A study from McMaster University looked at the impact of a 12 week strength training program on 44 sedentary men and women. They began by taking a survey of their body image and rated how anxious they felt about other people evaluating their bodies and how satisfied they were with their bodies. Researchers also measured their body fat, strength, muscularity, and body image.
They were reassessed after 12 weeks of strength training with a trainer. All of the participants improved on strength, body fat, and muscularity and all reported a better body image. However, the boost in body image was a bit different for men and women. Men seemed to get satisfaction out of feeling better, but women were more influenced by seeing objective proof of their progress.
Researchers found that women's increases in body image were primarily due to the fact that they could complete more repetitions and lift more weight then before.
Study author Kathleen Martin Ginis said that while women often focus on appearance, the results suggest that they can improve their self-esteem by documenting and focusing on their strength gains.
So while everyone might feel better about his or her body by weight training, women may get additional boosts of self esteem by charting weight training improvements (amount of weight lifted and number of repetitions) over time.
If you don't currently keep track of your workouts, starting an exercise log is a great idea; if it works for weight training, it's likely to work for other types of exercise as well.
Source
Reference: Kathleen A. Martin Ginis and colleagues. Body Image, December 2005: vol 2: pp 363-372.
