SPEAKER_01 0:14

Welcome to Practically Fit, Real Fitness Over 40. I'm Alex Johnson. And I'm Jen Chamberlain. And today we're going to talk about lifting weights. And if we have one message for you today, it's that it's never too late to get started with strength training. That's right. We'll talk about how we got started with lifting weights, why strength training is so important as you age, and provide some of our practical tips on getting started with lifting weights, whether you've never done it before or you're just trying to get back into it after a long layoff. So, Jen, let's dive right into this. When did you get started lifting weights?

SPEAKER_04 0:49

It's actually been quite a while back now. I guess around um the 2010s. I don't know what we're calling that decade, but I started uh working with a personal trainer at this gym in Dallas called the Texas Club, um, which I don't think is there anymore, but it was fun while it lasted. And downtown Dallas. Downtown Dallas, Texas Club. And I worked with this personal trainer named Ray Ware, wherever you are. Thank you, Ray, for getting me started. And he, I was really like, I think like many women, I was kind of intimidated by the gym, you know, not knowing there's all this equipment. I didn't know, you know, which weights to use, you know, how to get started. And he really gave me a sustainable program. You know, personal training is expensive. So the most I could do is meet with him once a month, and then he would give me a program I'd do for a month and then come back. So it's really nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, and I think that's an important point to make here. I kind of want to tack on to that. You talked about it can be kind of intimidating to go to a gym. I think for anybody who hasn't done strength training or weights, it's intimidating. Going into that gym, there's so much equipment, it's heavy, you don't know what to do necessarily. So I think, I mean, not just for women, yes, like definitely I agree with what you're saying, but I think for anybody, I remember when I was young first going into the weight room in uh high school, and I was just like super intimidated by the guys who are a little bit older than us already lifting weights and like doing all these heavy squats and stuff. So I think I think that can happen at any age for everyone.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Yeah, it really is intimidating. Everybody seems like they so much more know what they're doing when you're first getting started. So that was a really nice introduction to me. He was very encouraging and he showed me how to use proper form. And so, so that was really helpful. And I found that it helped a lot with my running. I was running at the time, I was doing SLM, but back then I had a newer runner doing a lot of half marathons. And I found that doing some targeted strength training like squats and like doing some um, you know, leg presses and things like that was really helping my running, not just helping me get better, but helping me avoid injury as well. So that was kind of what got me started. And then I got into um later on when I went to start working with you, Alex, we got into doing some kettlebell workouts together. And I thought that was really fun, and you and I would go to the gym. So that was kind of the second phase. Lately, you know, I've whenever I'm training for a race, I usually do uh some running specific strength exercises. But lately I've gotten into more into weightlifting at my boxing gym because they really encouraged it as a way to support that training. They have a program called Metcon, which um these are exercises that combine strength and cardio, and it's supposed to optimize your body's energy output, but typically also involves some you know pretty heavy weightlifting. So that's been a new challenge for me, and I've really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

So is this like the movie Rocky? Are you like running up a mountain in the snow? Well, I guess that was Rocky IV, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 3:44

That was yeah, Rocky IV. No, it all happens in the gym. It's a lot of the things that you and I have talked about, Alex, like pull-ups and push-ups, and then you know, doing some free weights, not any sort of uh weight machines or anything like that. But I'm really enjoying it and it seems to augment the things I like to do, like running and boxing.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, that sounds great. And I presume they really, you know, look at your form in terms of the lifts and everything. It's not like you're just spamming out reps.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

Oh, exactly. That's one of the things I love about this specific class. The trainer is so good at breaking down form and even breaks it into, you know, pieces. So like if you're gonna do a snatch, he does like, here's the way you're I want to see you do like your arm movement for five minutes and then you know, going to the next phase of lifting it up. And so he really watches that we're doing it correctly before giving us you know a certain number of reps to do or whatever. So I really appreciate that because I feel like you can get injured really easily in strength training if you don't know what you're doing and that you don't have somebody to at least get you started and guide you a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, absolutely. That's a really important point. I think sometimes there are programs that kind of promote that heavy lifting and doing a lot of volume, and maybe the form starts to go. So that I just wanted to kind of bring that point out because that's really important in terms of people's safety as they get into strength training.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

