fbpx
Your Guide To Doctors, Health Information, and Better Health!
Your Health Magazine Logo
The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
John A. Mays, MSEd
Strength Training Women's Secret Sauce to Looking, Feeling Great
Fitness Together

Strength Training Women's Secret Sauce to Looking, Feeling Great

Strength Training isn't just for body builders, fitness competitors and men. Building strength is for every mom, businesswoman and female over 30 who wants to look good, feel great and maintain her youthful body. It's the missing link to achieving the health and fitness results you want, and it's absolutely necessary to combat the hormone imbalances, weight gain, and reduced muscle tissue and strength that are ever so common as women age into adulthood and eventually go through menopause.

A lot of women neglect weight training and only focus on cardiovascular work. When you add strength training, your body will finally respond and you will begin to positively affect your bones, muscles and hormones. It's the secret sauce to continuing to look fit all the way into your 50s, 60s and 70s.

Build, Not Bulk Up, Muscle Tissue

A common misconception about weight training for women is that you are going to bulk up, look huge and build bigger muscle than you desire. However, women simply don't have enough testosterone to create “manly bulk” and you have to follow a specific eating and weightlifting program to develop the type of muscles associated with bodybuilders.

Strength training is an integral component in slowing down the natural decline of muscle tissue in your body as you age and keeping your body's metabolic rate at a higher level. A decline in muscle tissue creates a decrease in your basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy you expend daily at rest. Once your basal metabolic rate goes down, your body fat is going to increase and the actual number of calories you can consume will go down.

Increase Bone Density To Combat Osteoporosis

Improving bone density and building strong muscle mass go hand in hand, especially for women as they age. When you go through menopause and your estrogen levels decrease, your bone density is going to drop. And, since women don't have as much muscle mass as men to start out with, bone density declines earlier in women than men as muscle size and strength decreases.

Get a Handle on Your Hormones

Your hormones are the center of your body's functionality and coordination. If you have a decline in lean tissue, an increase in body fat and your estrogen is declining, it's going to put your hormonal levels at a low spot. This is when you start to see alarming visual changes in your body that you aren't used to and you question yourself about what is going on with your body.

Another great thing about strength training is that regardless of what age you start with weight workouts, you can still experience the same type of muscle tissue response at any age. You're never too old to get started.

www.yourhealthmagazine.net
MD (301) 805-6805 | VA (703) 288-3130