New Fitness Apps For Women Designed To Make Weight Training Easier
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's a new batch of fitness apps designed just for women to make weight training less intimidating and easier. The apps feature actual female athletes demonstrating safe weight lifting movements targeted to women, and it's designed to be used at the gym or anywhere you work out.
After Leah Kendrick had her second child, she wanted to get back in shape, but was hesitant to walk into a gym.
"Seeing the majority of guys, you know, weight training. You're going to feel like you don't belong. Or that you're going to get these looks like, 'what is this girl doing here?'" Kendrick explained.
So she tried a new strength training app called "Spitfire Athlete".
"We actually wanted to infuse this sense of female strength and power from the very beginning. Knowing which exercises you're going to do, how you're going to do them, how you're gong to set up the equipment. Using an app that shows you how to do these things can be a huge confidence booster," Nidhi Kulkarni, of Spitfire Athlete, said.
Doctors say it's important to use good technique when lifting and to never over-do the weight amount. Also, unlike with men, strength training won't give women bulky muscles that come from the male hormone testosterone. Fitness apps are popular with millennials. One study showed 24% download them to their phones.
"For many women, resistance training is a key part of their overall health that is totally lacking. And the apps give them the confidence to add resistance training into their training regimen," Dixie Stanforth, a health education professor, said. Strength training can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, diabetes and heart disease. Leah says since finding the app, she's fallen in love with lifting and now feels confident in the gym.
"I became like the girl I always wanted to be. Now I have the confidence. My body image has definitely improved," Kendrick remarked.
