Everyone Should Strength Train
That’s right, even the youngins! Fortunately like most things in life, strength/resistance training has no age limit. I’m not sure when society decided that only thin people between the ages of 20-40 should lift, but…(eye roll). Anyway, let’s tackle the biggest myths out there when it comes to this type of exercise.
Myth #1 - Young and old people are likely to hurt themselves if they strength train. The reality is that getting hurt while doing any form of exercise is a possibility but it doesn’t have anything to do with age. There are two main reasons people get hurt while exercising - 1. they don’t know how to perform the exercise they are doing and 2. they overestimated their ability. Anyone who wants to get familiar with lifting or resistance training should do so with some sort of supervision, be that a personal trainer or a gym attendant, until they are ready to do so on their own. Supervision is key when it comes to children who want to strength train and as long as they are capable of correct technique with an exercise, it is safe for them to do so.
Myth #2 - Lifting weights will stunt children’s growth/old people’s bones are too frail. Not only will lifting not stunt a child’s growth it actually contributes to stronger bones, better coordination, and teaches them a skill that needs to be lifelong. The same is true for our elderly folks. As a matter of fact, many elderly people experience falls and bone breaks because they have lost coordination/stability and bone density due to a lack of strength/resistance training over the years. Women near the onset of menopause are especially vulnerable as bone loss increases from the average 0.5-1.0 to a rate of 2 to 6.5% bone loss per year. Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and other serious chronic diseases can be avoided with regular strength/resistance training.
Myth #3 - You’ll lose more weight if you do cardio than if you strength train. As a body neutral, weight inclusive trainer, I’m not going to get into weight loss. The fact is that any form of exercise is better than none regardless of how much your body weighs and strength training is necessary for everyone to keep their bones, muscles and joints moving well. If you’re holding fat biases, I encourage you to explore why you’re holding that bias and seek new and up to date information. If you’re fat and wanting to lose weight, I encourage you to explore why you want to lose weight and if your health is actually compromised due to your fat. We can be healthy or unhealthy at any size, fat or skinny. Oftentimes, the desire to lose weight contributes to unhealthy eating and exercise habits/disorders and body image issues.
Myth #4 - You’ll bulk up like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Women, especially teenage girls and young women are afraid that they will suddenly turn into the Terminator. While your body is likely to change in some ways, you’ll only look like a body builder if you’re training like a body builder (hours everyday in the gym, very restricted diets of more calories than you can imagine, and for some, steroid use). If you’re in the gym a few times a week for 30 minutes to two hours, you’re going to increase muscle mass, bone density and cardiovascular fitness, but you are not going to look like Arnie. But, hold up, what’s wrong with a woman looking muscular anyway? When you hold this concern for yourself or other women you are perpetuating the stereotype that women should look a certain way. Here’s your reminder that women can look like anything just like men look like anything. Your appearance isn’t what determines your gender or biological sex.
I’d like to end by saying that even I, a fitness professional, have believed some of these myths in my past life. It’s ok for you to think one thing and then learn something that challenges what you thought. I can tell you that as a young, female athlete who was in the weight room 4 times a week, I was afraid of looking “manly” and I felt bad for other women who looked “too muscly”. Well, I never reached that scary bulky appearance I was worried about in college and what’s kind of ironic is now I really like to see my muscles getting bigger! But more than that, I truly believe that your appearance is the least interesting thing about you and that strength/resistance training is a necessary skill that we can learn at any age. It is never too early or too late to get started!
