features
Strength training: Empowering women
Women tend to avoid weights for fear of looking like a bodybuilder, but it should be a key part of their exercise routine. Abigail Harris speaks to operators who have succeeded in getting women into strength training
Engaging women in strength training could be the key to attracting and retaining female gym members, according to Pete Borchert, Precor’s senior product manager, strength.
This strength of conviction led Precor to commission a white paper, Enticing female exercisers: increasing engagement in your facility, specifically looking at ways to encourage women to include resistance in their workouts.
“Our research had some surprising results, showing that 68 per cent of women aged 35–54 felt strength training was very or extremely important – higher than the number of 18- to 34-year-old males. It seems that, as women get older, the messages around the health benefits are starting to seep through,” explains Borchert.
“But unfortunately interest doesn’t equal action, as people in this group allocate less than a third (29 per cent) of their workout time to strength training. Sadly misconceptions – such as the belief that strength training will make them look like a bodybuilder – still play a big part in this. Given how many female members cite weight loss and toning as their goals, it’s imperative that we work harder to arm them with the truth about how strength training can aid their success.”
Also among the top five reasons for skipping weights were “it’s boring”, “no-one has shown me how to use the equipment” and “I’m happy doing cardio”. These findings are backed up by an IHRSA survey of women aged 18 to 55+, which found that while 72 per cent of female gym members participate in group exercise, only 47 per cent make use of weights and resistance equipment.
Precor maintains that initial orientation, on-the-spot guidance and drop-in workshops – along with demonstration videos and easy-to-understand instruction placards on the equipment – will all help to build women’s knowledge and confidence about using strength equipment.
“Sadly interest is not currently leading to behaviour change, and this represents a huge opportunity for the industry, from programming and the gym environment to the equipment they use,” continues Borchert. “So much science backs up the benefits of strength training, particularly as we age, and members’ understanding of these connections will ultimately lead to greater retention.”
We take a look at a number of clubs that are successfully engaging female members in strength programmes.
RACKING THEM UP
Operator: UEL SportsDock
Supplier: Precor and Hoist
University of East London’s SportsDock moved its power rack and lifting platform onto the main gym floor for the exclusive use of women in a bid to boost the number of female members doing strength work. John White, manager at the £21m sports complex, explains: “Our strength and conditioning room tended to be a male dominated area, but it’s important for women to build lean muscle tissue to metabolise fat. To encourage them to use the platform and the Precor Discovery Line Strength machines as part of their fitness routine, we moved the platform and labelled it ‘women only’.”
Member Jasmine Wing says: “Having a female-only weights platform is perfect for women who aren’t confident lifting weights. The platform and the Precor machines have really encouraged my friends and I to incorporate weights into our sessions.”
White continues: “The fitness team offers weight lifting inductions and programmes to ensure exercisers use correct technique, and the members’ monthly newsletter explains the benefits of resistance and weight training to help women understand why it’s so important.”
SportsDock has also started a ‘Women in Sport’ campaign aimed at increasing participation levels of female students in sport, both at the university and at SportsDock.
PROMISING POWERLIFTERS
Operator: Freedom Leisure
Supplier: Multiple
Crowborough Leisure Centre is championing women’s strength training via three Female Strength small group training sessions a week. This includes a beginners’ class, designed to teach women the correct technique for a deadlift, squat, bench press and more.
The sessions use Olympic weights and bars, dumbbells and kettlebells, as well as Olympic lifting platforms; most classes run at full capacity. A number of staff have specific weightlifting coaching qualifications, so they can deliver first-rate strength training sessions for women and men alike.
“Holding the sessions on the gym floor is effective, as other women training in the gym often end up getting involved,” says Richard Merrick, Freedom Leisure’s group fitness and wellbeing manager.
Several women have enjoyed the sessions so much that they have taken up Olympic lifting and powerlifting. A group of ladies also took part in Crowborough Leisure Centre’s first in-house powerlifting competition in October 2014.
The success has led Hailsham Leisure Centre and K2 Crawley to follow suit. “We’re considering rolling it out across the entire group,” adds Merrick. “Strength training has lots of health benefits. What’s more, the psychological benefits of improving your physique and strengthening your body are enormous. We’ve found that many women who take part in the sessions grow in self-confidence.”
IN THE ZONE
Operator: Corby Health and Fitness
Supplier: Matrix
At Corby Health and Fitness, one of the key goals is to help more women integrate effective strength training into their routines. With this in mind, the operator partnered with Matrix Fitness to develop its Lodge Park Sports Centre. A former aerobics studio was transformed into a new zone – complete with functional rig, Olympic platforms, plate-loaded resistance and suspension training equipment – to enable the fitness team to deliver increased support for functional training, strength and conditioning via small group sessions that educate on concepts such as effective lifting, calisthenics and how to chin-up.
