The Feed My Health Podcast

Strength Training Secrets: Building a Life of Impact and Vitality

• Rosalind Tapper

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Strength training is not only vital for physical fitness; it's crucial for maintaining health as we age. In this episode, we explore the transformative benefits of strength training, debunk myths, and share practical tips for incorporating it into busy lifestyles.

• Understanding the relationship between strength training and overall health 
• Personal anecdotes highlighting the journey from cardio to strength training 
• Addressing misconceptions about strength training 
• Discussing the importance of muscle mass for metabolism 
• Practical tips for getting started with strength training 
• Encouragement to prioritise health for both oneself and loved ones

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of the Feed my Health podcast. My name is Rosalind Tapper and I'm the owner of Feed my Health Online Coaching. Welcome, welcome, welcome. So today we're actually going to be diving into a bittersweet. What did I say bittersweet? We're going to be diving into a topic that kind of is, for me, a bit of a love-hate relationship, and that is strength training.

Speaker 1:

Now, why is it a love-hate relationship? Well, because, to be honest with you, I'm not a massive fan of exercise. I really shouldn't say that I totally. Let me just caveat that and say I totally am pro-exercise. I completely understand why we need to be doing it. I completely promote everybody should be doing it.

Speaker 1:

However, I'm not going to lie and tell you that it's my favorite thing to do, and I think that that is a very big misconception. When you look at people in the fitness industry thinking that, well, it's easy for them because they love it, it's their job, it comes naturally to them. Oh my gosh, that could not be further from the truth. It takes all of my mental capacity to get myself to do the hard thing very much, like it does you. The difference is, I love the result and the reason why I am such an advocate for doing the thing I'm going to be talking about in this episode is because I don't love it, and so for me, it's been critical to find a way to get an epic result with the least amount of effort. Okay, I'm a mum of three, I run a house, I run a business, I'm a wife, I have 25 million animals. I don't have time to be dedicating an hour every single day to the gym, and I don't want to either. I have other things in my life that are valuable too, so for me, it's a case of lowest hanging fruit, like what can I do to get the best results in the minimum amount of time possible? And for a lot of our clients that feed my health, that is exactly what they come to me for as well, so I just wanted to caveat that. So this is the thing that I know for a fact that every single person should be doing as part of their weekly routine, their weekly non-negotiable, and that is strength training.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, whatever you know it to be called as weightlifting, resistance training, whatever, whatever terminology fits your narrative, the best strength training is a great way to explain it, because when you say, like weight lifting, I, the old me would have had visions of like a big, burly guy in the gym, like covered in, like white flour on his hands, like dead lifting, I don't know, a car or. But with strength training that can also mean using your own body weight to create a resistance and doing it at home, on your living room, and getting just as good of a result. So that's why I'm going to use the term strength training, but sometimes I might throw in the odd weightlifting. Whatever you, just as long as you know what I'm talking about. And it really really needs to become your new best friend, very much like on a scale of, you know, going for a walk every single day, drinking your water, breathing the oxygen, you know all of that stuff. Weight training, resistance training, strength training should be part of your routine. And I'm not saying that there isn't a place for cardio. And I'm not saying that there isn't a place for cardio. What I'm saying is that I think people use cardio as the first tool to get to a result, thinking that it is the tool that they need. And what I mean by that is people start to do cardio because they want to lose weight and it couldn't give you further than that result, and I'm going to kind of explain a little bit bit why.

Speaker 1:

Um, now, for me, my background, my history when it comes to exercise is, like a lot of people, my go-to was very much classes. So I think it was more kind of a confidence thing. It was like the thing that you do. It was a thing that, like women, did you know if there was a little crash? You drop your little one off at the crash and you go to the class and you do the class, whatever it was. And mine was set out at nine I think it was just after nine, or 9, 15 so I could do the school run, I could get to the leisure centre and I do whatever class was on that day, and it was always things like circuits, bums, legs and tums. But there was a Zumba class that I absolutely loved.

Speaker 1:

And what else did we do? Oh, there was all number like body pump, like that all had these funky names, and I went every single day. I went five days a week. I tried spinning. Oh my god, it was actually brutal. I don't know why you would embark on that when it is essentially the same sensation as childbirth. The thing is, at the end of it, you don't come out with a kid. So that is a no-no for me. But yeah, I went every single day and I went for the social aspect, of course, and I went for the fact that I was getting out of the house. But ultimately I was investing my time and my money to change my body and it never really happened. And I was also in the mindset of, like, you know, if I've done a workout, I need to replenish my nutrients. So I'd go back and I'd have like a post workout meal and all the rest of it. You know, just, my body just never changed.