Oh, totally. Well, what about you, Alex? How did you get started in strength training?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, and so I think we talked a little bit about this maybe on the first episode of the podcast about our fitness journeys. Uh so I I mean I started a bit in high school um for basketball, but I don't really look at that as the roots of my strength training because um we really we didn't do a lot and it wasn't well structured. And um, you know, honestly, some of the kids were we weren't very strong, so there might have been some budging going on because we had to write down how much we were lifting and then they would test us. So uh yeah, I don't I kind of like push that all aside. I I felt like I kind of had a bad experience with that um at that age. Now, fast forward to college, first day of college, and again, we talked about this on on the podcast, but I'll tell a little a little bit more of the story here. Uh, I met a guy named Justin Landry, who's one of my best friends to this day. Uh Justin lives in Chicago. We text almost every day. And uh he was a power lifter in high school here in Texas, and so he lifted very heavy. Um, and so he's really the one who gave me the confidence around strength training. And when I think about like, you know, we think about fitness friends and people who have been influential for me. Uh, he was so important because he's the one who got me into the gym and like was really positive because I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't very strong, you know, I'm I'm a skinny guy to begin with. And um, he got me in there and like I saw my first gains in the gym, and he was just so positive about it with me and wasn't judgmental or laughing at me for being, you know, weak at the time. So um, you know, hopefully he's listening to this. And uh yeah, that was that was really meaningful to me, and that's where really where I got started. Now we were doing kind of typical 1990s bodybuild-style workouts, bodybuilding style workouts where you do different muscle groups on different days. Um, later on, I got into heavier weights and really like workouts focused on compound weightlifting with barbells. There was a program called Starting Strength that was really good where you do squats and deadlifts and bench press and um press, which is overhead pressing with barbells, um, power cleans, things like that. I really did, really enjoyed that. It was a really good outlet for me, really good stress relief. But I did get to the point where I was overdoing it. I was experimenting with things like squatting every day. I think I mentioned this before. Uh, but you know, kind of moved on from that after some injury issues into bodyweight fitness. So uh lately, though, I'm I've been kind of doing a combination of everything, like lots of dumbbells, body weight training, even been working in like band-based training, like Tom Brady. It's good stuff. As you get older, you know, there's a reason Tom Brady's training with resistance bands all the time at his age. Uh, and I typically do um about two strength workouts a week, uh, which I think is a really good middle ground for people over 40, especially if you're like me. I really love my cardio and you know the cycling and the trail running and things like that. So you only have so much time when you're busy with work and trying to work in fitness. So for me, two times a week has been great. Um, I typically do like a full body workout one day. And I do so much cycling that I tend to do the second workout as just upper body. But that's that's where I am right now with strength training. And I really like that cadence for where I am in my fitness journey right now.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

It's interesting that you say that about combining the different exercises because the classes at my gym, that's typically what they do. So it's some body weight, it's some um, you know, actual free weight lifting, and then some they use some bands sometimes. And I I feel like that approach really gets you know good full body fitness.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, and it makes it more interesting too, because you can only do the same exercises so many times, right? So it's it's fun to work in different movements or you know, do a mixture of both and experiment and combine these things into different workouts. Um, so like funny thing, I love bicep curls, right? But that's not gonna be that's not gonna be like the first thing I focus on in a strength workout. That's what I do at the end as like a finisher because it's really like yes, biceps look cool and it's good to have strong arms, but they're it's kind of a vanity exercise, right? But that's a great example of how you can combine. Like yesterday I did 35-pound curls, and then I did like 30-pound curls, and then I got like a 12-pound resistance band, and then just did as many reps as I could at the end because you can kind of mix in the resistance, and um it's good to do heavy and light training. So, yeah, it's really fun to mix in the different uh equipment uh as you learn more about strength training.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

It deals with another issue of mine with weightlifting too, which is I actually find it incredibly boring. And like you said, Alex, if you're just doing the same weights over and over again, it can be so boring. But yeah, mixing it up helps a lot.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah, so that's that's our experience with lifting weights and where we are right now in our journey. Uh, we're both active with strength training. But if you haven't been doing strength training lately or you've never tried it, why should you?

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Ah, very good question. Well, according to some research we found from the National Institute on Aging, this is the bad news, Alex. Muscle mass and strength typically increase all the way up to ages 30, 35, but that's when you peak.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

And after that So you mean you mean we peaked in life?

