“Other things get shoved down our throats, like Pilates and cardio and yoga, but they complement each other,” Bradley said. “Being stronger in the gym is going to help you progress in Pilates. Having muscle is going to help make you a faster, better runner.”
Women embarking on strength training should do so with an empowering and realistic message, advocates say.
Complementary introductory training sessions can help, but a cursory introduction from a trainer in a revealing outfit won’t, said Segar.
“Most women have tried to achieve the perfect body for decades, and it only leads to a sense of failure,” she said. Instead of focusing on how the exercise makes them feel, they’re thinking about how they’re being perceived.
Women who find community in the weight room work together on their own targets, getting stronger and pushing themselves, Bradley said. “One of the things we always say is, ‘The gains look good on you.’”
Women’s gyms and child care
Some women find they can focus better on their workout when men aren’t around.
At the women-only Goddess Gym in Peterborough, England, Charlie Sturgeon said she’s happier than she was in mixed-sex gyms, where she had “some quite weird experiences where people would just stare, pull faces, make comments. And here, with being women only, it just feels like there’s a sense of community.”
Some gyms try to make women more comfortable by offering daycare on-site.
Michelle Kozak of Phoenix, who has two young children, canceled her membership when her gym stopped offering child care.
And she isn’t comfortable with hard-core gym culture.
