Doctors want more women lifting weights. Experts say welcoming gyms and education would help

More research is starting to show that women can benefit from lifting weights, perhaps even more than men

During her first year of college, Elisabeth Bradley was inspired to try weightlifting after she followed a woman tracking her fitness transformation on social media, one barbell at a time.

Then, Bradley found herself to be the only woman in the weight room at San Diego State University.

“I felt like I stuck out a lot, and I just thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna look dumb,’” she says. Intimidated by a room full of grunting, muscular men, she moved over to the cardio area, mirroring countless women who, for various reasons, avoid the free weights and machines.

But with research mounting on the benefits of resistance training, experts say a few things need to change at the gym to make it more enticing to women.

Michelle Segar, a behavioral scientist at the University of Michigan who studies exercise habits, said that making the environment more palatable and familiarizing women better with weights will lead more to use them. More representation will in turn get more women to continue.