SPEAKER_04 10:35

That's uh yeah, we both have. We've yeah, over the hill comes a little bit faster when it comes to muscle mass and strength. So uh that's when you peak, and after that, muscle strength and performance slowly start to drop. It's a slow process until you reach age 65 for women and 70 for men, and then your performance starts to decline even more rapidly. Oh boy. Yeah, fun stuff. According to research they've conducted, though, this is the the good news, the best way to slow the clock on that decline in strength and avoid disability as you age is a combination of walking and resistance training. They've also done research that shows that resistance training is the most important component in reducing frailty. And this study was particularly with obese older adults, but I think you know, that goes for all adults, I would say, you know, reducing frailty. And why is frailty such an issue?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Right, right. It's because we're thinking long term here, right? So you hear us quoting these stories, excuse me, studies that are, you know, citing things with adults over 65 and age 70. At this age, we've got to start thinking long term about issues like that in terms of our fitness. Um, so yeah, I'm not looking forward to frailty, like I'm not sitting here saying, oh boy, I can't wait to be frail. Uh, but the idea of reducing or delaying frailty really appeals to me. Uh I think it's important as we age. So we found another study, delaying and reversing frailty, a systematic review of primary care interventions. That was a large-scale analysis of 925 scientific studies. So they went out and found every study that they could find on, you know, in intervening and slowing frailty. That is impressive. Yeah, analyzed these databases and studies to find what would be most successful in terms of delaying frailty. So what they found was quote, a combination of muscle strength training and protein supplementation was the most effective intervention to delay or reverse frailty and the easiest to implement in primary care.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

I want to add um one point that's related to frailty, but it's particularly important for women, and that's bone health. Kind of like what we were talking about with muscle strength, women start losing bone density in their mid-20s, that's which is even earlier. And this accelerates, this bone density loss accelerates during menopause because our estrogen levels drop. So, according to an article I found from John Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University, it says, quote, in the decades after H50, weakened bones lead to breaks for one in two women and one in five men. Which is, I mean, that's a pretty staggering statistic, right? But numerous studies have shown that weightlifting, and in fact, all forms of strength training can slow the loss of bone density. And some studies have found it can even build back bone. So there is yeah, a lot of benefit there, particularly for women. But the benefits don't stop at delaying frailty and bone loss. According to a 2018 study titled Motivational Characteristics and Resistance Training in Older Adults, a randomized controlled trial and one year follow-up. It showed that strength training can increase both confidence and motivation to keep working out as we age, which is really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah, and this this made so much sense to me. Um when you think about confidence, right? Um the stronger you are, the more confident you're going to be. I mean, as you age. So yesterday I had to, you know, I'll just throw in a personal story here. We had some work done on the house recently, and the they left behind a bunch of uh boxes of flooring, which you wouldn't think like, oh, boxes of flooring would be that heavy, but they actually it actually seemed pretty heavy. And the problem was I needed to move it out of our house so it wasn't taking up space, and I had to put it in the attic. So I did I did my upper body workout yesterday and then decided, well, it'd be a good time to move that flooring. And so I did that by myself, and you know, I was carrying these kind of awkwardly long heavy boxes up into the attic with nobody helping me. Uh, although my wife did show up at the very end and helped, which was great. But point being, like, I'm confident enough in myself, even though it's like kind of an awkward, you know, box shape and weight and trying to carry it up a ladder. I'm confident about that. I know I can do it. And and that's really because I strength train. It it's almost that effect of like when somebody has a jar that they can't open and you're like, yeah, hand it to me. Like you feel good about that. You feel motivated. Like that, just something that simple, being able to open that jar will motivate you to keep strength training.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

That's so true. Yeah, and I think kind of on the reverse side of that, you know, my mom was pretty frail when she was older. Uh, you know, unfortunately she had cancer, and you know, right. But aside from that, I mean that I think a lot of older adults struggle with frailty just due to the effects of aging. And I know for my mom, it really limited what she could do. You know, she um was afraid to go out for a walk if it was icy outside because she was afraid she might slip and fall. And, you know, it really limited her experience of life as she got older. So I think that's another part of this confidence building. If you feel capable and have, you know, more strength to do things, then you're going to be confident to to explore more of life, you know, to go and do social events. Like it could really affect every aspect of your life, I would think. So we've established why it's important to consider some form of strength training as we age. And we're big fans of weightlifting, we've already said. So, Alex, what tips do you have for people who haven't tried lifting weights or if they want to get back into it after a long layoff?

