Over 30 years old? You NEED to strength train! Here are 5 Weight Lifting Myths Women Should Stop Believing

Everyone, whether male or female, needs strength training in their fitness routine whether that be with a personal trainer here in Minneapolis or on your own. Working your muscles against resistance helps preserve the muscle tissue that you start to lose after the age of 30. With the loss of muscle comes a decline in strength and frailty.

We have put over 13 Minneapolis women through our 12 week strength training program. It was a change for them. It took a lot for them to trust the process. They were use to the high intensity workouts all the time. You know, the workouts that make you want to sleep afterwards. The hour + workouts on the treadmill or elliptical hoping to burn more calories to create a calorie deficit and doing that for years but no results.

That’s because cardio will NOT get you the results you are seeking. If you truly want to change your body, you need to change how you approach your fitness. Especially if you are a female and over the age of 40. Long bouts of cardio and training with 2lb and 3lb weights won’t get you anywhere as your body starts to change. What worked in your teens and 20’s won’t work anymore.

It’s probably obvious, but men are more likely to strength train than women, but that's changing.

It's just as important for women to work with weights, resistance bands, or their own body weight to build strength and build or preserve muscle.

Unfortunately, not all women do it. The reason?

So many women buy in these common myths about women and strength training. How many of these do you believe?

Myth #1: Women Who Weight Train Get Bulky  

So. Dead. Wrong!

Fears of getting muscle-bound or bulk keep some women from hitting the weights, but the idea that women can turn into a hulk from weight training is a fallacy. It's difficult for women to build significant muscle because females have lower levels of key hormones, like testosterone, that give men a muscle-building advantage. Instead, women who lift weights are more likely to become leaner and stronger than bulky. As you build muscle, your resting metabolism increases which means you burn more at rest. This is not something cardio can do for you!

An exception might be women who have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition where multiple cysts on the ovaries form. Women with this condition have a higher level of testosterone that makes it easier to build muscle.  However, the average woman has to work hard and lift with intensity to build muscle size and mass and are more in danger of losing muscle mass than becoming bulky.

Myth #2: Aerobic Exercise Is More Effective if You're Trying to Lose Weight

Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, like jogging or cycling at a moderate pace, burns more calories while you're doing it, but strength training with weights or resistance bands burns more calories after a strength training session is over. Strength training creates an "afterburn" where you burn additional calories for hours after a strength workout.

What accounts for the afterburn? When you lift heavy weights, your body has to expend more energy to recover afterward. Those extra calories can add up to weight loss over time. Plus, building even modest amounts of muscle gives your resting metabolic rate, the rate at which your body burns calories, a boost. Ideally though, you should do both forms of exercise. In fact, a study found that a combination of resistance training and aerobic exercise was most effective for reducing body weight and abdominal fat.

There's no need to choose between weight training and aerobic exercise, why not do both?

 Myth #3: Strength Training is Too Strenuous After a Certain Age

Numerous studies and experts agree that you can work your body against resistance safely even into the later decades of life. In fact, you need strength training even more after the age of 30 as loss of muscle and bone mass accelerate. Strong muscles are extra protection against frailty and falls as the years go by.

Unfortunately, only 17% of the elderly lift weights, and the benefits extend beyond strength and muscle gains. Older people who strength train have greater stamina and endurance too.

Myth #4: Strength Training is Only Important for Building Strength

Building strength is only one benefit you gain by working your muscles against resistance. Research shows strength training improves insulin sensitivity, how your muscles process glucose. When you have better insulin sensitivity, you're at a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes or becoming overweight or obese.

Research also shows weight training is good for your brain.  Mice that do the human equivalent of strength training experience a rise in IGF-1, a hormone-like factor that boosts the growth of new nerve cells. In one study, mice with cognitive problems that worked their muscles against resistance showed improvements in brain function too.

Myth #5: You Can Eat What You Want if You Lift Weights

Too many people subscribe to the fallacy that strength training and other exercise burns enough calories that you can eat what you want. The reality is most people overestimate the calories they burn when they train and then overeat their workouts. Research shows nutrition is at least 80% of weight loss and weight maintenance. However, strength training is what helps you build a healthier physique, defined by a higher ratio of muscle : fat.

The Bottom Line

Don't believe the myths! You need strength training if you're a woman you must add strength training to your routine if you really want to change your body.

Ready to get started but have no idea how?

Let us help!

Schedule a call below and we can help you build the blueprint to make the right changes to help you live the life you’ve always dreamed of.

References:

Ho, S.S., Dhaliwal, S.S., Hills, A.P. et al. The effect of 12 weeks of aerobic, resistance or combination exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors in the overweight and obese in a randomized trial. BMC Public Health 12, 704 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-704.

NYTimes.com. "Why Lifting Weights Can Be So Potent for Aging Well"

MDLinx.com. "Research shows surprising link between weightlifting and cognition"

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: January 2017 - Volume 49 - Issue 1 - p 40-46. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001063.