Why adding weights to your workout is important as you get older.
So many reasons to be active in this phase of life, and especially this time of year and lots of ways to do it. This is the 1st in a 4-post series where I will share my favorite ways to stay active as well as some of my goals for this new season of life! The first way to stay active and healthy is to stay STRONG! Weightlifting and strength training are so important to our health...and NO, it won't make you bulky!
From the physiological side of this, It’s extremely important to keep weight lifting in your workout routine because as you age, your bones decrease in strength. When you add strength training to your workouts, you're applying healthy stress to your muscles. This not only keeps them strong and healthy, but encourages bone strength too! The stress we apply to our muscles & bones stimulates them to produce more bone tissue, thus creating stronger bones over time. This will help to decrease your risk for fractures or osteoporosis.
From the practical side, it’s crucial that we keep our bones strong and healthy if we expect to be able to walk confidently, to chase our grandkids, or dominate on the pickle ball court in our older years.
From a mental point of view, knowing you have the confidence to pick up your child, you can move furniture on your own, you can walk up AND down the stairs, or simply being able to fall down and get back up is a GAME-CHANGER! The Christmas decorations have been a chore to take down and if it wasn't for my strength and current fitness level, it would be a whole different experience!
Have you ever watched someone help someone else stand up off of a chair or couch? Whenever I see this, I'm that much more motivated to stick to my weight routines. I want to be able to do EVERYTHING on my own as I age and by adding weights into my workout, and I feel so much more confident that I will continue to have this ability.
How will you add lifting weights or strength training into your life?