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Yeah, so first thing I would start with is determining where you'll lift weights. It sounds pretty simple, right? But there's a lot of considerations there. Uh, will you build your own gym at home? And that can be very simple. Uh, we have a post about it on Practically Fit if you're interested. Or will you join a gym? Um, so there's pros and cons here. I I'm a big proponent of home gyms, but I'm gonna be really neutral on this in this episode of the podcast, because I think there's some big pros if you're just starting out with lifting weights. Uh the first one is that you can get supervised help from a personal trainer. Um, they have a variety of equipment at the gym as well that you won't have access to at a home gym. So I think from that perspective, it's a good idea if you've never done it before. Um now that said, I did write a newsletter post with 18 reasons why you should skip the gym membership in the new year. Uh and uh I think the main thing is that it can feel imposing at certain gyms for someone who is just starting out. Now there are gyms, like I know Planet Fitness, right? They kind of try to build their brand about being a place for everybody or for people who um aren't you know used to going to the gym and they they take that to the extreme because they have an alarm that goes off. If people do kind of like what you might term meathead behavior of like grunting really loudly or slamming weights, very funny videos on YouTube about that. Um so if if you're if you decide to go that route, I think finding a gym that's inclusive and welcoming is really important. Now, if it's something where you've had a layoff and you know how to do a lot of these movements, I think the home gym option is awesome. Another positive about that, like you don't have to wait for people to get off some piece of equipment or use some specific weight that you're wanting to use, which can be super annoying at the gym. So annoying, yes. Yeah, if you want to do things like circuits or supersets, it's really hard in a commercial gym. I mean, the other thing that's been in the news the past couple of weeks um is this um idea around gym creepers. Um yeah, there's been there's been a trend about people outing gin gym creepers on the screen. There's a big piece on it in The Guardian. Oh my god, there's a woman who does it, but then there's some people who have done this perhaps, and the people weren't actually creepers, so it's a whole thing going on around that. But the bottom line is there's some weird people at the gym. And as an introvert, like I really don't want to talk to those people. So um, yeah, that I think there's a benefit on to the home gym on that side as well. Also, um, if you can afford it, um, and depending on where you live, you can probably find a personal trainer that will come to you these days because services for this as well. So that's the first thing, just determining where you're going to go to lift weights, whether it's at home or at a at a gym. Uh, perhaps if if your work is um has that sort of benefit, you might be able to access it there or in your community where you live. Um next tip would be start light. Seems you know simple enough, but I think it's especially relevant as we're aging. I mean, I had to start light when I was 19 years old. So now over 40, you definitely need to establish a base of strength, regardless of if you've done this before in the past or if you're just starting out. Because even if you if you haven't done it for a long time, you will have lost your gains. Um so I suggest a light pair of dumbbells to start out, um, whatever that looks like for your fitness level. Um, you can even start with resistance bands, body weight training, which you can do in an assistant manner, like instead of doing a bench press, you could do push-ups on your knees, right? But you can build strength quickly and graduate to heavier weights over time.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

You can even use objects around the house. I did this during the pandemic, actually, because do you remember, Alex? Um, in the early days of the pandemic, there was a shortage of fitness equipment.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

I wanted and I wanted a pair of dumbbells. I could not find anything except like just some really ultra-light ones that for me were way too light. So I ended up using like um gallon water jugs to do some of my exercises. And then, of course, body weight, you know, you don't need any at all. So um, so yeah, you can get creative too if you, you know, can't find the weight you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Is it heavier if you put water or sand in there? I know some people didn't. Sand in mine. That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

Yeah, I filled mine with sand, it was really super heavy, but I had to like tape it up really good so it didn't spill all over the floor.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yeah, or else your living room looks like a beach.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

