We know that we lose muscle as we age, and this leads to a change of body shape.
Since moving home and changing gyms I’ve switched from weights sessions at the gym to Zumba and other dance classes.
I do love dancing, but it’s not building muscle.
So, I’m back to weights. And back to sessions with Emma, Personal Trainer. Emma understands my body niggles and with recent mishaps she has put a programme together that suits me. I don’t have arthritis but with my knee injury, doing exercises to focus on joint problems will mean I stay safe.
I love weight training and being strong.
But many people don’t. Especially women, they get frightened they would bulk up too much very unlikely.
We need to do strength training to build strength and muscle. It increases metabolism and improves our health.
Building muscle is key. From 40 we lose on average 8% of our muscle mass every decade and this is the reason many older people have poor mobility. Building muscle is also goo got our bones, to keep them strong. I hadn’t realised by when you lose muscle you also lose bone. And this can lead to
- Osteoporosis
- Arthritis
- Chronic back pain
- Frailty
- Fractures
There’s a great article on the New York Times website with good exercises that you can do from home. These include Squats and The Plank. Of course, there are other sites, but for 1 a week I like to read the New York Times and get a different perspective on world events.