Originally posted on muscletech.com

In order to improve the quality of your life and reduce the risk of numerous diseases, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends performing resistance training two to three times per week with 8 to 12 repetitions of 8 to 10 exercises that target all the major muscle groups. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that only about 20% of women were engaging in resistance training two or more times per week.
That means that almost 80% of women are missing out on the key physiological benefits of resistance exercise, which includes improved communication between their brain and muscle, enhanced bone, muscle, and connective tissue growth and durability, and increased strength, endurance, muscle, and power.
A study of over 35,000 healthy women published by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercisefound that compared with women who reported no strength training, women engaging in any strength training experienced a reduced rate of type 2 diabetes of 30% and a risk reduction of 17% for cardiovascular disease. Weight lifting can also help manage and treat many conditions ranging from arthritis to depression, and also helps with blood glucose regulation and aerobic fitness.
Since weight lifting has so many benefits for women, this begs the question: Why aren’t more women lifting weights? It may have something to do with the myths out there regarding strength training and weight lifting for women.
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