It was really nice for doing like Russian twists, you know, because you can just hold the thing. So anyway, yeah, you can get creative with it too. Just wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Any heavy thing. I mean, if you want to do what they call farmers' walks, you can just get two heavy objects and walk over with them. Yeah, so there's lots of lots of creative ways to start. Um, my third tip would be to do compound lifts, which are achievable with dumbbells. You don't have to use barbells to do compound lifts, which I think some people presume you do. So, you know, exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, you can do all of those with dumbbells. So when you think about a bench press, um, I really like the dumbbells, um, especially as we age, compared to the barbells, because barbells are good, but it does limit your range of motion a bit. You have a bit more freedom with the dumbbells, uh, even more limited. Range of motion would be like a weight machine at the gym. Like, I don't generally recommend that people do weight machines. I don't like them. I think they really limit your range of motion. Again, I think this is important as we age and we're trying to keep our joints and tip muscle tissues healthy. But yeah, doing compound lifts, exercises that work multiple muscle groups, much more efficient than exercises that focus on one muscle group. And the good thing is a lot of the workout programs you'll find, or most of them now focus on this. Um, this has been a shift in terms of you know strength programming over the past 10 10 to 15 years. When I started in the 90s, again, and that was really early 2000s, um, because it was 1999, uh, you know, it was this bodybuilding type workouts, which again, I contend those are really great if you're shooting yourself up with steroids every day. I don't know how often you even have to shoot up with steroids, but you know, if you're just gonna, I'm gonna do biceps today, like you could see how that would be more effective when you're on drugs. Uh but yeah, the good thing is most of the strength workouts now that you'll find on the internet or at gyms or from personal trainers have moved towards these compound movements. And they'll even with dumbbells, you can even combine movements. So lots of good stuff you can find on the internet around compound lifts and around weight programming in general. And again, I love bicep curls, you know, that's one weight, but you'll notice I mentioned I do this at the end of the workout. I don't like like today. I'm gonna start with bicep curls. No, save that. Save that as like a vanity workout or a vanity exercise at the end of your workout, not the main course. Next tip would be train consistently. Seems obvious, but um I think it's important to mention you don't want to leave strength training to a few times a month. At that point, it's not effective. I think another downside of that is if you're doing it that infrequently, you can end up getting a lot of muscle soreness because you, you know, the more you do it, the more your muscles adapt to it. So again, I think there's no reason to go more than one to two times a week if you're doing other things, you know, whether it's walking, running, cycling, rowing, whatever your chosen um form of exercise. I think one to two times a week is great as you get over 40. Find a routine that you like, you know. Like I said, there's tons of them out there, YouTube, any fitness website, and try it for a few months. See what the results are over time. You have to do that consistent training. Now, a caveat to that, if you do a workout for several months and you stick to that consistent training and stick within that template, you might start to see diminishing gains. And so this is a common term in strength training. It's you know, a plateauing, which can happen in any term, any type of physical activity. So if you start to see a plateauing, then you want to switch it up, try a different workout plan, different types of movements, maybe heavier, lighter, whatever. There's so many different things you can do in terms of strength training. And as you get experience with lifting weights and get stronger, it opens up even more options for the different types of exercises you can do. So those are my five tips uh for people who are either getting back into this after a long layoff or who are just starting out. Figure out where you're gonna lift, start light, do compound lifts, train consistently, switch up your workouts if you start to plateau.

SPEAKER_04 25:27

Those are some great tips, Alex. Um, I I want to just like highlight one of them, which is consistency. I think that's what helped me so much when I first got into this and was working with that trainer was it was very consistent twice a week, and then we would reassess every month, and he changed the exercises for me so I wasn't hitting that plateau. But I think once you kind of get that consistency, you start seeing results, then it becomes motivating and you want to continue. The other thing I wanted to say, there's a common myth that I know some of us have heard as women that you'll get bulky if you weightlift. I don't know, I don't think this is an issue as much with men, but the way we're socialized, you know, the I remember my mom saying, you know, you don't want to lift heavy weights because you'll get bulked up. And, you know, there's been some research. I actually wrote a blog post that touched on this, that that really isn't the case unless you're lifting really heavy weights as a woman. You're probably not gonna get too bulky, and it can be great for your overall health, builds your bone density, uh, helps your muscle tone. So there's just a lot of benefits. So don't listen to that myth is one more thing I'd say.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, I think it's just an outdated gendered thing. And you know, you see so much around body positivity today and and strength for women. So I think that, like you say, is going away, but a really important point to make.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

Yeah. What's wrong with looking strong? Nothing wrong with looking at nothing at all.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

You you said you'd love to look like Serena Williams.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

I totally, oh, I totally would. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Well, there you have it. Our our podcast on lifting weights, on strength training. Jen, any other big takeaways from from the show today?

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Like we said at the top, it's never too late to get started with strength training, and the benefits are numerous, especially as we get older.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Yeah, absolutely. So if you're not doing it, you know, we encourage you to get out there and try it. And if it's a if it's a matter of being kind of scared or intimidated, which is totally normal thing to feel when you start this for the first time, again, find somebody who can help you, personal trainer, or maybe you have a friend who's really into it. Don't be shy to ask them because they'll be glad to help you out as well. Absolutely. All right. So, Jen, what's up next week for the podcast?

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Uh we're actually gonna take a little bit of a break. We're gonna take some active rest and take a break from the podcast for a couple of weeks, and then we'll come back with new content and new ideas and maybe some special guests.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Right, absolutely. So if you haven't caught up on all the episodes, we're gonna give you a chance to do so. As always, if you have anything you'd like to share with us, head on over to our substackpractically. Until next time, which is two weeks away.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

Remember that fitness is for everybody.