The Benefits of Resistance Training

I never thought weight lifting was for me. Then I started and was amazed at the benefits of resistance training - especially for middle aged women.  Did you know it seriously helps with the symptoms of menopause?  I couldn't believe it.  But it's true.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild because we're specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life.

If all your hopes and dreams for the future have gone up in smoke, then it kind of feels like you're starting over, right? And if that's you, I'm so sorry. I know how itch that feels, but I'm here to tell you it gets better.

There is a light on the other side. The future is brighter. It's more beautiful than you can imagine.

I promise you, I am not the only one who's gone through it and gotten to the other side. There are countless other women around me who have gone through this and gotten to the other side. But it is better, I promise.

You are not alone. You're actually in the right place. So welcome.

I'm so glad that you're here. So let's get down to today's episode. Today we're going to talk about physical health.

If you'll remember in the beginning, I said I focused on five areas when I rebuilt my life. I focused on my spiritual health, my mental health, my physical health, my financial health, and growth and goals.

So with it being the start of a new year, of course we're going to talk about physical health and exercise. I mean, that just kind of seems like a no-brainer, right?

But this one, I feel like is really important, and I really want you to listen and hear me out on this one, because I think it has the potential to truly affect your life, okay? What I want to talk about today is resistance training.

I didn't realize all the benefits there were to resistance training, and how specific they were to women who are middle-aged. Like, I wish somebody would have told me how many benefits there were. I wish I would have known about it more.

So, earlier in 2024, I kind of started a gym routine. I go to the gym, I work out, do resistance training. I started noticing some benefits.

I started seeing some changes that I hadn't seen with other types of exercise, cardio, walking, things like that, that I had done in the past. So I started looking into it, and I was really amazed, like blown away.

So I kind of want to talk to you about it, and kind of give you the inside scoop that no one gave me, if that makes sense, right?

More research is coming out, I feel like, now, about the science of exercise, and they're really, really promoting resistance training. But like I said, specifically for women, specifically, really middle-aged women.

And let me tell you some of the benefits that it offers. So one of the first things is it helps your bone density. What do we know is women?

What I heard from kind of an early age is women are more likely to experience bone loss. Women are more prone to osteoporosis.

So I remember these vitamins, they used to have commercials for when I was in high school, they were specific for women to help them with bone density. Resistance training will help with bone density. That's just naturally what it does.

It also, as it's helping your bones become more dense, it's strengthening the muscle around those bones. So another benefit of it is that it helps prevent injury.

Because those muscles around those bones are strengthening and getting stronger and bigger. So if you fall, you're less likely to break a bone. How many of you have heard of somebody middle-aged or older who fell and broke a bone?

Like, it happens a lot because our bones get weaker, less dense, it's easy for when we fall to break a bone.

But if we strength train, it's going to help our bone density, so our bones are going to get stronger themselves, and then the muscles around them are going to get stronger. So that's like a big thing. To prevent injury, that's really important.

Bone density, good, okay. What else does it do? Well, it burns calories, duh.

But this is what I didn't realize about the way strength training works as far as calorie burn goes. So when you're lifting a weight or pulling against a resistance, and you're working that muscle.

So you're pulling, you're working, you know you're burning calories in, right? So you're lifting that weight, you're pulling. That muscle is working out.

You put that weight down, you walk away. Well, that muscle, as you've been working it and building it, there's little tears in that muscle. That's the way this works, little tears.

So once you walk away, that muscle has to repair itself, right? You're burning calories when it repairs itself. So you burn calories when you work out, but you're also kind of burning calories after your workout.

That's really kind of cool, I think. Like, it feels like you're getting bonus points or something. I don't know.

I really, I thought that was cool. Okay, I saved the best for now. The reason why I'm just over the moon about resistance training and think that all women should just start this, is because it helps balance your hormones.

So, once you hit your 40s, you might get to somewhere in your mid 40s. I don't know where, but most women I talk to, in your 40s, you notice something starts to change. You notice your hair is just a little bit different.

You notice you're starting to get the crow's feet, like your skin just reacts differently. You just, your metabolism has stopped. All these things, right, it's just, whoop, your hormones are shifting and changing.

And that's as, you know, pre-menopause, post-menopause, whatever you want to call it, menopause, wherever you are in the process, but it's that shift that your body goes through with hormones. And that can be brutal, horrifically brutal.

Did you know that resistance training helps balance your hormones? I'm like dead serious. Okay, so when you lift weights, or you pull against the resistance, and work that muscle, right?

You're releasing hormones in your body as you do that. That is amazing, that's good, that's great. When you finish working that muscle, as it repairs, your body's releasing then different hormones to repair that muscle.

