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It’s confession time...
Today, a heavy weight (metaphorically speaking) fell off my shoulders - I confessed to my personal trainer that I don’t enjoy resistance training! I felt a bit of a fraud admitting it – how can I, as a personal trainer, not enjoy strength training? Sure, it can be satisfying to achieve a new challenge, but overall, I find it pretty boring, especially in a gym environment. However, I know just how important it is for good health, especially as we age, so I commit to doing it. And there are ways of making it less dull and actually hugely rewarding.
So, first of all, just what is resistance training?
Resistance training, simply defined as any training where you lift or pull against some form of resistance, is what most people probably associate with weight training in the gym. It can include dumbbells, barbells and gym machines. It can also be done outside of the gym using body-weight exercises, suspension equipment such as the TRX, resistance bands and free weights.
Why is it so important?
It is probably fairly obvious that if you want to increase the size or strength of your muscles, you need to do resistance training. However, there are many other important benefits:
It reduces body fat and helps control weight.
This, in turn, decreases the risk of heart disease, lowers blood pressure as well as cholesterol levels.
It increases the rate at which we burn calories. The more lean muscle mass we have, the more calories we burn.
It reduces the risk of fractures and osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density.
It reduces the risk of injury and improves range of motion by improving joint stability when we strengthen the muscles around our joints.
It makes everyday living easier so that we can lift heavy shopping bags, perform DIY around the house, play with our kids or grandkids, and a myriad of other daily activities.
Phew, that’s quite a lot of benefits!
So, what can happen if we don’t do resistance training? What happens as we age?
Osteoporosis
Our bone strength (or density) peaks at around age 25, meaning that the rate of bone formation roughly equals the rate at which old bone is removed in the body. This stays fairly consistent for the next 10 years of our lives. However, from our mid-30s onwards, the rate at which we lose bone mass is about 0.5-1% per year. For women, this loss is accelerated once we hit menopause, where bone density loss increases to about 3-5% per year whilst we are in menopause.
This means that, as we age, our bones become more fragile and are therefore at greater risk of fracture. Other factors as we age put us at greater risk of falling, such as reduced range of motion at our joints and worsening balance, so having strong bones is even more important to lessen the impact of such falls.
Sarcopenia
In addition, once we hit our 30s and 40s, we begin to lose muscle mass at the rate of 0.5kg per year. This rate doubles to 1kg per year after age 50. This muscle loss makes it harder to go about our daily lives and can also lead to weight gain as our metabolism slows down, making chronic conditions associated with increased weight more of a problem. This, in turns, slows us down further and creates more fatigue, meaning we become even more sedentary. Before we know it, we get trapped in a cycle of weight gain, fatigue and loss of physical capability.
That’s the bad news, now for some good!
It is possible to slow down the rate of bone loss, reduce the effects of muscle loss, and maintain – and even gain more – strength as we age. The sooner you start, the better, as the effects of ageing are more noticeable as the decades pass.
Weight bearing exercise is particularly important in preventing osteoporosis; any exercise that sends force down the shaft of the bone (with good form and technique) will strengthen the bone. Resistance training, running, even walking, can improve bone density, whereas low-impact exercise such as swimming or cycling does not specifically help. In addition, flexibility training helps increase joint mobility, further adding protecting against injury and falls that can lead to broken bones.
To slow down or prevent sarcopenia, by far the best form of exercise is resistance training to keep our muscles strong.This should be combined with adequate, high quality protein to help repair muscle fibres after they have worked out.
And there’s more good news…
The other good news is that resistance training doesn’t have to be dull, it doesn’t even have to be done in a gym.
Here are some tips to making it more enjoyable:
Set clear goals for yourself
Consider training outdoors and surround yourself with nature
Use a TRX suspension fitness trainer if you don’t like using weights
Play around with body-weight exercises
Find a group or friend to train with so you can support and motivate each other
How often and how much do you need to train?
Guidelines suggest resistance training two to three times a week, including 8-10 strength training exercises targeting all the major muscle groups, with 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions to build muscle and strengthen bones. This should include 10 minutes of flexibility training. But if you haven’t done any such training for a long time, start gradually and build up – and consider seeking advice from your friendly, knowledgeable personal trainer.
What will you do to make sure you include resistance training as part of your overall fitness plans?
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