Lifting Weights Will Make You Look Younger
The inspiration to write this article came from one of my long time clients who I trained for 10 years; she recently had her 30-year school reunion and was overwhelmed by the compliments from her old classmates on how good she looked. They all wanted to know what her ‘secret’ was to looking a lot younger with a better body.
There is no doubt that the biggest bang for your buck form of training is weights. Ladies if you’re serious about looking and feeling younger than the best thing you can do is lift weights. Now when I say lift weights I’m talking about a well-designed strength programme that is catered to YOU.
To get the hormonal response you want from lifting weights you must follow the parameters of traditional strength training. This means your best results are going to be achieved with multi-joint exercises using barbells and dumbells, selecting a load that is going to challenge you and then perform that load at a high intensity. Generally selecting a weight that challenges you to get in the 8-15 repetitions range is recommended, selecting lightweight with high reps does not get the hormone response required for improved body composition.
If you’re following a well-designed programme that has you lifting at the right intensity and density you will produce large amounts of growth hormone. Now don’t be scared off ladies, you’re not going to get big and massive, you don’t have the hormonal profile of a male, specifically testosterone – your testosterone is minimal compared to a male.
Now back to growth hormone, this is the good stuff! It will make your hair, nails and skin look fantastic, make your body burn LOTS of fat and will help build lean muscle which in turn will help you lose more fat.
Not convinced about weight training?
Weight training even becomes more important as we age unfortunately if you don’t lift weights you are going to increase your chances of osteoporosis and a decreased quality of life. Simply the main reason is that the central nervous system is responsible for activating muscle fibres and firing them – Effectively if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
Most ladies I’ve done consults with have two main areas that they want to improve on their bodies are the “tuck-shop arms (triceps) & muffin tops”. From a training perspective weight training is going to have the greatest impact on these areas.
TUCK-SHOP ARMS (TRICEPS)
Lifting weights is going to increase your natural level of testosterone which will be evidenced by less fat on your triceps. Testosterone is the main reason why males usually drop fat easier than females, so ladies the little bit you do produce you want to maximise. The good thing is by increasing your natural testosterone production you will have more confidence and feel better about yourself.
MUFFIN TOP
From a training perspective, the key to getting rid of your muffin top is to increase your insulin sensitivity. If you are training hard and consistently with your strength sessions you are increasing your insulin sensitivity – your blood sugar will be used to replenish your glycogen stores in your muscles and liver to aid in the recovery process from the training session, instead of finding its way to fat cells and in particular fat cells on your hips/muffin top.
SUMMING UP
If you want to get ‘toned’ and look and feel younger then you must strength train at least twice a week. When you are referring to ‘toned’, whether you like it or not you are asking for more muscle and less fat. I hope this has motivated you to get strength training tomorrow.