Having extra hormones released in your body, when your body is going through the process of saying, we're not making these hormones anymore because you don't need them, this is good that you're able to find different ways to release new hormones in

your body to help balance them out, right? Like, this is one doctor I read said that resistance training was the best bet for symptoms related to menopause. I mean, seriously, super good. She recommends it for all of her patients.

It makes a difference. I noticed a difference maybe two months in. I had been taking, trying all kinds of supplements to balance my hormones.

Like, I felt like there was a natural remedy for some of the menopause issues that I had been having. So, I tried lots of supplements. One of the things I was looking to resolve was my gut health.

My gut health, I knew was off, but I didn't know how to balance it and make it right. So, I was taking a probiotic specifically for that, and it didn't have any effect on my gut health.

Couple months into resistance training, I completely noticed a difference in my gut health. And let me tell you, when you notice a difference, you notice a difference.

Like, it was enough to make me start researching, what is resistance strength training? What, how does it affect, you know, whatever? I started looking it up and reading about it, because I noticed such a difference.

The other thing it does is it balances your insulin sensitivity, which balances your blood sugar, basically is what I'm trying to say.

It helps keep your blood sugar balanced and in control, which I can struggle with low blood sugar, which is the opposite of what some people struggle with, I know. But it is brutal when your blood sugar bottoms out. And I've had it happen to me.

And so I really work and am very conscientious and aware of trying to keep my blood sugar stable and balanced so it doesn't bottom out on me. Resistance training helps keep your blood sugar stable.

Like, all these things that I've been looking for supplements and other things for, here you go, resistance training. I have been struggling to figure out how to balance my hormones. Resistance training.

It blew my mind. I mean, I don't know that I cared as much about my bone health, but as I start to age, as I look to 50, as I look to getting over 50, you know what? That matters.

Starting to take care of those things now, I want to age well. I don't want, you know, I want to, I want to live well. I want to enjoy all of my life.

So it's important to me to, yeah, let's take care of that bone health. Let's reduce some of those injuries. Let's not have to worry about as many broken bones.

Let's like start working on taking care of that now, so I don't have to worry about that then. I think that really, really is important, but I got to be real with you.

The balance and the hormones, that whole thing blew my mind and made me fall in love with resistance training. So all the, why should I resistance train? Like those were great.

Like, okay, those are a lot of good. There's a lot of good reasons why I should start, okay? How do I start?

So the first and most obvious thing is you could go to a gym. And that's what I did. I started going to a gym, and they have machines set up, and they have all sorts of free weights, and you can do all kinds of things.

The machines are good because they tell you exactly which muscle group you're going to work out.

They are very clear, and they have a lot of different ones, so you can work out all your different muscle groups, which I think would be really important. You don't want to just focus on one area. You want to focus on your whole body, work out.

I read that doctor that said it was the best bet for, I guess, menopause symptoms.

She said, don't forget leg day, that your legs and your glutes were your biggest muscle group, and that when you work those, you're releasing all those good hormones that we were talking about.

So that was a big area to work out and not to forget leg day.

But working out at a gym and having all those machines set up, so you just have to sit down, decide which weight number you want to lift, that is super convenient and easy, because it's all set up for you.

You don't have to really put in a lot of effort. I mean, you have to do the exercise, but you don't have to figure something out. So I think no-brainer, first choice, or easiest choice, or most, whatever choice could be going to a gym.

I also understand the drawbacks to a gym. There is a membership fee. There can also be just time constraints or whatever.

I don't want to pay a fee to join a gym and then not go. A lot of people are concerned that that could be a thing for them. So what are some other options if you don't want to go to a gym?

Well, you could get some dumbbells. You could get some resistance bands and come up with a workout at home between the two. I think you can't just use the dumbbells.

You've got to find a way to work your lower body too. But you could definitely, with a small, very small, limited equipment, do a complete home workout. And the thing is, it's resistance training.

You can use your own body weight as the resistance. You don't even have to always use a resistance band or a dumbbell. You could use, you know, push against your body weight.

Or like when you do a plank, that's your body weight you're holding up. So that is resistance training right there, a plank. So whether you go to the gym or you do it at home, both are completely doable.

I'm not somebody who wanted to bulk up. I saw weight training.

When I heard the term weight training, I thought of guys, I thought of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I thought of, you know, people lifting weights, like big muscular men, who I didn't want to bulk up and have these big guns or anything like that.

That didn't seem appealing to me. I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be toned.

I wanted to be fit. So I thought cardio was the way for me. But resistance training has proven to be an amazing exercise.

