Have you ever thought about "How" you workout.....

.....and moving along from there "why"?

Why I ask this, is because so many still have this image of a certain body type being the "perfect" body.  And....year after year, women strive for this. Cutting calories,  and working out to lose pound upon pound so they can smile at the almighty scale when they step on.  

But here's the thing: 

We can't workout after forty.....the same way we did as a 20-year old...because our needs change.

The same can be said for every decade: at the merry old age of 54, I'm not working out the same as what I did in my 40's....heck, I've switched things up from last year even.

Because my body has and is changing.  My muscle mass has and does change, how I eat changes.  The list goes on.

Before childbirth for those who have them, we need to exercise and prepare FOR the birth and need to to eat for the health of both baby and Mom.

As young moms we need energy/ young women we need energy and strength for all that's going on in our busy lives.  We want to build muscle mass since we know that from 30 onward it starts to decrease by approximately 3–8% per decade. 

Then we hit 40, 50, 60 plus and beyond (and btw after the age of 60 the decline of muscle mass is even higher).

Since I tend to work a LOT with women 40 plus,  I want to focus in this blog on what we need to do therefore in the now for our body,  mind and needs:

Let's make this point clear: we are NOT working out to be 120 pounds wet.  Don't get me wrong; there are many women who ARE 120 and wear it well meaning they have the muscle mass they need and this is the place they are meant to be.  I'm talking about the droves of women who are more than this but for some reason think a certain low weight is where they "need" to be most likely due to societal pressure. Now we are working out for VERY different and extremely valuable reasons not to be ignored:

LADIES: 

1. work out for STRENGTH: muscle AND bone.
   1. We know that osteoperosis is more prevalent with menopause.  We know older women can fall and if this happens how a broken hip/ bone can change everything.
2. Work out to be able to move.
3. Work out to be able to PLAY.
4. Work out for quality of life.
5. Work out to BUILD MUSCLE
6. Work out to be able to travel, stand up from the floor, jump for joy.....

Whatever the reasons; whatever your why do it for them. Dig down and find out your why - once you have put these on paper, you can then determine your priorities and what your HOW will be.

Do you want to feel stronger? Look and feel sexy in your clothes? Keep osteo at bay? Do you want to burn more calories from weight training, sleep well and be cognitively strong? Do you want INCHES to literally fall away? Do you want to be able to run, jump - protect yourself if you were to fall. Heck...avoid falling? All good reasons to do something now.

Don't wait until you are 40, 50, 60 or beyond to BEGIN. Start today regardless of age.

So what do you do and how?

Work out with weight: dumbbells, bodyweight, machines. Be it with a Trainer like myself virtually or otherwise,  or grab a gym membership. Have a gym in your basement? Why not let me - or a Trainer you know - BUILD you a workout that you can do in your own time?  **Click HERE if interested in learning more about my program I can set you up with, and you receive videos and mealplans if you like delivered to your inbox and to do in YOUR time).**

But workout with weight.  CHALLENGE yourself.  What do I mean by this?  I like to explain it as: do an exercise with a particular weight until it gets "boring" (ie, meaning it becomes so easy) and then challenge yourself AGAIN (and again, and again.....safely of course) by increasing the weights.

Once we hit at the VERY least 40....and especially as menopausal women but heck as women alone; then pick up some weights.  Ask a Trainer,  Health Coach, Doctor, Health Pro, Friend who knows.....find out who and then figure out how to go about doing this.

There is no time like the present. I don't care what age you are if you've never picked up a weight - it all helps. There have been studies done on older women who have never worked out with weights before and how their STRENGTH and COGNITIVE ABILITY have both increased in droves by working with weights.

And yes, let's talk about cognitive ability. Dementia, etc.  Not only is weight training of benefit to our body but in a In a theoretical study using available datasets, physical activity came in 1st, 2nd AND 3rd place for potential drivers to reverse disregulated gene expression in Alzheimer’s disease, outperforming all tested pharmaceuticals. (Mason Hill and Stephen Gammie,  Scientific Reports vol 12, Article number 17189(2022)Basically exercise is helping our BRAIN. And... as Dr. Lisa Mosconi Ph.D. states: 

Women's health IS brain health.