Executive Summary This white paper introduces the idea of lifting weights by discussing how it can improve health and who the role models are for women today. It discusses prior research on women’s health, then describes new findings from recent research that shows the benefits of lifting weights for women. It shows the benefits as relating to improved mood, increased confidence, and improved physical and mental health.

Introduction

The keys to having a healthy life are nutrition and exercise. A good diet such as the world-renowned Mediterranean Diet and sufficient levels of physical activity throughout the day can improve one’s health and outlook (Guntzviller, King, Jensen & Davis, 2017). This paper will focus on the exercise part of that equation and discuss the benefits that lifting weights can have for a select population—specifically for women who are between the ages of 25 and 40.

In the past, lifting weights has been seen as an exercise for men. The male role models were people like Arnold Schwarzenegger—a professional body-builder turned actor—or wrestlers like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, women have been coming to the foreground in more recent years and joining the ranks of men in wrestling, fighting, and training. Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey are both female former mixed-martial artists who have brought the idea of lifting weights for women into the mainstream. Gym culture is back and the question of whether lifting is good for women is one that many have. Because women tend to lack the same upper body muscle mass that men have, lifting weights has traditionally been perceived as a male activity. But women like Carano, Rousey and Leidy Solis, a double world weightlifting champion in the 81 kg category, have helped to change that perception. The question is: should other women in their age group follow their lead? What are the benefits?

Previous Approaches

Previous attempts to define a healthy lifestyle for women have focused on diet and psychosocial activities, such as being part of a peer group, developing a strong social support system, and focusing on mental health (Dressler, 1985). Exercise and physical activity has focused more on lower body movement—like walking or spinning (Clapp III, 2000). While these approaches are all important in their own ways, they do not cover all the options and opportunities that are now available to women and that are being promoted by professional female athletes in various fields. New findings from the field of sports have shown that there is plenty of evidence for why weightlifting is beneficial for women.

New Findings

Findings on the benefits of weightlifting for women actually go back some decades....

Choy (1992) showed that there are psychological benefits for women who lift weights: lifting can help reduce women’s anxiety and depression. There is also anecdotal evidence that lifting helps women to reduce their symptoms during menstruation (Choy, 1992). However, “only 27% of women aged 18-24 reported some type of muscle-strengthening activity compared with 45% of men of the same age” (Lowery, 2019, p. 3).
As Lavallee and Mansfield (2013) have found, weightlifting can help women maintain the body composition and weight they had when they were younger; give them confidence and energy to maintain a profession; help them to maintain greater flexibility, strength, bone density, and overall health even into older age. Weightlifting is not just something that can only be performed by women between the ages of 25 and 40. Older women can engage in this form of exercise as well to help ensure that they are in top physical and mental health.

One of the barriers that women face when it comes to lifting weights is that they do not feel comfortable going to gyms to lift weights: to many it feels like a masculine zone and if they enter into it they feel like they are being sexualized by the other males in the gym (Lowery, 2019). This is a barrier that could be overcome with the development of all-female gyms or workout times for men and women so that women feel that they are in a safe space when they go to work out. Knowledge about lifting weights is another barrier (Lowery, 2019). Women need to be educated about how to lift safely, when a spotter is needed, and how to avoided lifting in such a way that they over-exert themselves or injure themselves.

The technical fundamentals of lifting weights can be found in the FITT formula: Frequency, Intensity, Time spent, and Type of exercise (Rogers & Fogoros, 2019). In other words, the benefits of lifting weights are determined by how often, how hard, how long, and what type of lifting one does. One also needs an understanding of how lifting affects the muscles. There are two types of muscle contractions—isometric and isotonic. Pushing against a wall is an isometric contraction. Lifting tends to be isotonic: curling with a dumbbell for instance consists of a muscle shortening and lengthening. Joint movements are also involved in lifting, and they are: flexion, extension, abduction and adduction. Flexion decreases the angle of the joint. Extension increases the angle at the same time weight is lowered. Abduction is a sideways movement in which a body part is moved away from the center of the body. Adduction is the opposite—the body part is moved towards the center of the body (Rogers & Fogoros, 2019).

Building strength through lifting can take a variety of methods.…