So the one thing I hear a lot …. is what the hell happened to me? I have never had a stomach and now at 40 I am getting these love handles and I am looking so gut heavy. I hear this often and I am fighting this age thing too… so I hear you loud and clear. One of the reasons for this is because as we age we lose muscle mass and therefore our metabolism slows down. yikes!!! Many women who come to me say they have been doing cardio 5 days a week and nothing is changing …. Cardio is not the answer… it really isn’t.. Of course we all need to get our cardio in but just as important is weight training. As great as it is to do cardio its not going to add lean muscle mass to your body which is the key to keeping your body looking young! the more muscle you have the higher your RMR… resting metabolic rate. I try and tell my clients that training legs is a key element to add to their training regime, and the reason is two fold. 1. BUILDING LEAN MUSCLE IN THE THIGHS Though its important to build muscle throughout the entire body, the thighs contain more muscle mass that any other section of your body. I always see many older men at the gym who have impressive bench press but seem to have trouble rising up from the bench when they are done. This is so common with the few men I train… I mean seriously it may look good to have nice broad shoulders but seriously if you can’t get out of your car with grace whats the friggin’ point? 2. HEAVY AND INTENSE WORKOUTS CRUSH BODY FAT One of the risk factors for heart disease is excess belly fat. Usually as we get older the gut is where fat gets stored. In order to reverse this process we need to lift. Building quads, hamstrings and glutes means building the central headquarters for your body’s furnace. Bottom line preserving muscle strength is the foundation of combatting aging. If you have your muscle strengthen in older age, so many other things won’t ever likely happen… falling, fracturing bones, struggling out of chairs, knee and back pain, to name a few. Increased production of HGH .. ( human growth hormone ) which happens when you weight train will also help fight heart disease and some cancers. The most important factor in anyone’s function as they age is their strength capacity. So get lifting and stay young 🙂
