For years, women have been all about the cardio, you hop on the elliptical for 1 hour and maybe flirt with some weights. Now that you are over 40 weight training is a non negotiable.
The 3 main reasons why you need to strength train is
to help build strong bones,
combat muscle loss
boost your metabolism.
You see when you add more muscle to your body it naturally boosts the number of calories that you use at rest. This is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Yup, you’ll burn more calories doing NOTHING. How awesome.
Muscle is a metabolically active tissue and when you work to build and/or maintain the muscle that you have you help to slow the natural muscle that happen as you age (Sarcopenia) and boost your metabolism. Biomarkers metabolic rate decreases 2% each year starting at age 20.
Once you hit age 30 and if you are not strength training you can expect to lose 3-5% of your muscle every 10 years.
Muscle loss speeds up significantly once you reach 75. So, the time is NOW to start working to build up your muscle bank.
No, you will not look like a body builder, ladies you just don’t have that much testosterone. However, our hormones DO love strength training. When you lift weights, it releases human growth hormone which is a natural fat burner and muscle builder. Strength training also helps to regulate your blood sugar levels and reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.
Runners lose an average of 4.4 pounds of muscle from their untrained areas. Muscle stayed the same on arms but decreased on legs, so if you are a runner and NOT strength training, start hitting the weights especially for your legs.
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