Women over 40 lose strength and bone calcium stores each year as their bodies age. Weight training can reverse these and many other effects of middle age, including extra pounds, higher blood pressure and metabolic slowdown. Busy women can tailor weight training to their schedule, either aiming for three sessions a week of 20 minutes each, or briefer daily workouts on the upper body one day and the lower body the next.
Expert Insight
"Most women begin to lose bone and muscle mass at about age 40; in part because of this, they start to slow down," writes Dr. Miriam Nelson, a nutrition professor at Tufts University, in her book "Strong Women Stay Young." She recruited 40 post-menopausal women and divided them into two groups. One group did nothing and continued to age and avoid activity. The other women lifted weights, and after one year, "their bodies were 15 to 20 years more youthful."
Benefits
Women in Nelson's study gained bone density, looked trimmer from trading fat for muscle and some had even dropped a dress size or two. They reported feeling happier, more energetic and more self-confident and became more active. Other reports support conclusions that strength training for women combats diabetes, arthritis and depression. Strength training promotes healthy tendons, ligaments and joint function, making everyday tasks such as climbing stairs and lifting items easier.
Considerations
Women over 40 new to weight training may want to join a gym that offers free coaching on a weight-machine circuit or access to paid sessions with a personal trainer. Either avenue will provide you with a customized program of thrice-weekly weight training exercises, involving free weights, body weights, weight machines or resistance bands. Programs often start with a single set of 15 repetitions of each exercise, often taking 20 minutes or less per day. Another option is to join group-lifting classes, or even to simply buy dumbbells and a book or DVD to strength train at home.
Time Frame
Middle-aged women can set goals for weight, percent body fat, inches lost and energy increases, either with a trainer or on their own, and review these every six weeks or so as their body transforms and requires new weight-training challenges. "In 12 weeks, you see significant gains in muscle strength, and reductions in body fat," nutritionist Nelson told The New York Times. Women above 40 often can't wait to wear sleeveless shirts after seeing the results of strength training, she said.
Misconceptions
Some women over 40 fear their body will develop into a bodybuilder look, but the natural response of a woman to weight training will be a leaner, attractive, more toned look, with defined upper arms, flat abs and gentle arcs to the hamstrings and calves.
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