Month: October 2023

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Did you know that as many as 80% of people over 55 do not have enough muscle mass and have too much body fat, which can lead to heart disease, falls, osteoporosis, strokes, arthritis, high blood pressure and more?

The good news is that it’s never too late to build muscle, strength, and balance, no matter your age. Strength training can help to improve your muscle tone so you can feel stronger and more confident, build bone density to protect you from osteoporosis and falls, improve your resting metabolic rate, helping you to get rid of stubborn pounds, and improve your body’s dashboard numbers naturally.

But how do you get started? As a personal trainer who helps women over 55 build strong bones and muscles, let me share a few tips to get started safely. 

Start Slowly: Use Light Resistance and Focus on Form First

Try not to go to the extremes, start slowly with a reasonable resistance that you can lift with proper technique. Once you get the movement down and understand the right technique then progress your weights.

It’s important to progress beyond light weights.

Old information told us that light weights were for toning, but we now know that to be untrue. It’s important to lift a weight that gives your body a challenge by the last few repetitions, otherwise your body isn’t seeing the benefit from your activity. 

Always Warm Up and Cool Down

Your body’s muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints need to lubricate and loosen up to keep you safe with exercises. Also, your heart and lungs need to warm up to exercise safely. Use dynamic movements like marches, step outs, arm circles, shoulder circles, and head turns to warm up for your exercise.

Save your stationary stretches for the end of your workout in your cool down. Check out my dynamic warm up video here for your next workout:

Be Consistent

It’s so much harder for your body to recover and build up to a workout when you don’t perform the movements very often. Commit to strength training 2-3 times a week with a resistance that is challenging for your body by the end of your reps in each set.

You should perform 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps to build muscle. Exercising this way won’t make you bulky but it will keep you strong for life’s activities. Check out this quick body friendly 10-minute workout:

Avoid Spot Treating

Pick a routine with exercises that work your whole body. As a personal trainer for women over 50, all too often I hear from women who want to focus on one area of their body. They feel their arms are too weak or their core isn’t strong enough.

It can be tempting to only work one area of your body, but you will work your muscles better by working on your whole body. Take a full body approach and add exercises for your whole body like planks, squats, and modified push-ups. 

Strength training after 55 doesn’t have to be daunting! It can be fun, exciting and help you build not only your body, but your confidence!

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn exactly where to start, which exercises to perform, how to perform them correctly so that you don’t get injured and ensure that you DO make progress! 

I’m hosting my next FREE Live Workshop on October 26th: Perfect 10: Body Friendly Exercises to Build Confidence, Strong Bones, and Muscles for Women 55+. To save your spot, register here at https://vitalityfitnwell.com/body-friendly-exercises.

Read 5 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN STARTING STRENGTH TRAINING AFTER 55.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you felt intimidated by strength training? Why? Have you attempted this type of exercise? What did you discover is the right way to do strength training? Have you made progress?

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During times of transition,
feelings of nostalgia are pronounced.

We yearn for what was.

Bonding with colleagues at work.
Evenings at the pub with good friends. Precious, fleeting moments with children
and family. It’s easy to indulge in a whirlpool of remembering when.

This is particularly true when
navigating through the end of a career into our next act. Whether moving into a
traditional or hybrid retirement – it’s a shock to the system. It changes the
contours of our everyday existence, leaving us suddenly vulnerable.

A dive into an idealized past
can be just the thing that provides a healing balm.

Nostalgia: A Double-Edged Sword

In a past article, Robert Yaniz, Jr. said, “Nostalgia inspires more connectivity with others, greater self-esteem and more empathy for those in need.”

But nostalgia exists in two
forms: reflective and restorative. And of the two, only one type – reflective
nostalgia – holds a benefit for us.

According to Hal McDonald, PhD.,
in Psychology Today, reflective nostalgia helps us
“accept the fact that the past is the past.” We can’t change it.

Restorative nostalgia, on the
other hand, is an obsessive indulgence. It takes flight when nostalgic thoughts
stimulate a need to restore our experiences. Recreate the past.

But as the saying goes, you
can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube.

The truth is, if we can’t
disconnect from memories, we prevent ourselves from processing whatever current
feelings of loss we feel since ‘moving on’.

How the Media Unwittingly Supports the Dark Side of Nostalgia

Media output can serve as an
enabler to those with restorative nostalgia. It’s easy to fall victim to
advertisers who manipulate us through the purposeful use of nostalgia.

Think of hot, velvety chocolate
drizzled slowly over a Bing cherry. The tightly woven harmonies of the
Backstreet Boys as they sing to the joys of skinny jeans. Or a team of
regal Clydesdales bowing in humble respect at the sight
of the Statue of Liberty.

Touching moments like these are
calculated to drive us back to the past. To a familiar era.

But what if the reverse occurs?

What if the idea of feasting on
chocolate-covered cherries becomes an opportunity to body-shame one’s self?

What might you feel like when
age and body type make it unlikely you’ll ever wear a pair of skinny jeans
again?

Or, if that elegant bow to Lady
Liberty jars harsh memories of a September 11th morning when liberty itself was
threatened.

Negative self-talk can harm
self-esteem and lead to depression.

What to Do About Nostalgia Depression

Women.com writer Sophie Matthews
shares her personal wisdom about nostalgia-related depression with these coping
mechanisms:

Lean into the Memory

Remember your experiences fully.
Don’t fixate on one negative feeling that can influence the recollection of an
entire experience. At all times, try to remain in the present.

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Talk it out with a loved one who
went through the experience with you. Someone who understands your life on a
deep level. Your view of the incident might not be accurate. Another set of
eyes and ears can provide a needed perspective.

Take the Lesson to Heart

Think of the experience as a
privileged learning in the vein of what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger. Yes, you bruised your proverbial knee. But you’ve gained insight.
It’s time to move on. Own the memory. Don’t let it own you.

Be on a Nostalgia Stakeout

It’s a good idea to confront the negative aspects of restorative nostalgia, head-on.

If a memory is occupying too large of a space in your psyche, you have options:

Fill Your Days

Be planful. Stay busy. Move
toward positive objectives. Current success can improve negative impressions
that we harbor toward ourselves.

Change Your Mindset

If a past issue can be rectified
today, then work toward a resolution. Reclaim the high-ground.

Focus on What’s Good

Don’t obsess on the negative
events of the past. Self-discipline can move you away from what’s causing the
pain.

Seek Balance

Balance is your best friend.
Take care of yourself. Eat well. Rest. Exercise. Try to disconnect from your
problems.

While I believe Socrates was on
the money when he said, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” I believe
that an over-examined life can be just as damaging.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How often do you catch yourself
reminiscing about the past? Do you tend to recall good memories or bad ones?
Why do you think that is? What are you nostalgic about when it comes to your
career/work life? Please share in the comments below.