{"id":621958,"date":"2026-10-06T05:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T05:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621958\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T05:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T05:02:15","slug":"strength-training-another-fad-for-women-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621958\/","title":{"rendered":"Strength training: Another fad for women to follow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Oona Hanson<\/a> is a writer, educator and parent coach who specializes in helping families navigate diet culture and eating disorders.\n<\/p>\n

\n Like the rest of my Gen X peers, I grew up with the message that striving for the \u201cBuns of Steel\u201d body was about how you looked in a leotard, not how much weight you could squat in the gym. Women were actively discouraged from strength training for fear of becoming bulky.\n <\/p>\n

\n For women, cardio has been king \u2014 or should we say queen? \u2014 for decades, but new awareness of the health benefits of building muscle<\/a>, particularly for those in middle age, has led more women to start lifting weights. Strength training can be important to protect bone density<\/a> and overall well-being as we get older.\n <\/p>\n

\n New pressure to lift heavy and count protein grams to build muscle mass can lead to another problem for some women, however: an unhealthy preoccupation with exercise and food and yet another aspirational appearance standard.\n <\/p>\n

\n Women need to know how to care for their bodies without falling prey to unrealistic expectations that can undermine their well-being.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liz Bucar<\/a>, a professor of religion at Northeastern University in Boston, used to experience fitness through a cardio-only lens, \u201calways trying to be smaller.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In midlife now, \u201cwe\u2019re all being told, actually, oops, all that advice was terrible,\u201d said Bucar, author of \u201cBeyond Wellness<\/a>: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us.\u201d \u201cYour bones are disintegrating because you didn\u2019t have your period because you were just on the stair machine for hours a day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Wide<\/p>\n

At 65, she struggled climbing stairs. Today, she’s one of the best senior powerlifters in the world\n <\/p>\n

\"Wide<\/p>\n

At 65, she struggled climbing stairs. Today, she’s one of the best senior powerlifters in the world<\/p>\n

2:56<\/p>\n

\n Bucar, who now strength trains with a coach, described this shift from counting calories to progressing in the weight room as powerful because it is \u201cmore protective of our health\u201d and \u201cpushes back against conventional beauty norms.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI love the idea that we\u2019re creating this whole generation of grandmas who can\u2019t knit and bake or whatever but are the first in our line of ancestors who can lift our husbands over our heads,\u201d Bucar said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Strength training can be a way for women to heal their relationship with physical activity and their body, according to fitness journalist Mikala Jamison<\/a>, who writes the Body Type newsletter and is the author of the forthcoming book \u201cThe Forever Project<\/a>: How Exercise Strengthened Me Inside and Out for the Long Haul.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor so many of us, exercise was this very toxic thing when it came to our bodies and our mindset, and how it was entwined with diet culture<\/a>,\u201d Jamison told me. \u201cTaking care of yourself through fitness feels like inarguably a good thing to do. It\u2019s women taking up space.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Even though Jamison credits strength training as a critical part of her own eating disorder recovery, she still has concerns about the framing of this fitness trend. \u201c\u2018Strong is the new skinny\u2019 should be like a Bat-Signal to somebody like me, right? Like, oh, that sounds so great. But I think it\u2019s also very complicated,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even though women of all sizes are trying to build strength, the images on social media suggest \u201cit\u2019s all about strong and skinny. It\u2019s just another body standard that can be very damaging,\u201d Jamison said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMore women are strength training than ever before in America. The benefits of that can\u2019t be overstated,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at the same time, the face of that message is often women who are still objectively small, just with some additional obvious musculature.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Keri Harvey,<\/a> a certified personal trainer and co-owner of Form Fitness Brooklyn<\/a> in New York, agreed that larger women who lift weights are underrepresented in our culture.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing people in smaller bodies who have muscles, and they are strong, and that\u2019s amazing,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cAnd yet there are people in larger bodies who are strong as well, and their bodies also have cellulite. Their bodies also have fat. And it may not look like the person that you\u2019re seeing on Instagram or the magazine cover, but that is still a strong body.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Building<\/p>\n