Amazing. And I still do cardio, but I think if you can fit resistance in one or two times a week, I think you'll notice the difference. If you can start resistance training, just find a way to incorporate that into your workout routine.

So if you walk three days a week, maybe try to put one day where you do some resistance training. I want to keep it simple for you. I'm not trying to tell you to do something that's over the top.

But my whole life, I always saw weight training for guys. Maybe it's because I literally went to a really small high school.

And I think every guy in our high school got assigned weight training, and every female in our school got the elective of home ec. So guys got the elective of weight training and girls got home ec. Pretty much.

And so I always saw weight training as a guy thing, not a girl thing. And it never appealed to me, but it didn't occur to me that it was for me, that it was something that I could take and adapt to make for me. And I never realized the benefits.

The hormone balancing benefits are huge. I mean, you still get the benefits of burning calories, of weight loss. I definitely trimmed down.

But the hormone balancing benefits, you don't find those in cardio.

So, the resistance training, just the way that muscle tears, and the hormones that you release when you work it, and the hormones that you release when it repairs, that is unique to resistance training.

And those benefits that you get from that are so amazing, and so specific to a woman going through menopause. So, our pre-menopause, wherever you are, I think that we should just encourage each other more in this.

And we don't need to bulk up, and we don't need to be lifting the big weights. If you are just pulling enough to resist, to feel the pull, you're doing good, okay? Like, we're not aiming for some crazy thing, you know?

So, we want the benefit of the exercise. We're not trying to look like somebody who's all bulked up, and who am I thinking? Popeye, the sailor man.

That's who I'm thinking of. I don't want to look like Popeye, but I don't want to look like olive oil. I just want to look fit, I guess, and toned.

Resistance training, definitely. I really was at the mindset that cardio would get me there. Cardio would thin me down, would help me lose the calories, burn the calories, and lose some weight.

And cardio is good, and I like cardio. I think it's important. But resistance training offers benefits that cardio doesn't.

And I don't think everybody realizes that. I don't think everybody knows that. I don't think we talk about that.

And that's what I'm here to talk about, because I didn't know that. Nobody told me. Resistance training has benefits for you, and you really need to do this.

It's going to help you where you are in your life right now. And yeah, it sucks sometimes to get up and go to the gym. Yeah, I would rather sleep in.

Getting up and going to the gym has been one of the best things I've done this year, and I was so grateful that that is something that I started, and I hope I continue it. I want to keep doing it, because the benefits will serve me.

And the people who keep exercising and keep doing really reap the rewards. So, maybe look into it. Look into what it would be to start resistance training.

Maybe just look into some of the exercises where you use your own body weight as a resistance, and just see, do I notice a difference? You can easily Google and get YouTube videos for using your own body weight as resistance.

You know, what exercise are like this? You know, resistance training with my own body weight. What kind of exercises do I have?

And let me tell you, there will be so many videos that come up for you. Try it, see. I mean, if you feel like I can't make an investment unless I know this works, just try it.

I don't really want to get a gym membership. I don't want to buy resistance bands. Try just using your own body weight.

You burn calories, you lose weight, you slim down. But probably the most important thing is it really starts help balancing those hormones. And then helping your bone density increase, that's huge, especially for us as women.

That is massive. So I encourage you to try resistance training. If you've never tried it before, I encourage you to just maybe step out of your comfort zone and try it.

I know going to the gym can be intimidating. I was very intimidated.

But I was really surprised when I went in there and talked to the people, how down to earth and real they were, and how nice they were, and how quick they were to show me how things worked when I didn't know what they were. So don't be afraid.

If you have a gym around the corner at your house, maybe stop in. If they don't seem friendly, don't go there. But they might be more friendly than you realize.

I just had never been a gym person, so I had no idea. Check it out. Look in to the possibility.

Like I said, even if you're just looking up YouTube videos with what would resistance training look like with my own body weight, what can I do? Just try it. See if you notice.

Commit to doing it for a month or two. It takes a month or two to really start noticing the benefit. So give yourself some time, okay?

But really try it. It's really amazing. It's totally different than cardio.

So mix it up in there. See how it works. Let me know how it works for you.

You can find me on the internet. I'm workingonamazing.com. So you can drop me a line there.

Tell me how resistance training is going for you. You can find me on social media. I'm on almost all the platforms, but I do hang out on Facebook the most.

So drop me a line there, Working on Amazing. Just tell me how it's working out for you, what you've noticed, what you haven't noticed, what you like about it, what you don't. I would love to hear from you.

I appreciate you joining me today, and I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.