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Why Older Women Should Try Resistance Training
Exercise done to increase muscular strength and endurance is known as resistance training. This exercise involves muscular activity using resistance like bands, weight, or your weight for working out against gravity.
Resistance training is also known as weight training or strength training. While doing strength training, you can focus on a particular problem like joint stability, increased muscle size, muscular endurance, power, and strength and exercise according to your need. According to experts, you must do muscle-strengthening exercises at least twice a week or more.
Resistance training benefits for older women
Weight training has both muscular and plenty of health benefits, especially for older women. This is very important for women as they age; it boosts their metabolism and improves stability, and many more are mentioned below.
Protect your bones
Muscle resistance exercise is vital for keeping your bones strong. Women who have gone through menopause must do strengthening exercises; it can be very crucial for them. Oestrogen is a women’s sex hormone responsible for the protection and maintenance of bone strength. When a woman goes through menopause, her estrogen level drops, and women’s bone density too. In the first five years after menopause, a woman almost loses up to 10% of her bone mass, which can be dangerous and lead to osteoporosis.
Weight training is beneficial in building muscles by placing loads on your bones and getting strength in return. You can use ankle, wrist weight, or dumbbells to create resistance for resistance training. One of the best ways to keep you healthy is by combining strength training with weight-bearing exercises, for example, playing tennis, walking, dancing, and running.
Speeding of metabolism
There are many ways in which resistance training can help you to increase your metabolism. However, whenever you perform weight exercise, it will ultimately lead to adding extra calories. This is because after you are done with strengthening exercise for a particular day, your body will work very hard for the next 24-48 hours in order to repair the muscle tissues that have been stressed out while working out.
This is the moment you are burning more calories. Performing strength training helps increase the metabolism of your body because it can be responsible for increasing muscle tissue or lean body mass. Muscles are highly metabolic and need more calories to maintain your body.
Reduce the risk of osteoporosis
What is osteoporosis? Let’s find out; this happens to women at the time of menopause when bones lose minerals and calcium very fast, even if your body cannot replace them instantly; this is the reason for bone’s less density. Women above the age of 50 should defiantly include some resistance training in their daily routine or at least twice a week. This will help you to get back in shape by strengthening your bones again. In addition, it reduces the inflammation and risks of osteoporosis.
Prevent muscle deterioration
Increasing in age comes with many losses like muscular loss; women over 50 or above are most likely to drop 1-2% of their muscle mass every year, and women over 60 are likely to drop 3% of muscle mass. This will lead to a loss of strength and stability and can gain extra weight. Regular exercise will not only stop muscle loss but also helps you to reduce excess weight from your body.
Improve stability
Stability in life is something significant, especially when you get older. Resistance exercises in your daily routine can significantly improve your stability and keep you healthy from many bone problems such as knee pain, back pain, and many more. Women above 50 are more likely to get those damages, so these exercises are highly preferable for them.
Elevates your mood and mental health
Many people do not consider mental health, but this can be crucial for your body, and you cannot afford to miss your mental health. Whenever you lift a weight, resistance bands, or dumbbells, it gives you confidence and makes you feel over the moon and mighty about yourself. Older women who are in regular touch with these exercises are less prone to mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and many more.
Before starting any kind of workout, ensure someone is with you, or you may even approach a professional health care trainer. A trainer can advise you on different exercises according to the description you will tell them. It is essential to keep you safe from those weights that are used in resistance training.
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Hi My name is Rosalie and the author of Womenandmuscle.com I started this blog to help women understand a little about the side effects of anabolic steroids and share some of my favorite alternatives that have helped me stay in shape and improve my performance in the gym.