I often get asked, why do I need to do strength or resistance training?
I saw a quote one day that said:
“muscle strength is not an option when you get older. It’s a prescription for survival”
And whilst I wouldn’t say I like using scare tactics to help people build healthy routines, including strength training, this quote is certainly true.
As a group Fitness Trainer, I know the value of strength training. Especially as we get older.
But unfortunately, only 20% of people over 60 are doing strength training.
So that’s 80% of us who aren’t doing what we need to do to keep our muscles strong in our bodies.
And we need strong muscles so we keep doing what we love with the people we love.
Strength training or resistance training is the use of body weight or equipment to engage/ work your muscles.
The weight puts stress on the muscle you’re working and so it responds by getting stronger, more powerful and toned over time.
And it also strengthens the bones associated with the muscles you’re working.
It’s recommended to do at least 2 strength training sessions per week.
And for those of us over 65, 3 times a week is advised due to the increase in the loss of muscle mass as we approach our older years.
Strength training builds muscle size and strength or power. And developing and maintaining sufficient muscle size and strength increases your chances of being able to live your life well and independently.
It turns out that we start to lose muscle size and strength between the ages of 30 and 40. Older adults begin to lose 3% to 8% of their muscle mass per decade. That’s a lot of muscle. It’s called sarcopenia. The older we get, the more muscle we lose, if we don’t do anything about it.
72% of men and 55% of women over the age of 65 are sarcopenic- that is, they have significant loss of muscles in their bodies.
And we lose more muscle strength than muscle size- 2-5 times more.
This can be the first step towards frailty where we are at an increased risk of falls, injuries, disease and even death.
Muscles are essential for keeping you upright and moving, being independent and in control for decades to come. They can, without exaggeration, save your life.
Now as I said at the outset, this information is not intended to scare you into working your muscles regularly and sufficiency.
Scare tactics are not good motivators for long-term changes anyway.
But having the right knowledge of the importance of strength training, so you have all the facts is needed.
So then you can make the best decisions for yourself.
It’s also absolutely essential for us older, mature women experiencing profound changes in our bodies as we age.
Because when you do strength training it offers you and your body so many benefits:
- helps with weight loss,
- enhances body composition,
- maintains a healthy metabolism,
- reduces chronic inflammation,
- builds bone strength,
- reduces the risk of falls,
- good muscle strength and size can lower your risk of developing Dementia, including Alzheimers.
- assists with ease of movement as we go about our lives,
- reverses insulin resistance- the main cause of belly fat and type 2 Diabetes,
- builds muscle strength & power, essential for living well and independently as you age, a
- promotes emotional well-being and good self-esteem.
That’s why I think strength training is truly life-changing.
Just think about the benefits strength training can give you.
Now I know many of you listening will be interested in the crucial role
Strength training plays in weight management and overall health. Beyond its benefits of increasing the amount of muscle we have in our bodies and boosting strength and power, it serves as a powerful tool in the battle against unhealthy weight gain.
It’s been estimated that 80% of people over 50 have too little muscle and too much fat. That’s a lot of people.
Let’s look at how muscles do their magic.
Muscle are metabolically active 24/7. What this means is that muscle cells are constantly active.
They therefore, require more calories than just about any other processes in the body, especially fat cells, to maintain their functions.
And the more you work and pump your muscles, the more calories you’ll burn. Strength training can also increase the rate at which you burn calories even when you’re not exercising.
This is because strength training makes your muscles work even harder. It builds more muscle and stronger muscles over time so they become more proficient at burning calories.
So the more muscle mass you have, the greater your metabolism so the more calories you’ll burn.
So one of the most seductive reasons for having stronger muscles and is that you burn more calories and you have a higher metabolism.
Muscle also happens to be very good at storing excess calories. That is, the sugar that’s produced from digesting and metabolising our food.
This is called glucose.
So when we have less muscle, we have more blood sugar that can be turned into fat. And as we get older, belly fat.
There is a cause and effect relationship between losing muscle and gaining weight.
Now, of course, I understand that you may have reservations about muscle strength training:
- isn’t it for younger people or athletes, sports people?
- I find gyms scary places where people are looking at me, judging me and my body,
- I’m too busy in my life and I feel guilty when I take time out for myself,
- I’ll get too sore or worry about injuring myself,
- I’m already doing enough exercise- walking & gardening, isn’t that enough? (absolutely not)
But it doesn’t have to be this daunting.
It can be a lot easier to get all the benefits of strength training by approaching it in a different way.
