OK, we must know by now that strength training is important.
I’ve talked about it here and everyone’s talking about it. And yet, I still seem to be in the minority with this one. People still seem to be choosing cardio workouts instead of this (both are just fine) and the focus still seems to be on being lean or being able to run within my age group, not in being strong. We’re missing the point here.
Strength training is crucial to ageing well, ageing strong. We want to keep our muscles for as long as possible, don’t we? We want strong bones that don’t snap easily, don’t we?
Yet so many of us think this isn’t something that’s for us. It’s for everyone, and as I know many of my readers are women, many my age and upwards, it absolutely one hundred percent applies. Women need to strength train, and it will help us feel better now and over the longer term.
Can you do bench dips? Hold a plank? If you’re saying no, what will you do to get there?
Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely said those words in the past ‘oh, I can’t do those’, and muttered something about upper body strength or whatever. You?
But now, I can do bench dips, I can hold a plank.
I worked on it. I wish I’d started much sooner, but hey it is what it is, and I’m doing it now.
I move my body, I love to walk for miles every week, I enjoy yoga a few times a month and I throw in some rowing and jump training, I like to move in a few different ways. But weights and walking are absolutely my staples.
The science is right there, telling us to do this. This applies to us all.
This isn’t one of those current fads, this isn’t ‘give beef tallow’ a try, though I guess with more and more people making noise about it, it could look like a phase or fad. There’s more noise about it as people still don’t seem to be altering their workouts and focusing on this.
You can read more here to help you understand this, or if you’d prefer a chat and a visual, take a look at this…
We need to do this.
There is not a ‘too late’ time to start this. Any age, any fitness level, any weight, just start now.
Strength training takes time. You need to put the time in to build those muscles and strength. It takes discipline to do this as you need to keep turning up for it.
And when you keep going, you get stronger. It’s noticeable, measurable. Your functional fitness improves, your body gets stronger, your balance improves and you will be able to tell.
If you have never done this, try ten minutes this week as it’s better than no minutes, right? Stands to reason anything is better than nothing, and perhaps do it for ten minutes a few times. If you have several cardio sessions planned in, switch a couple of them out for weights instead. Longer term, shoot for two to three sessions of this a week. You might find you love it, and you do more.
Take it slowly, warm up, be careful, use proper form. This isn’t a rush job, this is a slow and steady change and you just need to start and then keep doing it.
If you’re looking for some equipment or tutorials to get started, I shared these resources to kickstart your strength training recently.
This is something I bang on about, I know, and I will keep doing so. If this prompts just one more person to do this and strengthen their body, I’ll be thrilled!
So if you do one thing this week, it’s this, start lifting.