Speaker 1:

And one day well, actually not one day, because it wasn't just like a random thing, but the leisure center that we went to. It was starting to lose customers. I don't know why. It was part of a school, I think, so that maybe that didn't help. I think the school, from memory, had decided to sell their portion of the leisure center, and so there wasn't enough funding for the classes to go ahead. And this went on for a while.

Speaker 1:

And one day I'd shown up to the class and the woman who took all of the classes just didn't wasn't there, and it was replaced by another lady who we'd never seen before I think she'd come from another gym or something but she was like, okay, we're not gonna, we're not gonna be in this room today, which was like, basically, imagine, like a basketball kind of pitch room, um, we're gonna go into the gym and the gym was something that we walked past. It was the thing we walked past to go to the room where we did our circuit classes and, you know, every time you sort of peep in like side eye the window. There was like the big men or was people like sweating on the treadmills, and it was never really a place where I thought I belonged or I should go. And she was like, no, we're going in. And so we all went, we all tottered in and she got us on various machines and she told us what we needed to do and I remember she was stood next to me on the.

Speaker 1:

I was on the leg press and she was teaching me how to use it and we were pushing like through the weights and upping the weights and when, by the time I'd left, she'd got me a leg pressing 100 kg, which is absolutely astounding and I absolutely loved it. It was like the focus had very much switched from how many calories can I burn in this class to how much weight can you lift and how do you feel? Because you can do that, and it was an amazing experience. I felt empowered, felt strong, I felt in control. It was just. I can't explain it. I'm sure that anybody who has been in that situation can understand what I'm trying to say. But from that moment I really understand what I'm trying to say. But from that moment I really respected weightlifting a lot and the feelings it gave you and the benefit it gave you that far outweighed weight loss.

Speaker 1:

Now I wanted to learn more and more about it and so I went home. Obviously, the sad news was that the legislature did eventually close down and there was no alternative for me at the time. So I decided to get a little bit nerdy and educate myself on resistance training, strength training and essentially coach myself at home. And all I had was this blue pair of 5kg dumbbells, which I still have to this day and I keep as my little kind of memento of like this is where you came from and I managed to transform my body in my house three times a week 30 minutes, 30 minutes a time with my 5kg dumbbells. I threw in a couple of resistance bands every now and again, um, but honestly it was it has transformed everything for me.

Speaker 1:

Like I yes, I don't love, love, love working out. It really still is a mental battle, but it's, it's how I use, it's what I use to like, strengthen my discipline and when I'm in there, I love it. I'm getting strong, I feel the benefits and it's amazing. So that changed my body more than any class ever did, and I like, I say like, people go to classes for lots of different reasons the social element, the fitness element, whatever and if that is your thing, then I really strongly believe that you should do what makes you feel good, you should do what makes you happy. But what I know to be true is that if you are trying to change your body, you're trying to improve your metabolism, you're trying to be stronger, you don't want to struggle with lifting or falling or any of those things in your later age, then strength training really needs to be something that is a priority. Like I said, just like drinking water, it's really, really, really important.

Speaker 1:

Now, when I say this about classes, I get a lot of questions that are usually along the lines of oh, but I really like to do Pilates or I really like to do yoga, and what I would say about that is I want you to kind of separate those those things from the purpose of strength training. There is definitely a place for Pilates and there is definitely a place for yoga, and I would treat them as time for you to work on your flexibility, on your mobility, on your stress relief time for you. I wouldn't be using those classes or exercises as a means to change your body in any particular big way or to gain strength or anything like that. They are purely like a kind of more I would call them like a mindset exercise if you will but I think they are incredibly valuable. So if you do those, please keep doing those.

Speaker 1:

Now, in terms of the gym classes, the cardio and the gym classes, they do tend to be the go-to for many women a lot of the time because we're not really sure how to do things. So we feel like it's easier to be told what to do. The scary thing is, I have witnessed and I have been in classes where I've seen PTs really, really advising poorly on how we should do things or giving women like barbells in classes like body pump to use for exercises but then not helping them actually make sure they're using them properly, and that can be a real, a really bad thing, because obviously if you get an injury, especially and I know this sounds really, you know, like I don't know but as we get older, you know we are going to be more susceptible to certain things, especially if we don't have a background in strength training. So to then be given a barbell and sort of yes, shown what the exercise is, but not have your form checked, you know it is quite worrying and I have seen that and I've also been in a gym where I've seen a PT working one-to-one with somebody and simultaneously they're like checking their phone, checking their messages and then just shouting at the person who's on the floor to go on one more, one more, and their form or whatever they're doing is really bad. And so that always like sticks with me and I just think, if you are going to go down that road of you know group classes or a PT, really really do your homework and make sure that you are being coached at the time. Now the other thing about it is is it can feel familiar, know where. We often see it a lot, so it feels easy to jump into.

