My last post discussed the importance of building muscle for good health and slower aging, and how this in turn requires regular strength training (such as lifting weights, though that is not the only modality for achieving muscle health) and adequate protein intake.
Before moving on from this topic, I want to take a moment to give a special emphasis on this point to any female readers of this blog.
For a lot of cultural reasons, strength training is frequently seen as a “guy” thing, whereas women seem to gravitate more towards exercise like yoga, pilates, and Barre, as well as running and other forms of cardio.
This is a shame, because building muscle is just as crucial for women as it is for men. Consider the following:
Osteoporosis (weakening of the bones) is particularly common in post-menopausal women, and can lead to major fractures, which in turn can cause disability and even death. The best way to prevent osteoporosis? It’s not calcium supplements or osteoporosis medications. It’s regular strength training.
The weight gain and deterioration of metabolic health that many women begin to experience around menopause is driven in part by loss of muscle mass. The best way to offset this? Regular strength training.
The loss of libido that many women experience with age? Driven in part by a decline in testosterone (yes, women have testosterone too – just less of it than men). One of the best ways to raise testosterone? Regular strength training.
One of the best predictors for longevity in women as well as men is total body strength. The best way to build this strength? With regular strength training.
Despite what you may have heard, you will not “bulk up” from lifting weights. Consider that professional bodybuilders spend hours each day in the gym, eat massive amounts of protein, and inject themselves with all sorts of hormones and other chemicals to achieve their results. That kind of muscle growth simply does not happen by accident. In point of fact, normal women who lift weights regularly (and don’t do all the bodybuilding stuff) tend to look lean, healthy, and “toned”, and virtually every model or Hollywood actress whose career depends on being physically attractive includes some kind of strength training in her workout program.
You aren’t going to look like a “gym bro” if you lift weights a few times per week. But what you will do is significantly increase the odds that you will live into your 80s or beyond. Not in a frail and demented state, but as a kick-ass lady who can still go hiking, travel abroad, play with her grandkids, enjoy sex with her partner, and be the life of the party.
