I have been weight training for...ever! I was weight training back in the 70's
I was one of the few women who showed up in the weight room. If you haven't done it before, please find someone to teach proper form, without proper form, you can hurt yourself.
One of the most important things to remember is that WOMEN DO NOT BULK UP! Bulking up requires too many caloires and usually for women it requires testoterone and/or steroids. You can't accidentally bulk up doing weights an more than you can walk by a University on your way to work everyday and accidentally earn a degree!
Other benefits, include things like weight resistance training helps the skin shrink to fit, better! And muscle burns calories. Good strong muscle burns lots of caloires. Also, Women don't have the upper body strenght of men, but we need good strong upper bodies, but we can make it stronger and have great core strength. Once women wore corsets to simulate an attractive shape, now we wear muscle. Muscle is much better than corsets! Weight lifting helps prevent osteoporosis and you don't even have to take a pill once a month! My personal favorite benefit though, is that weight lifting fight wrinkles, saggies and the that crepe skin!
Personally, I like dumbbells and reisistance tubing. I can carry the tubing with me, anywhere. It comes in a nice small neat bag. The tubing is much better for me than the stretchie band things. As you increase your resistance, the stretchie bands hurt your hands. The tubing has handles! If you have a set of tubing with the ankle bands and door attachment, you can do any exercise with them that can be done on a Bowflex machine! And it costs way less.
Dumbbells put all the weight in your hands. There is no machine to support the weight at any time during your exercise. I think this makes dumbbells a better choice for actually getting the most out of your workout. The really big downside is that you need a partner to spot for safety and it hurts like the dickens when you drop one on your foot.
I know y'all didn't ask, but I thought I would share some of my experience with weight resistance. Btw, I am 51 and I don't have that hanging down saggy stuff under my arm!! I love weights!