Strength Training for Women Over 50 is Mandatory

Why is strength training for women over 50 a mandatory activity?

To quote Dr. Pamela Peeke, author of Fight Fat After Forty, writes that

Weight lifting in combination with aerobic exercise is a non-negotiable essential in every over-forty woman's life. It is the secret to removing weight as well as to keeping it off.

Here are several reasons WHY strength training is mandatory for women over 50:

1. After the age of 40, we start losing muscle mass at the rate of up to 10% per decade. That's why 70 and 80 year old women (and men) shuffle. That's why getting up from the couch or lounge chair requires a major effort the older you get.
2. If weight loss is your goal, dieting alone will expedite muscle loss. Dieters who hit the wall after a few months are experiencing the loss of muscle mass. They are losing the furnace (muscle) that burns fat.
3. Increasing muscle mass improves circulation and works your heart (a muscle).
4. Strength training reduces stress and helps alleviate the depression that sometimes accompanies menopause. It's a scientific fact that you will feel better after a workout (given that you do it correctly). The vast majority of people who hate exercise learn to appreciate the post workout good feelings.
5. Diabesity is becoming a raging epidemic. According to Dr. David Williams, a proponent of alternative medicine, "40% of your ability to control insulin levels and 80% of your ability to use blood sugar is directly controlled by muscle tissue."

Personal Improvements Driven by Strength Training
I have to confess that strength training after 50 (in my case, 60) can look like climbing Mt. Everest, at least at first. But I persisted through the the leaning curve to lose 10 pounds and get a whole lot stronger. The improvements in blood pressure, sugar levels and cholesterol levels will be calculated in the near future.

Recommendations for Starting Your Own Strength Training Program

1. Get a medical checkup before you start any program of exercise.
2. Hire a personal trainer, especially if you've never done weight lifting.
   Can't afford a personal trainer?
   Read New Rules of Lifting for Women and then New Rules of Lifting for Life to educate yourself and provide workouts.
3. Have fun with weight training. Challenge yourself to defy aging!

Additional Resources
http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-win-the-battle-with-diabesity
http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-be-your-own-personal-fitness-trainer

P.S. When you do strength training, your body needs more protein for muscle growth. Use this Protein Calculator to help you select the proper nutrition for your program aimed at increasing the muscle mass of your body.

Lifestyle Changes Can Make a BIG Difference in Your Health

After the diagnosis of elevated blood sugar along with high blood pressure and cholesterol, I've changed my diet, increased my activity level, and managed to stick with the stress management techniques. For Dr. Dean Ornish readers, this sounds a lot like his program (Reverse Heart Disease) with a de-emphasis on low fat.

These represent true lifestyle changes and after a few weeks, the results are showing - 2 inches off the waist (this is a very positive change), 8 pounds dropped, and actual muscle definition. More energy is also a benefit of eating the right foods.

The dietary changes can be a little rough - minimal sugar, low carbs (and I do mean low) and high protein. The naturopath was adamant about low carbs and minimal sugar. I have NOT tried to curb calories or restrict portions. I just changed what I eat.

I will not know how these changes have affected my cholesterol levels and sugar until I take blood tests in about a month. I stopped taking Lipitor because it was damaging my liver (a common side effect).

A Few Tips about Making Lifestyle Changes

• If you have the symptoms described above - high blood pressure, elevated sugar and cholesterol levels - lifestyle changes can help reverse the disease causing these symptoms. Medication addresses the symptoms and ONLY the symptoms.
• Especially if you have these symptoms, make lifestyle changes under the direction of your doctor.
• Whatever you do, do not take yourself off medication.
• If you want to understand the severity of the problems caused by our environment and our lifestyles - educate yourself. References are as follows: 5 Outstanding Books to Defy Aging and Improve Your Health and Fitness and How to Win the Battle with Diabesity.

Three Things You Can Do Today To Improve Your Health Dramatically

What are 3 actions you can take today to improve your health dramatically?

Here's the summary:

1. The Blood Sugar Solution by Mark Hyman discusses ways to reverse diabesity. One really important point is the major reduction of sugar in your diet.
2. I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna provides the ultimate key to all health. If you think about being healthy (thin, disease-free, etc.), then you will be healthy. Thoughts drive action.
3. The last 2 books covered in the article mentioned below are about strength training. Don't want to increase your strength? Then don't. When you are 40 or 50 and can't get out of your chair because your muscles can't handle the load, you may decide that a few squats every week will work!

The details are contained within this article:

5 Outstanding Books to Defy Aging and Improve Your Health and Fitness

If you raised your hand, this article is for you! In fact, if you really care about defying age and becoming fit, this article is a must-read! I've read man...

There Are No Accidents - Read About The Diabesity Epidemic

On Sunday, I finished writing an article about the diabesity epidemic - How to Win the Battle with Diabesity: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-win-the-battle-with-diabesity.

It's about how I have decided to approach my diabesity with nutrition, exercise, and stress management.

On Monday morning, I discovered one of the drivers at the dental lab where my partner works had a minor heart attack. He has diabesity. He is hospitalized. He's got heart vessel damage that may need surgical correction. Hopefully, it's a wakeup call for him.

It's certainly a wakeup call for me. I definitely do not want to suffer the effects of diabesity. Not for me. I will continue my program outlined in the article mentioned above.

There are no accidents!