Strength training for women - We answer the most important questions

Strength training is no longer just for men. However, many women tend to favour endurance sports and are afraid of losing their feminine curves if they do too much strength training. Yet the combination of endurance and strength training is particularly important. In the following article, we answer all the important questions about strength training for women and explain the benefits that strength training has on your body.

If you think that strength training only builds muscle mass and are afraid of losing your feminine curves, then we can reassure you: In fact, your female body benefits from strength training. After all, it will be toned and the sculpted muscles will help to define your female contours even better.

As a woman, you also produce less testosterone than men. This hormone contributes to muscle building. In addition, as a woman you naturally have a lower muscle volume but a higher body fat percentage. As a result, it is genetically impossible for women to build up an excessive amount of muscle mass. You would have to train daily and take dietary supplements to achieve such an effect - so don't worry!

Endurance training such as jogging, cycling or walking are popular endurance sports. With fitness equipment such as cross trainers or ergometers, you can easily move these outdoor sports indoors. However, you should not neglect strength training during your workout. As muscle mass generally burns more calories than fat, it's important that you focus on strength training as well as endurance training.

Cardio training itself does not tone your body. That's why a combination is particularly important if you want to shape your body. Strength training supports the building of individual muscles through targeted training and defines certain muscle groups according to your wishes. It is important that you pay attention to increasing your endurance as well as building strength. Endurance training also has many positive effects](https://shop.skandika.com/blog/fitness/cardio-training-vorteile) on your health. Therefore, these two training sessions should ideally go hand in hand.

You should also be aware that although you will achieve a calorie deficit with pure endurance training and the right diet, you will also lose muscle mass as a result of the weight loss. That's why it's important to counteract this with strength training. Strength training helps you to maintain your muscle mass and define it. Strength training is the only way to achieve your fitness goals, such as a firmer stomach or a firmer bum. Did you know that you lose around 5% muscle mass every ten years from the age of 30**? Targeted strength training counteracts this and can reduce the ageing of your muscles.

Especially if you want to lose body fat - and turn it into muscle - or lose a few kilos, strength training is very important. To lose weight, you need the right diet and the right training for you. As you know, you lose calories through a calorie deficit. You can increase this deficit with the right sport, as your calorie consumption increases through your daily workout.

And that's not all: by doing strength training at the same time, you let your body know that your muscles are important. In this way, you lose body fat through the calorie deficit, but build muscle at the same time. Even at rest, muscle mass burns more calories than fat - around 100 kcal per kilo of muscle mass. However, don't be surprised if you don't see a big difference on the scales. Muscle mass is heavier than body fat. However, you will quickly recognise a visual difference if you convert fat into muscle through strength training.

In addition to a toned body, you benefit from other positive effects of strength training on your body. Strength training, for example, contributes to a better body feeling, which increases your well-being. The fact that you immediately feel better in your own body increases your self-confidence, which significantly improves your quality of life.

Your posture is also strengthened by training specific areas. The strength training for your upper body is particularly worth mentioning. You will automatically adopt a more upright posture. You will benefit from this positive effect, especially if you sit a lot in your job. This prevents damage to your back caused by incorrect posture.

Another benefit: women tend to develop cellulite due to weaker connective tissue. Prevention is therefore particularly important. As a woman, you can counteract cellulite through strength training, as this tightens your tissue.

With the right equipment, you have the opportunity to do your strength training at home. Make sure you warm up before training. Warmed-up muscles are easier to train and you are less susceptible to injury.

Also remember to train large muscle groups first and then smaller ones. In our Guide to muscle building for beginners you will find further important tips on how to optimise your training and gradually increase your strength.

Dumbbells are classic fitness equipment for building muscle. These are available in many different weights. This gives you the opportunity to adapt the strength training to your desired intensity. You also directly target several muscle groups during an exercise, as your entire body has to balance the movement.

Dumbbell training for women gives you many opportunities to define certain areas of your body. With lunges - also known as lunges - you define your thigh and gluteal muscles, just like with classic squats. If you add dumbbells, you can do biceps curls at the same time as the lunges, and with the squats you stretch your arms upwards with the dumbbells while straightening your body. Both exercises with dumbbells also train your back and abdominal muscles.

Little equipment, great effect: with fitness bands you can take your bodyweight training to a new level. As with dumbbell training, you have the opportunity to train different muscle groups. Thanks to the many fitness band exercises, you train your entire body and strengthen your muscles. The good thing is that the fitness bands are compact to store and can easily be taken anywhere. Popular exercises for the thigh and gluteal muscles include squats. Planks train your core and bicep curls train your arm muscles.

With a rowing machine you can combine endurance and strength training. The higher resistance intensifies the rowing. The rowing training itself activates up to 85% of your muscles. The rowing movement trains all the main muscle groups - your arm, leg and abdominal muscles. Your back is also strengthened. When training with the rowing machine, pay attention to the correct exercise in order to achieve training success. Here you will find the right training plan for building muscle.

When strength training, it is particularly important to plan in the regeneration phase so that your muscles can recover from strength training. It is best to combine endurance training with strength training. However, the order is crucial. If you want to focus on strength training, it's best to start with this before you finish your workout with a cardio session.

The recovery phase is particularly important for strength training. Your muscle mass grows during this time. If you ignore the regeneration time, this would lead to overloading. Training for too long also leads to overloading. As a beginner, around two sessions of half an hour per week are enough to get you started with strength training. If you overexert yourself, your body will release the stress hormone cortisol. This will then stagnate your training success.

In addition, it is important that you gradually but gradually increase. Your body always needs new stimuli and challenges. Otherwise it will get used to the training too quickly and the training success will not materialise after a while. You can easily achieve this by increasing the weight or doing several repetitions.

As you can see, strength training should be at least as important in your training plan as endurance sports. Strength training plays an important role, especially if you want to reduce fat and define your body. Strength training for women helps to maintain body proportions and tone the body. You will quickly achieve success through a variety of training methods and a steady increase in training.