Women over 50 NEED to be lifting weights!
“We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.”
A few months ago, I said to my personal trainer, “if I read on more article about women over 50 and strength training, I’m going to scream.”
So, a couple interesting things about this little exchange: 1. Here I am writing an article about how women over 50 need to be lifting weights and 2. I have a personal trainer! How and why did this happen?
This summer as started my journey to get healthy I felt weak. I knew I was burned out and exhausted, but I also felt less physically strong than I have in the past. So, I started to do some research — reading on topics like aging, fitness, health-span and longevity. And I have to admit, what I was learning scared me. This was a case of “if you don’t use it, you lose it,” and my sedentary lifestyle was suddenly catching up with me.
So, why is strength-training so important for mid-life women in particular? There are a number of risk factors to not staying fit and strong, but here are my top 3:
1. Sarcopenia (Muscle Loss)
Women (and men) experience a gradual loss of muscle mass as they age, a condition known as sarcopenia. On average, starting in their 30s, women can lose up to 5% of muscle mass per decade! This loss accelerates after the age of 50 as women hit menopause. By the time women reach their 70s and beyond, they may have lost as much as 30% to 50% of their muscle mass, depending on other factors like genetics, lifestyle, diet, and physical activity. I’ve seen this in my own family as older women become frailer over time as they lose muscle mass.
Although very common, sarcopenia is not inevitable! It can be countered by regular resistance training, providing your lifting enough weight and with enough frequency for your muscles to grow.
2. Osteoporosis/Osteopenia (Loss of Bone Density)
Approximately 20% of American women over the age of 70 have osteoporosis. Rates of osteoporosis accelerate after menopause due to the drop in estrogen, which plays a critical role in bone health. White and Asian women, particularly those with a small frame, are at the highest risk and a lack of physical activity (sitting at a desk for decades, anyone?) exacerbates the risk. Having osteoporosis greatly increases the likelihood of fractures in the event of a fall. Even minor falls can lead to serious injuries, such as hip fractures, which are particularly common and debilitating in older women.
Additionally, osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis where bone density is lower than normal but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis, is even more common. In fact, nearly half of women over 50 have low bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis as they age. I have 2 friends who have recently been diagnosed with osteopenia, so this is very real among women my age.
Again, strength-training and other weight-bearing exercises (walking, jogging, climbing stairs, jumping rope) help strengthen bones by making them work against gravity.
3. Decreased Self-esteem and Body Confidence
Although this may seem less important than the 2 medical risks above, decreased self-esteem was one of my primary motivations for starting a strength-training program. I felt soft and weak and I didn’t want it to feel inevitable that I would continue on that path — I wanted to fight against it.
I am very aware that loss of strength for many older women eventually leads to loss of independence, but long before getting to that stage, there’s a point where you may just simply want to look and feel stronger so you can carry the Chewy box up the stairs by yourself and/or fit into that dress that you wore 5 years ago that somehow became too tight around the middle. Feeling confident in your own strength is a huge self-esteem booster and can give you the boldness to try and accomplish new things.
The amazing thing is that there is 1 thing that can directly impact all three of these aging-related risks! Weight-training – lifting heavy weights. For me, I decided that given my lack of comfort in the gym, as well as achy knees and back, it made sense to start with a personal trainer who could help me start slowly and safely. I am now going to the gym to lift 3 days per week, and I see the trainer during one of those 3 sessions. It’s been life changing and I’ve only just started!
If you’re a woman over 50, start making a plan now for how to add more strength training to your life!
I’ll provide more details in a future article about what a plan might look like, but there are TONS of resources out there. If you have questions and want to talk about this topic, reach out! I’d love to support you in becoming STRONGER. The world needs more strong women!
