This article and picture were taken from: https://thebarbellbeauties.com/what-really-happens-when-women-lift-heavy-weights/

We can’t deny that women who lift heavy weights have become more visible in the past decade or so. And even if female participation in Olympic weightlifting is blowing up (47 percent of USA Weightlifting members are now women), we still have tons of misleading ideas and wrong concepts about the real effects that this sport has on women’s bodies.  

I wish I was a person who wasn’t concerned with my body and other people’s opinions about how I look, but most people are. Before becoming passionate about lifting weights, I had to overcome some things mentally. It was clear to me that by practicing this activity I would benefit greatly, but it took me time at the gym before I could understand that beauty is not a standardized concept. Beauty is health. Beauty is power. Beauty is determination and discipline. This is how I see it now and all thanks to CrossFit and it’s philosophy of mixing weightlifting with conditioning.

But I’m not the only one feeling this attraction to barbells and reaping the benefits of weightlifting. There are a lot of women around the world who feel the same way. Many of them are CrossFitters and ahead you will learn from their experiences. The objective is for you to stop listening to the media and paying attention to judgements, falsehoods and misinformation. We hope the testimony of these female weightlifters help you sort fact from fiction.

Science about weightlifting and cases from women who do it.

Here we will see what the science says about the benefits of weightlifting. We will look at the physical and mental benefits and give example testimonies from some of our Barbell Beauties members.

Physical health benefits of strength training 

The Science: 

When we strength train, our muscles go through a process of breaking down and then rebuilding in the next 24 to 48 hours after working out. This process is commonly known as the “afterburn effect”. This means that your metabolism keeps operating and even does it at a faster pace when you are resting after a workout. In short, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn.

The Facts:

Dr. Crezetta Guess has always been active and losing weight wasn’t really a concern for her. After her husband passed away, and pushed by her daughter, Dr. Guess started CrossFit when she was 52 years old. She says “once I started CrossFit and lifting heavy, I started seeing amazing changes in my body, my energy level, strength, confidence. At 55, I’m in the best shape of my life. And the best side effect, I’ve lost over 30 lbs and I’ve found something that I love. The photo she shared with us is February 2017 vs February 2020.

END OF TEST POST

THIS IS A TEST. This post was copied from https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/10/18148463/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-orangetheory

Modern life has a way of making us feel time-crunched and pressured to find the most efficient ways of using the precious hours when we’re not sleeping. The trendy fitness regimen high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, epitomizes this feeling.

HIIT promises the best workout in the least amount of time. Runners have used interval training for more than 100 years, alternating between sprints and jogging to improve their endurance. But HIIT didn’t really go mainstream until about a decade ago, when exercise physiologists started to come out with study after study demonstrating that intervals could deliver the biggest health improvement for your exercise time. In 2013, the seven-minute workout, popularized by the New York Times, appeared on the scene, and by 2016, the one-minute workout.

Recently, fitness professionals voted HIIT one of the top fitness trends for 2020 in a survey by the American College of Sports Medicine. And interval-based workouts are now popping up seemingly everywhere: at chains like Shred415 and Orangetheory, in group classes at YMCAs, on apps and YouTube, even in the routines outlined in Oprah’s O magazine. Often they promise to burn fat and “metabolically charge the body,” as Orangetheory puts it, in a short time period.

But there are some important nuances scientists have learned about HIIT that have gotten lost in the hype. The proven benefits of these workouts relate to a very particular type of interval training, and they’ve got nothing to do with weight loss. Here are six basic questions about HIIT, answered.

First things first: What is HIIT?

HIIT workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. At fitness studios and online, these workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training.

To be clear, most of the interval workouts researchers have studied focus solely on aerobic exercise. Which means the scientific understanding of interval training is based on a more specific routine than what’s appearing in most gyms, videos, and magazines. And the researchers’ definition matters because when we’re talking about the evidence of benefits, we need to be specific about the kinds of workouts that science was based on.

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Exercising regularly, every day if possible, is the single most important thing you can do for your health. In the short term, exercise helps to control appetite, boost mood, and improve sleep. In the long term, it reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, depression, and many cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the following:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise like brisk walking or 75 minutes of rigorous exercise like running (or an equivalent mix of both) every week.  It’s fine to break up exercise into smaller sessions as long as each one lasts at least 10 minutes.
• Strength-training that works all major muscle groups—legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms—at least two days a week.  Strength training may involve lifting weights, using resistance bands, or exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, in which your body weight furnishes the resistance.

The guidelines for aerobic exercise are considered safe for most pregnant women. The CDC makes no recommendation for strength training. It’s a good idea to review your exercise plan with your doctor.

For children

At least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, most of which should be devoted to aerobic exercise. Children should do vigorous exercise and strength training, such as push-ups or gymnastics, on at least three days every week.Read More

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