“Through this increased investment of time into the ‘face to face’ member experience, we’ve created a clear pathway from induction to education, and group exercise to workshops, to empower female members and ensure they feel comfortable in their technique and their environment,” says health and fitness manager Gemma Lynch. “The combined development of equipment and service has seen an increase in female gym usage of 30 per cent.”
BUILDING CONFIDENCE
Operator: Sole Fitness
Supplier: Cybex UK
Leicester-based Sole Fitness has seen a significant rise in the number of female members not only starting to incorporate resistance training, but making it integral to their workouts.
Owner Simon Sole and his staff, many of whom come from a strength training background, have been key to this. “For a lot of women it’s all about confidence,” says Sole. “Showing them how to use the strength equipment – what exercises to do and why – and dispelling the usual misconceptions about weight training has been critical to this. We’ve now created an environment where women feel comfortable in the weights area – as it should be in all gyms – and seeing female members using strength equipment has given other women the confidence to try it themselves.”
Sole Fitness has also held a number of female-only seminars, which have been led by International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) bikini fitness athlete and Cybex UK ambassador Nina Ross.
“Nina’s boot camps have been popular with members of varying fitness levels and abilities,” says Sole. “Focusing on training and nutrition for fat loss and building muscle, they reinforce what our members learn on the gym floor, as they understand and see first-hand the benefits of weight training.”
WORKING ON AIR
Operator: Gymophobics
Supplier: Keiser
Gymophobics ladies-only facilities are designed for women who have never exercised, offering a non-intimidating environment with no mirrors. The gyms all feature Keiser’s Air resistance circuit – 10 exercise stations designed to tighten and tone each body part.
The Gymophobics 30-minute Resisted Tension programme integrates four different exercise modalities: isotonic (resistance exercise), isometrics (muscle contacting and squeezing), callisthenics (free movements using body weight) and cardio (aerobic conditioning).
Each Gymophobics member is prescribed their own programme, which tells them what they should be doing at each station – including the exercises to be performed, the number of repetitions and resistance settings – with a traffic light system showing them when to move on to the next station.
Richard Hubbard, Gymophobics MD, says: “We like air rather than weights. Our customers are female and mainly new to exercise, so the smoothness and quietness of pneumatic resistance rather than weight stacks is ideal.”
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Operator: Breeze’s Gym
Supplier: Technogym
British weightlifter Michaela Breeze MBE set up Breeze’s Gym in December 2012 after retiring from competitive weightlifting. The gym, in a former church in Aberdare, includes a floor dedicated to strength and conditioning – the largest free weights gym in Wales. With eight Olympic lifting platforms, two Technogym half racks and other lifting accessories, the free weights gym is one of three Welsh centres of excellence for weightlifting.
Leveraging her status as a sporting inspiration in Wales, Breeze set up Team Breeze, a club to train promising lifters aged 11+, and holds strength and conditioning classes for local sports teams, as well as women-only sessions. She’s also created a school outreach programme to get young people involved. To date, more than 15 young women form part of Team Breeze, with six on the Welsh Performance and Talent Programmes. Five weightlifting and strength and conditioning classes are held each week, with about 15 lifters – most of whom are women.
To inspire her team, Breeze came out of retirement in 2014 to compete in the Commonwealth Games with her protégé Christie Williams, achieving bronze.
LITTLE AND OFTEN
Operator: my35
Supplier: milon
my35 in Horsham works exclusively with milon equipment, which is said to deliver a 30 per cent more effective strength workout than conventional equipment due to the increased eccentric load that’s applied to all exercises.
Susan Little, 60, joined my35 in June 2014 with several health issues: she needed rehab for her lower back and knees, and had type 2 diabetes and sciatica. In the space of just six months, she recorded a strength increase of over 280 per cent. She says: “milon is so different from other equipment and the results for my health have been amazing. I feel fitter, gardening is so much easier and my back is almost normal.”
Stuart Davis, UK distributor for milon, says: “Women often ignore strength training as they think they will get big muscles, but the health benefits are huge. milon’s electronic resistance means we can reduce increments to just one kilo, making it easy for women to progress. We look to increase resistance every second or third session; this close attention to detail gives great results.”
Work is underway in Madrid on one of Europe’s most significant multi-functional complexes, ...
