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April 18, 2014

5 Must-Read Women’s Fitness Blogs

Several months ago I wrote a blog post called A Dozen Must-Read Fitness Blogs. The post highlighted a number of blogs that I felt consistently put out great content on exercise and sports nutrition.

Recently, someone commented on the post asking why I didn’t include any blogs written by women. Hadn’t considered this point, but after giving it some thought I realized she was right! It was an oversight that needed to be addressed. Not that gender should make a difference when reading a blog — it’s the quality of course that counts regardless of who writes the post — but it’s nevertheless necessary to give credit where credit is due. Importantly, resistance training for women is an area that is still under-appreciated; the more we can do to make gals realize they need to embrace the iron, the better.

So I’m dedicating this post to feature some truly terrific female fitness pros and their respective blogs. When it comes to fitness, these gals get it. They’re not out there preaching that women should do endless reps with pink dumbbells and follow starvation diets. Quite the opposite, actually. They each have their own niche, but their philosophies are grounded in science and supplemented with a whole lot of good-old-fashioned in-the-trenches experience.

So without further ado, and in no particular, here are five must-read fitness blogs written by women for women (although most guys can certainly pick up a few pointers here as well). As with my previous post, this is by no means a comprehensive list. There are certainly a large number of other female bloggers that I’ve no doubt excluded and will look to cover in a follow-up blog.

• Jen Sinkler: Jen is a former rugby player turned fitness editor. She recently gave up her gig as the head honcho at Experience Life magazine to freelance at a number of the major women’s fitness mags and train clients one-on-one. Her blog is decidedly no-fluff. She focuses primarily on the performance-based aspects of lifting as opposed to training for aesthetics (although the two are not mutually exclusive). Articles are eclectic and range from areas as diverse as kettlebells to cycle circuits to biofeedback. Lots of good stuff.

• Molly Galbraith: Besides being one of the most down-to-earth individuals you’d ever want to meet, Molly is a true fitness pro. She was co-owner of a gym with Jim Laird where she specialized in working with female clients before recently stepping away to pursue online coaching and focus on maintaining her blog. Although the blog delves into a number of fitness topics, Molly’s focus is on helping women with body image issues. Her blogs are often very personal as she writes about her own struggles with body image and her journey to self-satisfaction through fitness. Moly is also co-founder of another excellent female-oriented blog, Girls Gone Strong that should be bookmarked for reading.

• Lift Like A Girl: This blog is written by Nia Shanks. Nia has a degree in exercise science and her in-depth knowledge of resistance exercise shows in her writings. Nia’s focus is on time-efficient workouts, particularly involving strength-based heavy-lifting routines. She covers aspects related to programming, technique and mindset. Some good nutritional articles as well. Lots of interesting reading. Make sure to watch her moonwalk!

• Flawless Fitness: This is Melody Schoenfeld’s blog. Full disclosure: Melody is in fact my sister. But before you claim nepotism, give her blog a read. Melody got her start as a trainer working in my gym back in the 90’s, then moved out to California to open her own facility. She tips the scales about 100 pounds but can out-lift a lot of guys (she holds several state powerlifting records). Her blog covers a wide range of topics. She’s big on kettlebells and holds certs as a master KB instructor. But she also gets into some cool alternative tools such as Indian clubs and even a medieval fighting implement called a mace.

• Stumptuous.com: This is Krista Scott Dixon’s blog. Krista can stake claim to being the original hard-core female fitness blogger and no doubt inspired many of the women on this list. She was churning out cutting-edge fitness articles around the turn of the century, telling women they should be squatting instead of performing a gazillion leg lifts. Her no-nonsense tone is refreshing, and she’s got a great sense of humor that makes her posts fun to read. Unfortunately, it seems Krista doesn’t post much anymore. The good news is that there is a ton of content on her blog that will keep you busy reading for weeks.