Carrying groceries, picking up a child or even walking across the kitchen can be a monumental task when your calf muscles are burning and tight from overexercising. To reduce soreness, a woman should develop a routine that suits her body. If you're new to working out, start slowly and increase weight and duration in small increments. Working out is a marathon not a sprint for the average woman, and weight training quickly and excessively will hurt you more than help you.
Muscle Soreness
Sore and aching muscles can cause problems for women; however, proper warm-up and cooldown routines will keep you going strong. Sore muscles tend to develop at the start of new workouts. When you are beginning a new routine, take your time and don't excessively strain your muscles. Overuse can also cause soreness. When you are first establishing a routine, work within a comfortable time limit and slowly increase to prevent overuse.
Stress Fractures
Stress fractures are tiny cracks in the bone and are caused by repetitive force and overuse, such as repeated jumping or running long distances. This condition, which is sometimes more common in women than men, arises commonly in weight-bearing bones like the lower legs and feet -- a busy woman's main allies. Female basic training military trainees experience double the stress fractures of their male counterparts. This may be due to a woman's initial entry level of fitness, her bone's ability to withstand a sudden large increase in physical loading or simply the difference in weight distribution from men to women.
Myths
Plenty of myths may deter a women from weightlifting. The most common myth has women believing that weight training will cause their bodies to bulk up similar to a weight-training male. In conditioned women, average muscle mass tends to be around 23 percent, whereas conditioned men have a muscle mass of around 40 percent. The Mayo Clinic's recommendation to lift weights for 20 to 30 minutes for each session will ensure that you become supermom without all the bulging biceps.
Benefits
According to the Mayo Clinic, strength training can help control weight, develop strong bones, reduce your risk of injury, boost your stamina, sharpen your focus and fight chronic conditions, such as arthritis, back pain, depression, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis. Weightlifting can also help you improve your posture, balance, flexibility, heart and lung efficiency, stress levels, confidence, quality of life and help you gain more energy and get better sleep.
References
Writer Bio
Dorothy Stephenson is a writer with experience in travel, health, nutrition, equine science, real estate, history, green living, fitness and agriculture. She has written for publications such as "EQUUS," "American Farrier’s Journal," "Today’s Diet and Nutrition," "Military Officer" and "The Washington Examiner."