Are you one of the women over 50 that I see ambling along the walking trail I jog on? You never seem to break a sweat. Real aerobic exercise needs to be more invigorating that that. And when you get home, after you’ve given your body a few hours to recover, you need to spend about twenty minutes a day doing strength-training. (Do I hear a chorus of moans? Read on and you may change your mind!)
Strength-training is anti-aging. It fights osteoporosis. It helps women lose weight. It builds muscles and our immune system. It makes us strong. Who wouldn’t want to engage in it?
Statistics tell us that only 17.5% of women perform power-training workouts twice a week. A 2004 Center for Disease Control study indicated that the figure went up slightly from 1998 when only 14.5% of women lifted weights.
And only 11% of older women-over 65-approached that twice-weekly figure. The U.S. government has set a public health goal of 30% participation in twice-a-week weight-lifting by 2010. That still leaves a wide margin of non-exercisers among women.
Women Can Lift Weights and Be Beautiful
“It’s not feminine,” is a common complaint among women. Another is: “I don’t want to look like a man!” Ah, but do you want the droopy underarms, the lethargic demeanor, the loss of bone structure? To get lean and beautiful muscles you need only lift moderate weights; we’re not talking bench pressing, here—although that’s doable too!
Before we exercise we need to get motivated. It helps to start out with an idea of an ideal physique. Think of a swimmer’s body-lithe and flexible, not an extra ounce of fat on it. Or how about aiming for a physique that resembles a ballet dancer’s? Women have to redefine what they mean by “buff”.
Being strong doesn’t have to mean a mass of rippling muscles and tendons that seem to pop through the skin. A strong, healthy woman can still have gentle curves and a delicate demeanor. But there are no two ways about it: women needs to strength-train to maintain a healthy and fit lifestyle and body.
Women over Fifty Need Strength-Training
Older women-those over the age of fifty-need strength-training, too. The American College of Sports Medicine has recently come out with a guideline specifically for weight training for people over 50. The goal is to lift a weight that’s heavy enough to be lifted just 15-20 times per session before the muscle becomes fatigued. Like men, say the guidelines, women should lift weights two to three times per week to maintain an optimum level of fitness.
Are you still wondering why, other than for your health and physique, you should bother? Well, think of all the things you now depend on others for, like lifting groceries, moving heavy items, taking out the garbage-even mowing your lawn.
These tasks and more can be accomplished by you without aid if you increase your strength. Studies show that lifting weights even moderately can make women 30%-50% stronger. In addition, you are less likely to injure yourself if you build up your strength. And if do you injure yourself, you will probably recover much faster.
Women over 50 have tended to pooh-pooh resistance training-another word for weight training-because they have believed it was the domain of younger athletes or of overly vain exhibitionists.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. While all age groups benefit from resistance training, women over 50 should look upon this form of exercise as a sure-fire way to combat the problems associated with aging.
In fact, weight lifting is the only exercise that can substantially slow–and even reverse–the declines in muscle mass, bone density and strength. Such declines do not have to be an inevitable part of aging
An older woman can double her strength in a matter of a few weeks if she lifts weights regularly. And lifting weights as little as two times per week prevents weight loss in women, even at an age when women claim their metabolism slows down.
How Does Weight-Lifting Work?
When you’re lifting a heavy weight, you’re doing anaerobic training. It’s the opposite of aerobic training, where you are burning calories and increasing your cardiovascular capacity by moving hundreds of muscles against gravity.
With strength-training, weights provide so much resistance that muscles are impacted with only a few movements. (Incidentally, you don’t only need to lift bar bells or dumb bells or get on a Nautilus. You can also experience that same benefit by exercising under water. The required massive resistance is provided naturally in a pool.)
As muscles are challenged by the resistance in weights, some of their tissue breaks down. This accounts for the soreness experienced by the weight lifter the next day, no matter how long they have been strength training.
And here’s an interesting note: people over 50 who have been sedentary are actually cautioned that, rather than beginning power walking or running right away, a series of weight training exercises should be engaged in. This way those sedentary folk can strengthen their legs and arms and reduce the risk of injury once they start taking jogging or taking long walks.
