With the popularity of fitness systems like Crossfit, women seem to have finally shed the stigma of barbell training. This is great news because the benefits are huge and the results are much more dramatic than those you would get from spending hours on the elliptical. Women are sometimes too scared to start, or they’ve been injured in the past due to a combination of no/poor guidance and doing too much too fast. However, if done correctly, barbell exercises can actually make you more resistant to injury. Here are some tips on what barbell exercises can do for women and how to do some of the most valuable exercises correctly.
Become a stronger person in body and mind
One of the most significant benefits of barbell training is the ability to add extra load for extended periods of time. Barbell exercises train your entire body as a unit, working the way it was designed to work. Because you use more muscles, you can become very strong during these movements. All else being equal, a strong individual is a faster individual, a more resilient individual, and a more flexible individual.
What’s rarely talked about is the mental toughness that comes with doing something inherently difficult. Mental toughness is the ability to persevere when life gets difficult. It’s the ability to perform a series of difficult deadlifts when you think you can’t do it.
Reduces bone density loss and injury recovery
according to National Osteoporosis Foundation, of the 10 million Americans with osteoporosis, approximately 80% are women. Weight-bearing exercises like barre exercises stimulate your bones to become denser and stronger, preventing the loss of bone density that affects many women. If you are older or already have low bone density, it can stop or reverse this decline. At the same time, your mobility will improve and the gains you achieve will actually last, plus your tendons will be stronger and more supple, greatly reducing the likelihood of injury.
Muscle = fat loss = looking sexy in yoga pants
Most clients focused on fat loss tend to use cardio equipment. It’s easy to get started, and it’s certainly better than sitting on the couch, but it’s no more important than barbell exercise when it comes to functional fitness or changing body composition for women and men. While aerobic exercise will burn some calories, strength training will continue to burn calories long after your workout is over. Additionally, every pound of muscle you gain will burn an additional 30-50 calories per day to maintain it.
Barbell Workout for Women: How to Get Started with a Barbell
When you first start doing barbell exercises, it’s important to move slowly. Don’t ask your body to do anything it’s not ready for. Start with an empty column. If it’s too heavy, you can use a broom or PVC pipe to practice the moves. If you can’t achieve a full range of motion, use a box or chair as a target and work on moving a little further each time. Make sure you’re making some progress with each workout. This could mean adding five pounds, doing extra reps, or achieving a greater range of motion. When the weight is light, focus on perfecting your form so that when things get heavier, it happens naturally.
5 steps to achieve perfection deadlift
Step up to the bar so your shins are about an inch away from the bar. The barbell should be located directly over the middle of the foot, or approximately above the shoelaces. The heels should be 6-12 inches apart, with the toes pointed straight forward or turned slightly outward.
Bend over with stiff legs and grab the bar so your arms are outside your legs.
Push your shins forward until they contact the bar. No matter where your hips are at this point, they will be where they were before you started lifting.
Tighten your back muscles and use the tension to pull your chest upward. This will pull you into a neutral spine position (i.e. your back is flat). Another helpful tip is to push your belly between your thighs. Remember, your hips should not move from the previous step. At this point, you should feel very tight in your hamstrings. This step is very important for waist safety.
Keeping tension in your back and hamstrings, take a deep breath, tighten your abs, and pull the barbell into your legs. Make sure the bar is as close to your body as possible and don’t let it drift forward.
return: If you have trouble keeping your back flat at the beginning of the deadlift, raise the bar as low as possible. From there, work your way down to the floor.
5 steps to achieve perfection squat
Stand under a barbell, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and rest the barbell on your traps—the fleshy muscles behind and under your neck. Hold the barbell as close to your shoulders as possible comfortably.
Lift the barbell and take as few steps as possible out of the squat rack. Stance width may vary, but a good starting position is with your heels shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed slightly outward.
Take a deep breath, tighten your abs, and use your back muscles to pull the barbell into your traps.
Act like you want to part the floor with your feet. Push your hips back and down while bending your knees. Push your knees outward over your toes. Never let your knees bend inward.
Lower your hips until they are parallel to or slightly lower than your knees. Push your upper back into the bar, then use your hips to rise from the bottom position, continuing to push your knees outward.
return: If you can’t reach parallel depth in your squat, squat to a box, bench, or chair that you can reach with good form and work to increase your range of motion with each exercise.
5 steps to perfection overhead press
Grasp the barbell with both hands on the outside of your shoulders. As you lift the barbell off the rack, tighten your abs and glutes and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Maintain this tension throughout.
Before you start lifting with your shoulders, take a deep breath and build up the tension. Consider raising your shoulders instead of raising your hands.
Press the bar straight up on the vertical line. This requires you to tuck your chin in as the bar passes your face. The path of the barbell should not deviate away from your body at any time. It moves directly up and down.
Complete the lift by raising the barbell directly overhead. Get into this position with your arms next to your ears. If your arms are stretched out in front of your face, you’re letting it go away from you. Another good tip is to “put your head out of the window your arms create.”
Lower your back to the starting position, making sure to maintain tension throughout your body to support the weight. If you relax in this bottom position, your tendons and ligaments will support the weight instead of your muscles – and that’s not good!
return: If the barbell overhead press is too difficult, doing the overhead press with dumbbells is a great way to strengthen your movement and create shoulder stability.
