1-on-1 Strength Training for Women over 40
Lifting Women Over 40 is a one-on-one strength training space for women only in Garsfontein, Pretoria East. We’re also open for online sessions and small group training. At Lifting Women Over 40, the focus is mostly on progressive overload strength training for compound movements such as bench press, rows, deadlifts, lunges, squats, and shoulder press to help my clients get leaner, stronger and healthier.
Why Women Over 40?
The journey of life
As women, we go through various life and body changing stages such as puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause and post menopause.
For the most part of our lives we are encouraged to do lots of cardio, or some form of aerobic classes to stay in shape and for years, this seems to work.
Fluctuating hormones
However, most women realise by the time they are in their late 30s that they are suddenly carrying extra weight and especially belly fat that doesn’t budge no matter how much extra cardio they do.
What most don’t understand is that our hormones start to fluctuate after the age of 30 and by the time we are in our early 40s, we are in the phase of life called perimenopause.
Perimenopause
This stage affects women biologically and psychologically. During this period, women may experience some of the following symptoms:
Low energy
Irregular periods
Hot flashes
Brain fog
Low libido
Vaginal dryness
Intense mood swings
Anxiety
Insomnia
Night sweats
Weight gain
Loss of bone density
Stiff joints
Muscle loss
Weight Lifting for Women Over 40
While all these symptoms make it sound like life after 30 is unbearable, strength training alleviates most of the symptoms listed above.
Lifting weights protects your bones against osteoporosis
The hormone oestrogen protects bone density. But as we age, oestregen sharply drops and this increases the risk of osteoporosis. Lifting weights and focusing on progressive overload for exercises such as lat pulldowns, dead hangs, squats and deadlifts will help strengthen your bones and save you from osteoporosis as you grow older.
Weight lifting burns fat more than cardio
The difference between weight lifting and cardio workouts is that you burn lots of calories while doing cardio, but once you are done with your exercise, the calorie burn stops.
On the other hand, once your weight lifting session is over, you will continue to burn calories for up to 24 hours. This is known as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) or the afterburn effect. All this to say that the more muscle you have, the more fat you are going to burn.
Lifting weights slows down muscle loss (sarcopenia)
As oestrogen falls from the age of 30, it becomes harder for women to build muscle mass and strength. Lifting weights regularly will down muscle loss. During weight lifting muscle fibres get torn and after the workout, the body is forced to repair and rebuild the torn muscle fibres.