In general society, strength training is still seen as a male pursuit. And if women do lift, it’s in a circuit based format with small pink dumbbells and a focus on burning as many calories as humanly possible in an hour. I favor a different approach. Blood, sweat and tears. Iron and chalk.
Look, I get it, you don’t want to look like Arnie. But getting hench isn’t something you can do by accident. I promise. It takes consistent, directed effort for years and years and years.
So, with that in mind, join me as I impart onto you why I love weights so much. And why you should too.
1. You will get that toned look you’re after
I know you want to look lean, and toned on the beach. I’m going to level with you. You’re not going to accidentally become hench. In fact, getting stacked requires consistent, deliberate effort sustained over a period of time. I know because I’ve tried.
Bold of me to assume you want to look toned. But the fact is we all want to look good, and most people’s journey into the gym begins with wanting to look better. I can count on one hand the amount of times that anyone has walked in and said “Nik, I just want to feel and move better” does it happen? Sure. But most people want to look hot, and that is excellent.
All that toned actually means, is low body fat and a few muscles. You can’t elongate your muscles by doing glute kickbacks and you definitely can’t tone up using Fit Tea. I promise you. If you lose weight without gaining muscle, you will look like a stick. There will be no slim thicc. The thicc part is the muscle. So build some. And maybe, just maybe, along the way the aesthetic will become a byproduct and not the main goal.
2. It’s fun
Yeah, fine. Fun is subjective. But, while maybe 3 sets of 2 deadlifts at 900 kilos isn’t everyone’s idea of a riotous occasion. That doesn’t have to be it. There are so many different ways to lift, you just need to find your favorite.
This is also kind of a red herring. You don’t need to be loving every second of your training schedule. Doing the same exact spin class every single week isn’t really improving you all that much. First off you’ve definitely adapted to the demands by now and should probably spice it up a little. Secondly, strength training won’t only strengthen your body, it’ll fortify your character. Doing hard things in the gym will make doing hard things in life, a bit less hard. And let’s face it, life’s hard.
3. It’s good for you
Another red herring. Let me explain.
“Good for you” is SO subjective and contextual. Every so often, a study happens, and apparently red wine will make you live forever, or if sugar is basically crack. Next minute, everyone is doing wine enemas and participating in a 30-day sugar-free challengeS. It’s always so final and binary. It scares people into doing or not doing things, and keeps you trapped in the same cycle of fear, and of not really being sure what you should be doing.
Weights are good for, that is just science. Being strong is probably the best thing you could do for your body. You’ll be unbreakable, unstoppable. And that transfers to every facet of your life.
4. Your life need not revolve around fat loss
Fat loss is the thing that women do. And that is not cool. If you need to lose weight for health reasons or for any other reasons, that’s valid and I’m proud of you. There is nothing wrong with losing fat if that is one of your goals. It doesn’t have to be, though. You can choose something else entirely. Get stronger, perform better, or simply challenge yourself.
The “torch fat look great”, “lose your love handles, love yourself” workouts are getting old. That’s so boring. The entire narrative around getting women in gyms is about making yourself less. Literally. And I’m very done with it.
What if, instead, training was about self-improvement, allowing you an opportunity to better yourself; space where you can evolve.
5. Weight training makes you feel good
To go back to the calorie-torching workouts I mentioned earlier, on the subject of which, you may as well save your money and spend an hour jumping up and down to essentially the same effect, but I digress.
These leave you feeling unmotivated and sore. Sore is not the indicator of a good workout. Better is. Can you lift more weight, lift the same weight more times, lift the same weight the same amount of times but with less rest? Week on week, year on year? Those are markers of better. Sore legs are just sore legs.
Bonus reason: You can carry all your shopping inside on one trip.
Seriously. Do you know how many hundreds of seconds I have saved from eliminating pointless trips to and from the car?! Several.
So there you have it.
A summary of the best reasons to lift weights. This list is not exhaustive, nor is it meant to be. What I hope that you’ve taken away from this is that there is another way, the gym doesn’t have to be what you’ve been told it is. It’s not punishment, and you’re not there because you’re not good enough. Quite the opposite.
NIK x
