As a boxing and HIIT instructor, I introduce strength training to members. But as a woman growing up in the 2000s, I had to first overcome my own fear of lifting weights.

Why it's effective: The dumbbell glute bridge strengthens your glutes and core, which can help reduce back pain and also support pelvic floor strength and stability, both common concerns in your 40s.

An article on Insider (medically reviewed), neatly unpacks some of the myths around women and weightlifting. Among these myths is the idea that lifting weights will make you look “bulky.” ...

Weightlifting as a woman today is its own kind of rebellion. We spoke to several women about how it's made them stronger in the gym, and also in life.

Feeling stagnant in her 40s, a journalist transformed her body and confidence by lifting heavy weights, eating more, and ditching weekend workouts.

But in her book — part memoir, part science journalism — Johnston makes a captivating case for why strength training can offer so much more. She writes movingly of how learning to lift weights ...

For most of modern history, women were warned that lifting heavy weights was unladylike and possibly dangerous. Even as lifting became more culturally acceptable for women in the 1980s, weight ...

How one woman turned struggle into power through lifting By Cameron French Jan 30, 2025 10:41 am Photo credit: Shutterstock.com / rSnapshotPhotos ...

It was then that she became inspired to lift weights — and within 18 months, she had landed the Guinness World Record for the heaviest deadlift (394.5 lbs.) by a woman.

The small study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, had 42 healthy men and women follow a lifting program. The program involved nine different exercises, with one set of eight ...