You all know I am a big fan of women lifting heavy weight.  So today I want to tell you about a product recently completed by Nia Shanks called “Beautiful Badass.”  I do not know Nia personally, but I have read her blog for some time and admire her greatly.  She wants women to move away from the pink dumbbells and lift something heavy off the ground.  What I like about Nia is that she talks the talk and walks the walk.   What I like even more about her is that she is freakishly strong and she still looks like a girl.  I have talked about Nia before, but just as a reminder, here she is doing a 315 lb deadlift at a bodyweight of 120 lbs.  If that seems like a lot of weight…it is.  And look at her…does she look like a man?  Strong yes, masculine, not even close.

Nia has just released a product to guide women to lifting heavy, which has taken a tremendous amount of time and effort to put together (I know, because I have been waiting for its release for months).  I just bought my copy this morning and took a look.  It is an ebook, with links to lots of instructional video clips (the video clips are only available to purchases of Beautiful Badass) and links to all sorts of additional resources (personally I love ebooks ~ I like not having to wait in the mail for my product and I love the links which allow me to instantly look at the video portions). 

 In looking through the product, there are a number of things I really like about it:

• Nia keeps things simple.  Life is complicated enough these days without adding further complication with intricate exercise programs.  And Nia is right that simple is actually more effective.  The reality is that there are a gazillion exercises out there, but truly only a handful of them are good ones.  Nia uses the most effective exercises to get results.  This makes life easy for you ~ you can master the form of a particular exercise and then focus on getting stronger. 
• Nia does not believe in dieting.  She gives nutrition advice for those with weight loss goals which is sound and simple.  Just like her workouts, she embraces uncomplicated eating that just makes sense and is in line with things I have discussed previously in my blog posts.   
• Nia gives you 16 different workout programs to choose from.  She lays out the program, and leads you through multiple phases of those workouts.  While simple, they are all different in their own way.
• Nia’s workouts use bodyweight and a barbell.  She keeps the equipment very simple ~ you don’t need a lot of gadgets.  She gives advice on a few other simple tools that you might want to add to your toolbox as you progress ~ one of those is a Jungle Gym, which is essentially the same as a TRX.  I agree with Nia, it is a great training tool (see my blog post TRX Suspension Trainer ~ Ideas for the Beginner and Advanced User).
• Nia gives additional resources and websites for those looking to add to their knowledge base.  For those of you who really get into the lifting and nutrition, the recommended sites are some of the best out there.

I don’t promote a lot of products on my site.  Nia did not ask me to do this, nor am I getting anything from it.  I just like to pass along information and resources that I think are worthwhile and will help you achieve your goals.  Nia’s product is currently $40, which quite honestly, I think is a bargain…that’s less than the cost of a single personal training session.  If you’re interested in reading more about it or purchasing it, go to Beautiful Badass.

To help motivate you I am going to leave you with some women doing some badass things while still looking like a girl.