Rather than approaching strength training as something you’ll get around to doing one day. Doing it out of guilt, fear, or shame. Or worse still, having a bone fracture or that profound moment of recognition that you’ve lost so much muscle strength you can’t live your life as you’d like. E.g., carrying the groceries with ease or picking up a young grandchild.
The different approach is from a place of self-kindness, of self-care. Because it is an act of self-compassion. A way of looking after yourself so you can keep doing what you love with the people you love.
I just want you to get out there and do strength training.
Because I want you to have the best possible health and well-being in your life.
So I encourage you to look within and acknowledge that it is okay to look after yourself.
To value YOU.
We all have this intrinsic capacity to be kind and loving towards ourselves.
We just need to find a way of connecting with it.
And exercise, including strength training, is one of the best ways of doing that.
This is my invitation to YOU.
Oh and If you’ve never done strength training or you’re getting back into it after a long absence, please seek the advice of a qualified fitness professional. Or go along to an organised group fitness class that includes strength training. One that has been designed on the latest exercise research so you get the best benefits for yourself, your time and your money.
One of the significant consequences of low muscle volume and power is the potential development of insulin resistance. An insidious health problem affecting an increasing number of us. And insulin resistance compounds this low muscle/ excess weight imbalance. It makes it worse, especially as we get older.
So what’s insulin resistance?
Basically, when insulin becomes less effective in our bodies.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas.
Insulin is critical in regulating blood sugar levels and energizing the body. When you eat food, your pancreas secretes insulin into your bloodstream to help transfer glucose (the body’s main source of energy) to your muscles and other cells in your body.
Unfortunately, this natural system can be damaged and we can become insulin resistant. Having excess weight, especially around our bellies and a diet high in sugar seem to be the biggest causes of insulin resistance.
This is when insulin is unable to effectively transfer glucose into the cells causing glucose to accumulate in the bloodstream. The pancreas continues releasing insulin in an attempt to catch up. But to no avail, the insulin stops working efficiently and we end up with greater concentrations of blood glucose. This excess of blood sugar is like a poison in our bodies and contributes to excess weight, chronic inflammation and a whole host of related chronic heath issues, in particular. Type 2 diabetes.
Fortunately, when we take up strength training, we can reverse insulin resistance. Strength training helps the cells in your body become more sensitive to insulin.
Regular strength training helps your body become more efficient at transporting glucose from your bloodstream to your muscles.
And in this way, there’s less glucose that gets stored as fat. Halting the vicious cycle.
The other magical thing about muscles is that they lower chronic inflammation.
To recap.. our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal themselves via the inflammatory process. So when we get a cut or a virus or any other injury, the body releases white blood cells, chemicals and nutrients that help repair the damage. This is a helpful process and is called acute inflammation.
But there is also a process called chronic inflammation and this is a different thing all together. More and more medical professionals and researchers are finding that chronic inflammation is the root cause of many of the chronic health issues we face individually and as a community.
Chronic inflammation is where the body is in a constant state of “there’s something wrong in the body” So the inflammatory chemicals and white blood cells are constantly pumping around the body.
The effect of this over time, is significant damage to the cells of the body right down to the mitochondria. They are the power houses of each cell. Producing the chemicals needed to power the cell’s functions.
Over time this chronic inflammation damages healthy cells. The inflammation can start attacking the linings of your arteries or intestines, the cells in your liver and brain or the tissues of your muscles and joints. This inflammation causing cellular damage can trigger diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimers, dementia, and depression.
There are a number of things that contribute to chronic inflammation. Including genetics, being over weight especially having an excess of belly fat. Also our unhealthy lifestyles- high intake of added sugar in our diets, unhealthy fats and lack of fibre, lack of exercise, pollution, and chronic stress (via the presence of cortisol in the bloodstream).
Thank fully there is much we can do to lower inflammation and I did speak about these things before in the inflammation presentation.
What I wanted to chat about particularly now is the role of muscles in lowering chronic inflammation.
We’ve already explored how adequate muscle volume and strength in the body helps with glucose equilibrium in the body. So we can reverse insulin resistance and develop insulin sensitivity.
Insulin sensitivity in fundamental in managing inflammation in our bodies. As the higher the concentration of glucose in the body, the greater the risk of having chronic inflammation.
So that’s great news.
But wait there’s more…. When we work our muscles with strength training, the muscle cells release anti inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.
And researchers are discovering there’s not just one type of these anti-inflammatory chemicals. Muscle cells produce a healthy mix of them.
So when we build our muscle size, strength or power over time, we are basically contributing to lowering chronic inflammation in our bodies. Via the release of chemicals that control this insidious chronic inflammation. Thereby managing many of the diseases caused by chronic inflammation.
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