When it comes to moving your body and exercising, I always say “find ways to move in a way that moves you”.
Meaning, if you love running – run! Yoga your thing? Do it! Walking or hiking the trails? Love it.
Your body was not designed to be sedentary. You can read about movement and why it’s vital for our whole body’s function in this post, but what’s most important is that you find someway to simply make it part of your life.
However, there is one component of physical fitness that I believe everyone should incorporate, and becomes more important as the body matures: strength training.
Here are some key reasons I want people building muscle in some capacity:
Effects On Metabolism
Building muscle increases metabolic rate, improves our insulin sensitivity, and helps maintain a lean body composition. Muscle tissue uses more energy at rest, so having more of it on your frame simply helps your body stay within a healthy body mass, easier. The lasting effects of a strength training workout on your metabolism are quite powerful! I love it because by exerting the same amount of physical effort with an exercise session, you really reap more metabolic rewards after.
Improved Mobility
Strong muscles and bones reduce the risk of falls and injuries, and if we do have an accident or injury, the recovery will always be easier. Not only does this give us a protective effect and improve our healing, it makes a big difference in maintaining independence later in life.
Hormonal Support
Strength training mitigates the effects of declining estrogen and testosterone, which contribute to muscle loss and bone density reduction. Although much attention is directed to menopause these days, I want to highlight that men need the ongoing hormonal benefits strength training provides as well!
Protection From Osteoporosis & Fractures
While women are more prone to osteoporotic fractures, especially after menopause, stronger muscles just mean stronger bones, which again offers protection from injury. What we absolutely don’t want is frailty. Frail bodies are more susceptible to injury, don’t recover from illness easily, and will not heal from surgeries as well as a strong body will.
Improved Functional Abilities For Daily Life
With decline in strength and physical ability, daily tasks like carrying groceries, opening jars, and even getting off the floor become harder without proper strength training. Being strong isn’t just about athletic performance, its more about life performance. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been thankful for my physical strength for random tasks around my home, or even when having to rescue one of our cats recently!
Many health care professionals consider muscle mass a vital sign, just like heart rate and breathing rate.
Convinced yet?
Here’s one more thought, although strength training is valuable at all stages of life, as the body ages muscle mass declines steadily. So if you’re over 50 and not doing anything to build muscle, as time goes on you just keep losing more and more of it. Over time, this leads to all the problems I listed above.
The data is consistent. When you add strength training to your life, your body will thrive and you’ll improve your functional abilities for daily life. You don’t have to make it complicated. Find a class to try, speak with a trainer to help design a program for you, or experiment with using your body weight first. Whatever it is, just find a way to get started.
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You can listen to a great conversation about the benefits of strength training for peri menopausal and menopausal women in this podcast interview I did with Personal Trainer and Holistic Coach Sarah Heipel.