Speaker 1:

And also a lot of people are addicted to the huffy puffiness of it all. They think that the more they're sweating, the more they're out of breath, the more calories they're burning and the more benefit they're getting. And that can actually be very addictive. You know a lot of people can walk out of a spin class absolutely drenched in out of breath, thinking addictive. You know a lot of people can walk out of a spin class absolutely drenched in that breath, thinking, you know, I've absolutely smashed it today, oh my God, that's going to hurt me tomorrow and all the rest of it.

Speaker 1:

And the thing is like the sweat doesn't necessarily mean progress. It doesn't mean that you're building the kind of strong, resilient body that will serve you long term, and that's really where strength training shines. So as we age especially, you know, if you're in that kind of midlife area we lose muscle mass. This isn't just about aesthetics, right? It's not just about how you look, it's about function, it's about health, it's about your longevity. So, starting in our 30s, we lose about three to 5% of our muscle mass per decade. That might not sound like much, but if you fast forward a couple of decades and you're talking about serious muscle loss there. You're talking about serious loss of mobility if you're not actively doing something to maintain or build that muscle. Now you imagine as well that you are trying to lose body fat which who isn't? You are also going to be losing muscle mass if you are eating consistently in a calorie deficit, ie eating less food than your body requires to maintain its current weight. So strength training is absolutely crucial in the maintenance of your current muscle mass. Okay, absolutely crucial.

Speaker 1:

Guess what cardio doesn't do? Cardio does not build muscle. It does not retain your muscle. Sure, it is absolutely phenomenal for cardiovascular health, right, hence the name. But it's not going to help you to build strength. It's not going to help you to build bone density or improve bone density. It's not going to boost your metabolism the way strength training does, and, trust me, your metabolism needs all the help it can get, especially in midlife. Okay, it also really, really ramps up your appetite, and so you feel that you need to eat more. You often do need to eat more because you're hungry, and so if you are trying to lose weight at the same time, it can be a bit of a double-edged sword.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about metabolism for a minute, because this is where so many women feel like the deck is stacked against them. You've probably noticed that your weight is creeping up. Right Over the years. It slightly creeps up, so maybe you're kind of roughly maintaining, but every year you seem to add an extra few pounds, maybe at half a stone, whatever, and it just seems to come out of nowhere. That's the thing as well. Genes start to feel tighter, so clothes that you used to love to wear now feel a little bit more uncomfortable. The scale inches, inches up. You feel like your body is really starting to work against you, and the truth is your metabolism hasn't slowed down because you've aged. It's slowed down because you've lost muscle.

Speaker 1:

Okay, most people are what's called under muscled, and that is a real detriment I want you to imagine. Your muscle is like your body's armor, so you need it. You absolutely critically need it. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, which basically means that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even at rest. Okay, so picture the scene you are sitting on the sofa after you've done your strength training session or after you've you know, 2024 strength training sessions. You're going to be burning more calories sitting on that sofa during whatever the festive season, that's just gone. Let's take that as an example. Sofa during whatever the festive season, that's just gone, let's take that as an example than the person who hasn't done strength training but maybe did like running throughout the year. So if you're struggling with weight gain or that kind of stubborn belly fat, the solution isn't more cardio, it's more muscle. Okay, repeat after me the solution isn't more cardio, it's more muscle. Okay.

Speaker 1:

So muscle is your organ of longevity. You want to feel healthy. You want to feel strong, you want to feel vibrant. You want a better quality of life. The muscle is the organ of longevity. It's not just about looking toned, which is a byproduct. It's not just about lifting heavier weights, which, of course, is a byproduct. It's about you living longer and that quality of life being excellent. There's no point in living a long life if you don't have a good quality of life. You don't want to be the person that's sitting in the wheelchair. You don't want to be the person that's sitting in the chair that can't do anything for themselves. What's the point in living until you're 90 if you can't actually do anything for yourself. So, yes, we want to think about short-term goals and we should create short-term goals, but with the big picture being I'm doing this so that I can live a long, healthy, vibrant life.

Speaker 1:

Strength training isn't just about going to the gym. It's about being able to carry your groceries, you know. It's about being able to play with your grandkids. It's about being able to travel the world without worrying about your physical limitations. Think of all the bucket list things that you want to do in your life and could you still do them? Can you be certain that you could still do them, and are you doing everything possible now to ensure that you can?

