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© Physique Concepts Inc.
Women of all ages often question the benefits of strength training. A
lot of research has proven the vast physiological and psychological
benefits that this type of exercise has for you.
However, many older women do not believe they can perform this sort of
exercise and quite honestly, think of every excuse not to.
Don't you think that it would be great if you were capable of doing the
many leisure time activities you want to throughout your entire life?
Here's a summary for you of some research on this topic:
1) Muscular strength and endurance of women can increase
significantly through participation in a 12-week resistance-training
program (weight lifting).
2) Skeletal muscle of women in all age groups adjusts to resistance
training by increasing strength and size. The major difference is
the increased length of time required by older women to fully
recovery from weight lifting.
3) Some older women who walk with the help of walkers can improve
strength necessary to convert from the use of a walker to the use of
a cane through regular resistance exercise.
4) In a group of women, 72-94 years of age, I trained for a 12-week
program, three-times a week with both resistance and cardiovascular
exercises, all more than doubled the strength in their leg and hip
muscles.
5) It is believed that the main cause of loss of strength in older
women is lack of activity - most notably progressive resistance
overload.
6) Muscle strength of older women increases quickly during the
initial three months of training, then levels out.
7) Women can carry out prolonged moderate to high intensity
resistance training with reasonable compliance and resulting
slow-and fast-twitch muscle fiber enlargement.
8) Exercise has shown to be an effective means of weight-control by
increasing energy requirements (at rest and during exercise),
decreasing body fat, and maintaining metabolically active tissue in
healthy women of all ages.
9) Elastic tubing, even though heavily promoted as being effective,
is very ineffective at improving balance, strength, and walking
ability in older women. However, free weights and resistance
exercise in general are effective.
10) Women of all ages (16 - 68) that I've worked with over the years
with strength and aerobic conditioning for a minimum of 6 months
have shown to increase strength (5-65%), decrease body fat and
increase fat free mass and have done it without any injury.
Fitness & exercise stops your muscles from wasting away.
It doesn't matter if you're 40 years old or 75 years old. If you
don't build muscle, you'll lose muscle. Exercise and fitness
programs have often disregarded the importance and usefulness of
weight lifting for older women.
Why is added muscular strength so important and why should women of
all ages wish to strength train?
Exercise and fitness will help you to increase the range of
movement, increase lean muscle, strengthen bones, muscles, tendons,
ligaments, improves your ability to do everyday, improves health,
helps prevent accidents, injuries, and sickness, and speeds
rehabilitation.
Resistance training helps women tone, shape and strengthen muscle
fibers, minimizing the "fatty marbling" within the muscle that
results in a flabby, weak muscle.
Equally as important, having more strength and endurance makes daily
activities easier and less tiring, thereby increasing or maintaining
stamina.
In addition, not only will you increase lean muscle mass and overall
body strength, but the benefits of exercise also include increased
metabolic rate and increased bone density.
Women who exercise on a regular basis with both resistance training
(weight lifting) and cardiovascular exercise are able to perform
more work without tiring and are less likely to sustain fractures
resulting from osteoporotic conditions.
So, what happens when the body you once knew begins to acquire a
different shape and doesn't respond to activities and physical exertion
as it once did when you were 20 years old?
Unfortunately, you can't change the fact that you'll age, but you
can control, to some degree, the rate at which you age.
A lot of women unwisely decrease their activity level as they grow
older, assuming its proper to grow old gracefully.
Regrettably, they grow old ungracefully, with considerable
restrictions on their mobility, self-reliance, and quality of life.
From adulthood into middle age, you will lose approximately 6.6
pounds of lean muscle mass during each decade of life. Numerous
studies indicate that muscle mass may decline by 20% to 40% between
age 20 and age 65.
These changes have been attributed to a reduction in muscle fiber
number and size and reduced nerve enervation, and are correlated
with functional declines in muscle strength and endurance in older
women.
As you grow older, physical activity, particularly strength
training, appears to be the best method to decelerate the adverse
effects of aging.
This is strength for living! The few minutes of work you do with
weights a few days a week will equal benefits every hour of your day
and night, awake and asleep.
While you may now realize that weight training is something that
must be done, you may be at a loss when it comes to selecting proper
exercise equipment to help you reach your goals.
Unfortunately, not every one has the time to go to a gym 4 - 5 days
a week. Most gyms today are very over crowded so you can't get a
proper workout in anyway.
This is one of the reasons why so many women have chosen to buy
exercise equipment and workout at home.
But with all of the thousands of different pieces of exercise
equipment out there, how are you to know what to use?
Not all equipment is created equal. Just because a salesperson in
an exercise equipment store tells you that you need it, it doesn't
mean that you do.
When you go into any exercise equipment store you'll see lots and
lots of different pieces of fancy, shiny exercise equipment.
If the salesperson doesn't sit down with you to discuss your goals
and evaluate them with you, (which none of these people anywhere has
ever done) it's impossible for them to know what is right for you.
Their only agenda is to sell you as much as they can, regardless if
it will help you or not!
Remember, they're just trying to get a sale, they're not interested
in listening to your needs.
Phil Beckett is the author of The New Women's Guide To Successful
Weight Loss & Fitness. He's helped thousands of women with their weight
loss, health & fitness goals over the past 14 years. Visit
http://www.womens-health-fitness.com to contact Phil
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