backward when you shy away from fear, because doing so gives it more ammunition. However, successfully confronting it builds up a store of confidence that will allow you to do the same the next time around. Even when something doesn't work out, remind yourself that the majority of the time, you, and not fear, will prevail!

3. Let fear energize you. When you feel fear taking over, learn to find the"energy outlet" inside you. Recognize fear as a natural instinct that is simply preparing you to face a challenge. It can serve a positive purpose, rather than a negative one, once you discover that outlet. Nervous about scoring in the big game? Turn up you defense, and your offense will come naturally.

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Designing Effective Weight Training for Women is critical in order to see results that you can notice within a few months, if not weeks.

So how do you design an Effective Weight Training Program for Women to reap the rewards and stay ahead of the crowd? I will show you some major principles, and give you an example of some weight training exercises.

The Three Principles of Effective Weight Training for Women
Principle One
-Learn how to perform compound or multi-joint exercises for more overall body strength, more caloric expenditure, and bio-mechanical and coordination skills.
Here is a list of some compound exercises...
- Push ups (bodyweight exercise)
- Dumbbell Squat with Overhead Press
- Deadlifts
- Body Weight Squats
- Bent-Over Barbell Rows
- Pull-ups
- Chin-ups
- Lunges
- Push-press

Principle Two
Change Your Weight Training Exercises every few weeks; maybe every 3 to 6 weeks so your body can be challenged with a different exercise that can bring new stimulus into your exercise life.

For example, after performing the Cable Lat-Pull down for a few weeks, change it to pull-ups or chin-ups which for many women these choices are more challenging to perform, but start practicing even if
you can do only one repetition, or just lowering your body.

By more practicing you will get stronger; the key here which I tell my clients is to keep doing it on a consistent and priority basis.

Another example of exercise change is switching from the dumbbell body weight bench press to performing push-ups for chest and triceps training.

Principle Three
Follow different weight training objectives or goals in terms of:

- Endurance,
- Strength,
- Power,
- Weight Loss, and
- Muscle building (toning up) purpose.

You might wonder and ask why you want to follow those fitness objectives for specific training if you are only interested in only one of the above goals; for example, toning up your body and not power?

This is a good question, but let me briefly explain the physiological benefits from doing that. Every fitness goal has a different demand on your metabolic requirements in regards to hormonal secretion and enzymatic adaptation within your body.

Therefore, Changes can be anabolic in terms of gaining power which can lead to more strength, and this can lead to more muscle gain and weight loss.

The key is to keep changing your workout methodically and routinely so in the end you can have an Effective Weight Training for Women in the short and the long term.

Weightlifting was one of my exercises of choice when I was younger. I was never into the bodybuilding competitions, not even close to that level, but enough that I could feel and see my muscles take on a different shape and tone.

I always felt lighter when weightlifting, even though muscle mass is heavier. It was a strange and welcome feeling being able to propel yourself more easily, whether it was a quick sprint up a hill, or a jump onto a rock. There was a sense of confidence that I could rely on my needed body part when it was required. It was an exhilarating, empowering sensation.

Even though I have been an athlete my entire life, in hindsight I believe that when I was weightlifting I was in the best shape, both physically and visually. Combining weightlifting exercises with a steady consistent cardio workout would give me the optimal fitness desired.

The interesting thing about weight training for women, or anyone, is that when you increase your muscle mass you consequently increase your metabolism. Weight loss increases as a natural side effect to increased muscle mass. Muscle burns twice as much energy as fat, approximately.
Bodybuilding on a recreational scale, is a healthy weight loss approach. Weight training programs are easy to follow and most gyms will set you up and have you followed by a personal trainer to ensure that you use the weight lifting equipment properly to avoid injury.

Weight training for women has other benefits as well in the area of osteoporosis prevention. Weight bearing exercises increase the bone density.
As I age, and hopefully do so gracefully, I aspire to get back to weight training. I think the benefits are immense.
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Designing Effective Weight Training for Women is critical in order to see results that you can notice within a few months, if not weeks.

So how do you design an effective weight training program for women to reap the rewards and stay ahead of the crowd? I will show you some major principles, and give you an example of some weight training exercises.

The Three Principles of Effective Weight Training for Women:
Principle One

-Learn how to perform compound or multi-joint exercises for more overall body strength, more caloric expenditure, and bio-mechanical and coordination skills.

Here is a list of some compound exercises...

