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Strength Training Program for Women Energy and body building supplements for sports nutrition, including amino acids and weight loss products. STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRAM FOR WOMEN After the age of 20, women who do not strength train will lose about 5 pounds of muscle every decade of adult life. This leads to a slower metabolism and a gradual increase in fat weight (about 15 pounds per decade), as well as an increased risk for diabetes, arthritis and heart disease. A strength training program helps develop strong and shapely muscles that will improve your physical appearance, your mood and your sex life.
There are numerous benefits to strength training regularly, particularly as you grow older. Consider supplementing your strength training with a weekly yoga or tai chi class to improve your breathing and flexibility. It can be very powerful in reducing the signs and symptoms of numerous diseases and chronic conditions, among them:
Arthritis Relief Tufts University recently completed a strength-training program with older men and women with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis. The results of this sixteen-week program showed that strength training decreased pain by 43%, increased muscle strength and general physical performance, improved the clinical signs and symptoms of the disease, and decreased disability. The effectiveness of strength training to ease the pain of osteoarthritis was just as potent, if not more potent, as medications. Similar effects of strength training have been seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Restoration of Balance and Reduction of Falls As people age, poor balance and flexibility contribute to falls and broken bones. These fractures can result in significant disability and, in some cases, fatal complications. Strengthening exercises, when done properly and through the full range of motion, increase a person's flexibility and balance, which decrease the likelihood and severity of falls. One study in New Zealand in women 80 years of age and older showed a 40% reduction in falls with simple strength and balance training. Strengthening of Bone Post-menopausal women can lose 1-2% of their bone mass annually. Results from a study conducted at Tufts University, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1994, showed that strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk for fractures among women aged 50-70. Proper Weight Maintenance Strength training is crucial to weight control, because individuals who have more muscle mass have a higher metabolic rate. Muscle is active tissue that consumes calories while stored fat uses very little energy. Strength training can provide up to a 15% increase in metabolic rate, which is enormously helpful for weight loss and long-term weight control. Improved Glucose Control More than 14 million Americans have type II diabetes—a staggering three-hundred percent increase over the past forty years—and the numbers are steadily climbing. In addition to being at greater risk for heart and renal disease, diabetes is also the leading cause of blindness in older adults. Fortunately, studies now show that lifestyle changes such as strength training have a profound impact on helping older adults manage their diabetes. In a recent study of Hispanic men and women, 16 weeks of strength training produced dramatic improvements in glucose control that are comparable to taking diabetes medication. Additionally, the study volunteers were stronger, gained muscle, lost body fat, had less depression, and felt much more self-confident. Healthy State of Mind Strength training provides similar improvements in depression as anti-depressant medications. Currently, it is not known if this is because people feel better when they are stronger or if strength training produces a helpful biochemical change in the brain. It is most likely a combination of the two. When older adults participate in strength training programs, their self-confidence and self-esteem improve, which has a strong impact on their overall quality of life. Sleep Improvement People who exercise regularly enjoy improved sleep quality. They fall asleep more quickly, sleep more deeply, awaken less often, and sleep longer. As with depression, the sleep benefits obtained as a result of strength training are comparable to treatment with medication but without the side effects or the expense. Healthy Heart Tissue Strength training is important for cardiac health because heart disease risk is lower when the body is leaner. One study found that cardiac patients gained not only strength and flexibility but also aerobic capacity when they did strength training three times a week as part of their rehabilitation program. This and other studies have prompted the American Heart Association to recommend strength training as a way to reduce risk of heart disease and as a therapy for patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs. Research, published in the online journal PLoS One, shows that strength training may not only make older adults' muscles stronger, but younger as well. It's well known that resistance exercises improve muscle strength and function in young and old alike, but the new research suggests that strength training also affects older muscles on the level of gene expression -- essentially turning back the clock on muscle aging. Researchers found that older and younger muscle tissues differed significantly in their gene expression profiles. The difference indicated that older muscle tissue had impaired functioning in mitochondria -- structures within cells that act as the cell's "powerhouse." That impairment was reversible, however. After older adults underwent 6 months of strength training, the gene expression profile in their muscles showed a more youthful appearance. Experts have long known that exercise is good for younger and older adults alike, but the new findings suggest that it can "actually rejuvenate muscle" in older individuals. Strength Training and Weights for Weight Loss  Women who lift weights just twice a week for an hour can fight middle-age spread, that buildup of tummy fat that seems to take hold and rarely let go as we age, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Best of all, they flattened their tummies without dieting. Men tend to like to do weight training when they should be doing more flexible things, and women tend to do flexible things when they should be doing more weights. The kind of fat that weightlifting fights is that deep, intra-abdominal fat that wraps around internal organs and is linked to heart disease. Belly fat is also the No. 1 complaint of women as they go through menopause. It's the apple-shaped person that is most at risk. The more central the fat, the more it's laid down in the arteries. More than 160 overweight and obese women between the ages of 24 and 44 were divided into two groups. One group participated in a two-year weight-training program using both free weights and machines with a focus on the chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, lower back, buttocks and thighs. The other group was given a brochure that recommended they exercise 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day most days of the week. Neither group was asked to change their diets in a way that would lead to weight loss. Those who lifted weights for two years experienced a 7 percent increase in intra-abdominal fat, compared with a 21 percent increase among the group that was given exercise advice. Even more encouraging, the weightlifters decreased their body fat percentage by almost 4 percent, while the other group remained about the same. A study published in the December 2006 issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism shows that women who undertake a long-term weight training program produce more biologically active growth hormone, a finding that allows physiologists to understand why weight training improves muscle tone and optimizes metabolic function. Any pain is an indication to stop the activity. It is important to start slow and gradually work your way up to longer and harder workouts. Moderate exercise, such as brisk walking 30 minutes a day, can reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer by almost 20 percent, according to new research. What's more, it appears that it's never too late to start: Sedentary postmenopausal women who take up exercise will see the benefits almost immediately. Moderate-intensity physical activities, such as walking, biking outdoors or easy swimming, even when initiated later in life, can reduce the risk of breast cancer. Any physical activity is better than none, at any age, even if it doesn’t fit common notions of exercise, says a University of Illinois professor. It’s important to “choose an activity that you will do,” rather than just wishing to do something more ambitious, says Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, head of the UI kinesiology department and chair of the national Active Aging Partnership, established by the American College of Sports Medicine. “It really matters less exactly what you do than it matters to avoid being completely sedentary,” he said. Only about 15 percent of adults over 65 get a recommended level of physical activity, based on a 1996 report from the U.S. Surgeon General, and as many as one-third get none at all, Chodzko-Zajko noted in an article for the November issue of the journal Quest, titled “Successful Aging in the New Millennium: The Role of Regular Physical Activity.” Part of the problem, may be that we’ve adopted a medical model of exercise, where exercise is sort of a bitter pill, and you get a prescription and you’re expected to stick to it ... but the bottom line is it takes time to change behavior, and the broader you can define your activity program, the less likely you are to become demoralized. Chodzko-Zajko suggests that some people might benefit from strategies such as keeping a diary of all their physical activity, including even things like short walks to the store or working in the garden. “It will motivate you to avoid days in which you have nothing to write down.” Another simple strategy he said he liked, heard from a well-respected academic, was “buy a dog.” We used to think in terms of physical activity as traditional exercise, but now we realize that physical activity can be gained from a large number of different activities, once people get started, they gradually can increase the intensity and duration at their own rate. 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