You’re a Badass Warrior Princess
I’m often asked by women if they should lift weights.
Fitness magazines and blogs don’t want you to see the badass warrior princess you have hidden inside, so they tell you to hit Zumba classes, hop on the elliptical, or trudge away on treadmills.
Magazines, Instagram, and infomercials bombard women promising mind blowing results in a short period of time.
Yet, most ladies head to the treadmill or elliptical when they join a gym. Overlooking or completely disregarding the premise of lifting weights.
Strength training, though, when compared to cardio, is a better investment of time.
Women can and should lift more than teeny pink dumbbells.
5 Reasons Why Lifting Benefits Women
Wonder Woman doesn’t use pink dumbbells1. It’s empowering
Why should you let men, or even other women, tell you that you have to be weak and can only lift “pink girly” weights?
Breaking the gender barrier and showing a man, or even your mom, that yes women are strong is freeing.
Oh, and in case you didn’t already know, vaginas push out human beings. So stop claiming women are “pussies” and weak.
+100 strength for the ladies
2. A Stronger Pelvic Floor
Lifts like squats and deadlifts strengthen the pelvic floor—the same muscles that Kegels “supposedly” firm up.
A strong pelvic floor means tighter and firmer muscles, which can help you have better orgasms. Who doesn’t want that?
Strengthening pelvic floor muscles also help you recover faster from child birth and aid in preventing fewer complications.
As my wife has said before: you bitch and moan about leg day, you’d never be able to handle giving birth. She’s right.
Ladies, you win the badass award here.
A video posted by Side Quest Fitness (@sidequestfm) on
3. Curves
Men like women with curves.
According to science, men are extremely attracted to women with a waist-to-hip ratio of .67-.80.
Lifting helps not only build muscle but tone it.
All those areas that you desire to be more supple and lean like arms, butt, thighs, and shoulders begin to take shape and look more pronounced when you lift.
Endurance exercise can help you lose weight, but that comes from both fat and muscle tissue. (see reason 4 for why you want to retain lean muscle tissue)
If you’re losing both fat and muscle, you can eventually erase those lovely curves. Strength training helps, not only build those bodacious curves but will help you maintain those sexy, shapely curves longer.
4. More Muscle = Higher Metabolism = More Food
Weightlifting promotes muscle growth and, more importantly, muscle retention. No ladies, you cannot get bulky. You don’t have enough testosterone, the hormone that promotes muscle growth. On average according to the
No ladies, you can’t get bulky.
You don’t have enough testosterone.
According to the BBC, men produce 20 times more testosterone in a day than women. Which means without taking drugs, your body won’t build muscle like a mans.
But, there are some other great reasons for building and toning the muscle you have.
Studies show that men and women who are leaner and carry more muscle mass live longer, healthier lives.
Muscle not only adds to your longevity but because it’s living metabolic tissue, it needs to energy to hang around. That means you can eat more food.
More muscle = more food.
And who’s going to argue over eating more ice cream, pancakes, tacos, or bacon?
Lifting weights can also help fight osteoporosis by increasing bone density. 80% of the people in America who suffer from osteoporosis are women.
According to Wolff’s Law, your bones restructure over time and become stronger.
Every time you add five pounds to the barbell, not only are you get stronger muscularly, but your bones are getting buff too.
+ 100 more points to your awesome meter
5. More effective fat loss.
Within 20 minutes of stepping off a treadmill, your body returns to a normal calorie burning state.
However, when you stop weight lifting your body has to continue to burn energy to repair your muscles used during your workout.
Your badass warrior princess body must consume more oxygen for muscle repairs.
This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC.
You continue to consume additional oxygen in the hours and even days that follow. According to one
According to one study that measured the resting metabolic rate in young females after a bout of resistance training, they found that the following morning their RMR (resting metabolic rate) was 4.2% higher than the previous day.
**BONUS**
Need a few extra calories burned?
Try sex.
According to one study the average calories burned during sexual activity—at a moderate intensity—beginning with foreplay through orgasm was 3.6 kCals a minute.
30 minutes of sex(ercise) would warrant you an additional 100 calories burned.
Become a Badass Warrior Princess
My client Tracy in the first video up above, called me the other day and asked me if she would be able to deadlift 225 pounds in a year.
That’s her goal and something she said on the call she would have never imagined would be possible until she started lifting.
Ladies, you’re naturally already badass warrior princesses.
Get out there, pick up some weights, and become even more badass. Become the most badass warrior princess there is.
Don’t let the magazines, internet, or family tell you that you can’t lift heavy or you’ll get bulky, that’s a lie.
Show those weights whose boss and become the ultimate badass warrior princess version of yourself.
If you need help on this journey, you can always check out my coaching page and join the other badass warrior princesses in training now.
Great article on weights training for women. The benefits of it are something I tell my female clients about on a regular basis. I also like the added benefit on when done correctly its preventive of injuries. Do you agree?
Thanks for reading Victoria!
I agree. Injuries happen to everyone but I think the stronger you are the less likely it is to happen from some every day movement.