Weight training is becoming more popular with women who want to stay fit and slim, far from building up ugly muscle bulk, it can make you firmer and leaner. If practised properly with light weights you can decrease heavy areas of your body and maintain or increase areas which need more mass. Because you have high levels of oestrogen and little of the male hormone testosterone in your body, you cannot develop large bulky muscles. You can either train in a gym with proper dumb-bells or workout at home with cans of soup or small 600ml bottles filled with water or sand. Most women start out with 1.25Kg weights and progress to 2.5Kg or more as they become fitter and stronger. You can buy special strap on leg weights for toning up leg muscles too.

Weight training brings many benefits, including increased fitness and strength for other forms of exercise and sport, and well conditioned muscles burn more calories at rest to keep you slim.

Like any other form of exercise, always warm-up for five or ten minutes before you start workingout to prepare your heart and lungs and to increase blood supply to your muscles. Wear something loose and comfortable such as shorts and a T-shirt or a tracksuit to allow maximum unrestricted movement.

When you workout with weights you are adding stress to an exercise to make your body work even harder. Consequently, your muscles will eventually become stronger and with increased endurance, and your body will look leaner with more pronounced contours. Weight training is an excellent way of eliminating cellulite on under-arms too. Remember to breath deeply as you preform the exercises, inhaling as you lower the weights and exhaling as you raise them, as a general rule.