Strength building for women beyond aesthetics
Most conversations around strength training for women usually focus on looks.
But the real benefits are ones most people haven’t even heard of.
And these appear at every life stage - supporting women’s health through adolescence, pregnancy, menopause, and ageing (Faigenbaum et al. 2026).
In girls and adolescents, strength training can:
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build peak bone mass
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improve physical confidence
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Increase lifelong physical activity participation.
Through the reproductive years, strength training:
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supports metabolic health
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improves physical capacity
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helps manage menstrual symptoms.
Strength training during pregnancy and postpartum:
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supports physical function
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may reduce gestational diabetes risk
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helps with postpartum recovery.
And during menopause and ageing, strength training:
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slows muscle loss
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protects bone density
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preserves independence.
The common thread is strength training changes not just what women are able to do, but how they feel - through every life stage.
Despite this, it’s one of the most underused tools in women’s health.
Strength training is for every woman, at every age.
Strength training’s value for women over 50
On average, women live longer than men.
But more of those extra years are often spent living with frailty and lost independence.
Turns out strength training may be one of the most underused tools to help close this gap.
Here’s why:
Women participate in strength training less than men.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, just 1 in 4 Australian adults meet physical activity and muscle-strengthening guidelines - with women (22%) less likely to meet them than men (27%), a gap that persists across the lifespan.
And that matters more than we might think.
After menopause, women lose muscle and bone density at a faster rate than men.
This is why women experience roughly twice the lifetime fracture risk.
Beyond that, muscle strength is one of the strongest predictors of disability risk in older women.
What this means is increasing strength training participation could meaningfully reduce disability risk and improve quality of life for women.
These are major public health issues that go well beyond fitness or looks.
Engaging more women in strength training would provide a real opportunity to reduce the years many women spend living with frailty, fractures, and lost independence.
If we’re serious about women’s health, closing the strength training participation gap is a good place to start.
At Kieser, that’s exactly what we’re working to change.
References:
Faigenbaum AD, Giagio S, Rebullido TR. The Female Strengthspan: A Life Course Perspective on Resistance Exercise. ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal 30(1):p 13-19, 1/2 2026.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) Physical Activity, ABS, accessed 15 April 2026.