\n Building strength is often literally at odds with shrinking the body.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI like to tell people to remember that muscles need room,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cOur lats, as they get stronger, it may mean we have to go up in a bra size. Or as your biceps get stronger, it might mean your shirt that you were expecting to fit more loosely might be a bit more snug.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Harvey encouraged women \u201cto be comfortable with the idea that your body is going to change as you get stronger, but it may not change in the way that you think it should and that\u2019s not a bad thing. It\u2019s tough because a lot of us have been taught that we have to be small.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n While the popularity of strength training is getting more women into the weight room, it can also feed into a \u201cvery aspirational body standard,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cSometimes it feels like we\u2019re just constantly shuffling these cards of what is the look to have, but we\u2019re just calling it different things all the time. Like, OK, it\u2019s about strength, but, really, is it? Or is it about just being really, really lean?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The physical and mental health risks of getting swept up by a fitness trend are a concern to Megan Hellner<\/a>, a registered dietitian and cofounder of AthleatMD<\/a>, a medical and nutrition treatment program for athletes with relative energy deficiency in sport, or RED-S<\/a>, and eating disorders. \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re trading one very narrow body ideal for another,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Hellner warned about the risks of trying to change your body to match what she refers to as the \u201cathletic aesthetic,\u201d she acknowledged the upside of an emphasis on strength over thinness is that \u201cit does at least require an input of energy. Muscle is very expensive tissue to build and maintain calorically.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In contrast to an emphasis on thinness that led many women to restrict calories, a focus on lifting weights simply isn\u2019t compatible with dieting.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cStrength and building muscle require that we eat. We have to feed the muscles, and so a lot of the categories of foods that have been demonized in other trends are things that we need in order to build the muscle,\u201d Harvey said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Lifting<\/p>\n

\n Rather than carefully monitoring their body on a scale, some women find themselves fixating on a different kind of weight, as they strive for increasing the amount they can lift in a training approach called \u201cprogressive overload.<\/a>\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n For those who find their relationship to strength training is becoming obsessive, Harvey invited them to remember that \u201cour main goal should be for us to feel strong enough to live our lives,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cIf we\u2019re so focused on never feeling like we are doing enough, then it takes the joy away from lifting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Hellner advised women to watch out for \u201cignoring whispers from the body before they become screams. If there\u2019s pain or injury and someone is not honoring their body and resting, that is a red flag, or if there is quite a bit of distress when they\u2019re not able to strength train on a given day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n For someone used to going hard on the cardio machines every day, Harvey noted that the schedule for strength training can take some getting used to.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYour body needs rest just as much as it needs the strength training. We don\u2019t want to fatigue the muscles constantly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to give them time to learn a pattern, to be comfortable with a load, and then we can move on.\u201d Without adequate rest, lifting weights can \u201cjust tear the body down.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When it comes to nutrition for strength training, Hellner encouraged women to avoid seeing food only as something that supports their fitness routine and instead \u201cthinking about fueling for all of the reasons we need food: basic life processing, hormone production, organ function, all activities of daily living, including connecting with people, building community, experiencing joy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Both Harvey and Jamison emphasized the importance of finding the right balance and a routine based on your personal needs. A woman who wants to feel less creaky in daily life doesn\u2019t have to approach strength training like she\u2019s preparing for a powerlifting competition.\n <\/p>\n

\n While this fitness trend might be getting more women to start lifting, Harvey said she wanted them to find sustainable ways to pursue their goals that go beyond appearance or a fitness fad.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is so encouraging to be able to walk into a gym, and in the free weights section, I\u2019m not the only woman there,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is a really cool and exciting thing, and I just am hopeful that it continues, and that it\u2019s not something that drops off when the trend changes because it will. It always does.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Separating exercise from appearance can be the best way to find a health-promoting, personal connection to movement. It\u2019s why Jamison argued for a much more inclusive approach than is typically portrayed online.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the only way fitness should be appreciated or commendable is if it results in a lean and very obviously muscular body,\u201d she said. \u201cThat should not be the only picture of health, strength or fitness.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Note: If you or someone you know may be struggling with an eating disorder, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders<\/a> provides free resources and referrals.\n <\/p>\n

\n Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN\u2019s Life, But Better newsletter<\/a> for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.\n<\/p>\n