Train for your old lady body.

Hello friends,

Did you see the article in the NYTimes last week? (Gift article) Take the 30-Second Power Test

If you’re a woman over 65, a good test score is the ability to get up no-handed from sitting in a chair 11 or more times. Men 12 or more.

Strength training, (especially squats, which is sitting and standing) will reduce the possibility of falling, and in the event of a fall, reduce the chance of serious injury. It’s definitely good to be able to get up from a chair (or the toilet) without hands, but I initially felt that the bar was set too low.

Building strength can happen quickly, but it requires added weight.

The NYTimes has been publishing articles lately aimed at people who don’t exercise much – or at all. I get it…

Most Americans don’t move their bodies much, and they don’t train for strength. But reading on, the author does promote strength training. Yes, thank you.

Quotes; “… under-dosing” on weights is more threatening to your quality of life than avoiding weights”.

“When we handle older adults with kid gloves and assume they’re not capable of certain moves and weights, we’re opening up the door to continued decline. Starting off light is fine… But if you don’t ramp up from there, you can’t achieve what you need.”

What do you need? What do you want?

For years programs and classes have been promoting weight loss.

Some are all about high heart rate intervals, or HIIT. There are also those promoting low intensity long duration workouts, or “fat burning”, low intensity steady state, or LISS. Either is fine for some percentage of training, but the MOST important aspect of training is strength.

Use dumbbells, kettlebells, barbell, or body weight. A weighted backpack, or a bucket or rocks. Train strength.

Start now.

Like almost everyone else, I exercised in my 20s -40s+ all cardio all the time, running every day to get smaller. I compared myself to the slimmest woman everywhere I went, during my infrequent occasions at a gym it was only the treadmill and bike. Hesitation and fear of lifting weights was dispelled after several back injuries, when I realized that I needed and wanted to be strong. Forget smaller. I wanted to push, pull, and lift stuff. 

I’m the old lady that I’ve been training for.

I’m stronger and more powerful at 70 than I was at 40.

I’m training not just to find out how much I can lift, but that’s cool too.

I like the way my strong body looks and functions.

I’m training for a lot of fun in my old lady years (which means NOW), to keep healthy joints to play, crawl, run, hike, ski, climb, and leap with my 6 kids, spouses, and 13 young grandkids, and also to impress my teenage grandsons when they challenge me to an arm wrestling competition…WOW Gami! And yes, I want to be able to be strong enough stand up from a chair or toilet forever.

Women need to prioritize strength training. Period.

Ladies, keep lifting for every reason. Get strong. Stay strong.

✅Lift heavy. Progressive overload: adding weight and reps over time.

✅Rest and recover between heavy lifts, and between workouts.

✅Eat healthy carbs, fat, and add more protein to your diet to aid recovery. Nutrition is your rocket fuel.

✅Be thoughtful and consistent with programming. *The boring stuff works*

✅Train with body weight, barbell, kettlebells, dumbbells, sandbags, hell, use a bucket of rocks, or a loaded backpack.

✅Get a coach. (Me)

Get strong. Stay strong.

Ladies keep lifting for every reason.

Iron Ladies is coming…stay tuned.

Onward~

Polli