Why Women Should Strength Train into their 40's and Beyond

It’s commonly accepted that as we age, we will gain weight, our muscles become weaker, we become sicker, and there’s not much we can do about it except sit back and accept it. You can probably tell by the hint of sarcasm that this is not what we believe at Prepare for Performance. Exercise will benefit trainees of all populations; youth, seniors, men, women, and absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be involved in a program. As cliche as it sounds, “We don’t stop exercising when we get old, we get old when we stop exercising”. Here is the top reason why women need to exercise after they hit the beautiful age of 40.

Grow And Maintain Your Muscle Mass

Whoever tells you that you can’t gain muscle after “random age” is either ignorant or giving a very generic answer. While gaining muscle will inherently become more difficult, it doesn’t mean we can’t. To give just one extreme example, a group of women who were 69 years old who followed a 12-week progressive training program experienced muscle hypertrophy at the end. This is an accepted fact in the science world that they are testing to see if training frequency affects improvements in middle-aged women. This is because scientists know training will improve your lean mass, and they are now looking at how variables can affect that. Further, starting now can significantly impact mitigating symptoms of sarcopenia, the medical term for muscle loss as we get older. Most adults in the US can start to experience muscle loss around 30-40 years old with a noticeable difference occurring at around 60. However, this highly depends on if you are involved in resistance training.  Even though you may still be younger, working out now will have tremendous benefits later from two points. The first is that building more muscle mass now means you will have more to lose later before you reach a point that starts affecting your quality of life. Second, it builds a lifestyle of fitness that will slow the onset of sarcopenia later in life and mitigate it’s effects. 

Reduce Risk Of Chronic Diseases

Exercise is medicine. And the best treatment at that. Maintaining a regular exercise program and proper diet are the ultimate tools we have to mitigate the risk of chronic diseases and early mortality. This includes a wide variety of ailments and some which specifically affect women:

• Certain cancers, including breast cancer and ovarian cancer
• Heart disease 
• Diabetes
• Pulmonary diseases

And much more. If you aren’t exercising regularly, you are asking for health problems. It really does make that much of a difference in your life.  

Improve Bone Health And Joint Stability

Like our muscles, our bones will gradually lose strength and become weaker as we age which eventually becomes osteoporosis. This is obviously why older populations are prone to breaking bones when they fall. This is a more significant concern for woman, especially after menopause, as they become more susceptible to developing fragile bones. However, many people don’t know that we can also similarly strengthen our bones by strengthening muscles; by placing a load on it. Studies are mixed on if a person can strengthen their bones at 40; this most likely depends on their current status. However, what is clear is that regular resistance training can at a minimal maintain bone strength. For example, this study showed that resistance training can increase bone strength in premenopausal women. Further, regular activity can also strengthen the tendons and ligaments of a joint.   

Keeps Your Brain Healthy

One area of research that has gained a lot of popularity lately is the role that exercise has as a neuroprotector. Regular exercise are now believed to be one of the best measures on can take to mitigate the risk of:

• Memory loss
• Cognitive decline
• Neurological disease
• General brain health

 This is important for men and women but women are at a greater risk of cognitive decline and it has been recently discovered that signs of cognitive decline in women are appearing more often and at a younger age. 

The Best Natural Mood Booster

In the same vain as keeping your brain healthy, another one of the most significant benefits that regular training can have on your life has nothing to do with actual fitness per se. While every gym-goer and trainee knows this, science has recently begun to look at regular exercise having a measurable therapeutic effect on our mental well-being. Exercise has not only shown to have a direct positive relation with higher moods, but it has also even been looked at for therapy of a wide range of more serious conditions including;

• Depression (of multiple levels)
• Anxiety (of multiple levels)
• Schizophrenia 
• ADHD
• Pre/Post-Natal Depression
• Eating disorders

Never Stop Training!

Exercise and fitness have a role in literally everybody’s life. It is not an option if you want to live your life to the fullest. 20, 30, 40, or 80….being involved in a regular fitness program will literally make you the best version of yourself. And this isn’t just semantics or a “feel good” message. Exercise literally heightens your body and mind at the physiological level. Discover how to build a strong body, lose weight and be confident in your body. We want you to continue to have fun running around with you kids, we want you to feel confident going to the beach in that bikini, we want to help you build new habits that will help you live a long-term healthy lifestyle! If this sounds like you or someone around you please visit us at www.prepareforperformance.com to learn more about our programs!.