Weight Lifting Exercises For Women: The Only Way To Become a Goddess

There are two things that keep women from adding weight lifting exercises for women to their gym regimen:

1.    The fear of becoming overdeveloped and unfeminine, and

2.    The belief that you have to join a weight lifting gym in order to do it.  

The good news is that neither is true.

Allow me to explain.

The women you see on Muscle Magazine have been weight training for years, and they have a highly specific diet they stick to in order to build muscle mass—lots of it.

So, unless you’re reading the same materials, clocking the same gym hours, and taking the same supplement cocktail as Helga Hamstrung the female King of muscle, don’t be afraid to add a few weight lifting exercises for women to tone your body and keep it strong and sexy.

What’s even better, you don’t have to join a gym. There are plenty of weight lifting exercises for women that can be done right in the home, using a combination of inexpensive dumbbells—available at any sporting goods store—and resistance work to get a comprehensive workout.

Here are a couple of exercises to get you started:

Biceps

Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, and your dumbbells at your sides, palms facing your hips. Keep your elbows in, and raise the dumbbells to your shoulders. If you need to use your body in order to complete the lift, the dumbbells are too heavy. Hold in the upper lift position, and then slowly lower the dumbbells back down to your sides.

Triceps

Stand in the same position as you did for the biceps exercise, but with one hand on the hip and the other raised above your head—arm bent, with the dumbbell behind your head. Then, without moving your arm from the shoulder to the elbow, raise the dumbbell up until your arm is straight (but not locked) and hold for five seconds before lowering slowly back to behind your head.

Shoulders

Assume the same position of the biceps exercise, including the “at rest” dumbbell position. But instead of lifting your arms, lift your shoulders—rolling them slowly.

Back

Same position as for biceps again, but this time your are going to keep your palms facing your hips as you bring up your arms, fully extended, up to shoulder height—almost as if your arms were wings and you wanted to fly away. Hold and slowly bring your arms down back to your sides.

Forearms

Find a place in your home where you can stand and place your arm across a surface at about elbow height. The corner of a kitchen counter works, as well as the back of a sofa. Place your forearm (elbow side down) across the surface, with the dumbbell and your palm facing up. Then, bend your hand at the wrist toward you. Hold, and release slowly. Be careful not to release your fingers too much because the dumbbell will fall.

Legs

Stand up straight, feet together, dumbbells in each hand. Then lunge forward with one leg, so that your back knee almost touches the floor (but not quite!). Hold for five seconds, and then come back to standing before lunging with the opposite leg.