Speaker 1:

So by now you're probably thinking right, roz, okay, you've sold me, but where do I even start if you've never done it before? What, what, what do I even do right now? I have been here. This is where I really had to this. I mean, I feel very privileged because I kind of got that book from that leg press situation. I was like, wow, this is really interesting, I want to know more, and that's where I got all of the knowledge and the tools and blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1:

But for a lot of people, they don't necessarily need or want the knowledge. They just want the result, and I get that. But I always think it's important to be educated along the way, and that's kind of what we do. So, you know, as we are creating training programs for our clients maybe they've got a new program, maybe they've got a new exercise we want to educate them on why they're doing it, how to do it, how to get the most out of it and how to progress. And once you understand something, you are a lot more open to learning. It's a lot more exciting to do you want to do it and you take things to the next level. To learning. It's a lot more exciting to do. You want to do it and you take things to the next level.

Speaker 1:

So we actually create customised strength training programmes for every ability, every schedule, every type of equipment, whether you want to work out from home, whether you want to work in the gym, whatever your situation is, and it doesn't matter where your starting point is. The most important thing here is that you just start, whether that's 10 minutes a day, whether that's doing some wall push-ups while the kettle boils, all the way to, you know, having a real consistency in the gym. Whatever it is for you, we can work with it and want you to go all in on that. Okay, we also believe in progressing your plan.

Speaker 1:

Strength training isn't about doing the same three exercises forever. It's about challenging your muscles in new ways so you continue to grow stronger and more confident, and we actually will guide you every step of the way. So lots of, lots of accountability, which is crucial um to make sure that you actually get stuck in, because at the beginning, it can feel hard, it can feel scary, it can feel daunting. I appreciate that, and so we want you to turn this into something that excites you, and then you'll start to see the physical changes and you'll be like flipping egg. I can't believe. I've spent all these years doing classes back to back and now all I need to do is, you know, three times 30 minutes at home and I'm looking amazing. I'm loving what I'm seeing in the mirror. It's just, yeah, it's a fantastic thing and I love it. You know, when we get our clients photographs and that you can see like their definition coming through in their shoulders or in their stomachs or wherever, and you're just like this is amazing. Right, this is absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1:

Now, I do know that some of you might be very nervous about the idea of strength training. Maybe you're worried about getting bulky, or if you think it's going to be too hard, or maybe you just don't know where to start, and that's absolutely okay. We all start somewhere. But I want to bust a couple of myths for you right now. Okay, you will not get bulky. You don't have the hormones to bulk up like men do. Strength training will make you leaner. It will not make you bulkier. So I want you to think sculpted arms. I want you to think toned legs. I want you to think a strong core okay. The second myth is that it's never too late to start. It doesn't matter whether you are 40. It doesn't matter whether you are 50. It doesn't matter whether you are 40, it doesn't matter whether you are 50, it doesn't matter whether you are 60,.

Speaker 1:

You can start strength training today and see amazing benefits and feel amazing. Your body is absolutely incredible and it will adapt to whatever you ask of it. Remember, your body actually wants to do this kind of thing. It's just that we live in a world where it's just not part of our routine. And then the third thing is that you don't need fancy equipment. You really, really don't. Body weight exercises, resistance bands, a couple of dumbbells that's way more than enough to get you started. And if you've got access to a gym, great, that's amazing. Even better, you'll have lots more toys to play with in the gym. But you really don't need a lot of things. I mean, I literally had some 5kg dumbbells and I did a lot of bodyweight workouts, so I have a little bit of homework for you.

Speaker 1:

I want you to take a moment today and I want you to think about how strength training could fit into your life. What's one small step that you can take to get you started today? Maybe it's booking a call with me to talk about your goals. Maybe it's grabbing a pair of dumbbells and trying a few squats and a few presses. Whatever it is, I just want you to do something today and remember that this isn't just about losing weight or looking good in a dress. Of course, they are the side effects, right, but this is about creating a body that supports you in living the life you want now and for the years to come.

Speaker 1:

So dream big. If you have big dreams of, you know, being a hands-on grandparent one day when your kids have got kids, or taking them on holiday or whatever. That's why you're doing it, right, you're doing it for it for you, but you are also doing it for them. So, whenever you have a moment and I want any client of mine right now listening to this I want you to take this message home as well.

Speaker 1:

Whenever you have a day where you are talking yourself out of going to the gym or you're talking yourself out of doing a workout, you're coming up with all the reasons why you don't have time, all the rest of it. I want you to remember this line I am doing it for them, okay, because if you can be healthy, strong, energetic, vibrant, happy in your life for you, that's going to have a roll-on, knock-on effect to the people that you love in your life, whether that's your kids, your grandkids, your spouse, whoever. So you are also doing it for them, okay, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next time, stay strong, stay confident and remember, keep feeding your health.