- Push ups (bodyweight exercise)

- Dumbbell Squat with Overhead Press

- Deadlifts

- Body Weight Squats

- Bent-Over Barbell Rows

- Pull-ups

- Chin-ups

- Lunges

- Push-press

Principle Two

Change Your Weight Training Exercises every few weeks; maybe every 3 to 6 weeks so your body can be challenged with a different exercise that can bring new stimulus into your exercise life. For example, after performing the Cable Lat-Pull down for a few weeks, change it to pull-ups or chin-ups which for many women these choices are more challenging to perform, but start practicing even if you can do only one repetition, or just lowering your body.

By more practicing you will get stronger; the key here which I tell my clients is to keep doing it on a consistent and priority basis. Another example of exercise change is switching from the dumbbell body weight bench press to performing push-ups for chest and triceps training.

Principle Three

Follow different weight training objectives or goals in terms of:

- Endurance,

- Strength,

- Power,

- Weight Loss, and

- Muscle building (toning up) purpose.

You might wonder and ask why you want to follow those fitness objectives for specific training if you are only interested in only one of the above goals; for example, toning up your body and not power?

This is a good question, but let me briefly explain the physiological benefits from doing that. Every fitness goal has a different demand on your metabolic requirements in regards to hormonal secretion and enzymatic adaptation within your body. Therefore,

Changes can be anabolic in terms of gaining power which can lead to more strength, and this can lead to more muscle gain and weight loss.

The key is to keep changing your workout methodically and routinely so in the end you can have an Effective Weight Training for Women in the short and the long term.

Flexibility and weight training... not generally things you hear together but it appears they are directly related. In a study at the American College Of Sports Medicine, research revealed that lifting weights can improve one's overall flexibility.

It's strange to think because for many, the idea of working your muscles is thought to tighten them, not loosen them. But that's just a myth. This particular study showed that after just 5 weeks of a regular weight training routine, the subjects gained just as much flexibility, if not more than if they had participated in a static stretching session each day.

Static stretching is the most common form, when you just reach for your toes and hold for a few seconds. Most people are urged to spend 5-10 minutes at the end of a workout stretching to help with the cool down, but static stretching at the beginning isn't a good idea as it actually increases your odds of injury during your main workout time.

This is great news because such a few percentage of woman (and men) actually stretch. The benefits of stretching and being flexible are huge: better circulation, better range of motion, smaller risk of muscle injuries (rips) and overall better athletic performance.

Weight training for women is so critical for being in the best shape possible. And now that this report was released hopefully more women will be willing to give it a try. The old idea that weight training will make you bulky is just that... old idea. It's no longer the case. We know now that women have different hormones and body composition than men... so you will stay ladylike but be toned, lean and now able to touch your toes.

Other benefits of weight training include: increased metabolism, better sleep, increase bone density, decreased depression, increased strength, and decrease in your risk of developing diseases such as: diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc.

Being a woman, it was often a daunting task to walk into the weight room of the gym and stand next to a bunch of guys curling hundreds of pounds of iron. It was seen as the macho guys room and the women belonged in the aerobics room with their fancy leotards.

It was a misconception that women had where they believed that if they started pumping iron with the guys in the weight room that soon they would start to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Luckily for women, times have drastically changed for the better. Female celebrities like Brooke Shields, Sheryl Crow and Kelly Ripa have helped change the way we see weight training for women. Their arm muscles in particular are so defined and sculpted that women now try to emulate them.

Weight training for women will not bulk you up for a few reasons. You certainly could increase your muscle size if you were to spend 5 hours a day in the gym pumping very high weights. Even women bodybuilders are not huge; they are just ripped to the hills.

One reason women won't bulk up is because women don't have the same amount of muscle building hormones that men have. Another reason is that women typically can't lift as much weight as men therefore tend to use smaller weights.

A good goal to shoot for when starting a weight training program for women is to be able to do 15 repetitions of an exercise such as arm curls and have the muscle becoming tired toward the end of the rep. Increase the weight if the muscle is not being challenged. After 3 sets of the exercise the muscle should be highly fatigued.

Not only will weight training provide you with a sleek and toned body but there are significant health benefits to adding weights to your fitness routine. Weight training will leave your muscles in a high calorie fat burning mode for hours after your workout is complete which helps you maintain a healthy weight. It also builds stronger bones which will help you to stave off osteoporosis later in life.

Whichever way you choose to start weight training, whether at home or at the gym, will benefit you for years to come.