I could write a book on all my adventures with personal trainers. I had a weight trainer that wanted me to look like a football player, (probably because he was an ex-football star with UCLA), one that wanted to blow off the work out and smoke pot, one that usually showed up still drunk or with a vicious hangover from partying all night, and wanted me to join her. The list could go on.
I switched from weight training to running. I had a fantastic trainer, who rid me of my fear of running. He was awesome. He had me run for 1 minute, then 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and before long, I was running three miles each work out and lost 30 pounds!
The trouble came when, because I was so confident, I started to train for a marathon. My big mistake was not combining weight training with my running to strengthen my body. From all the marathon training, I herniated a couple of discs in my back. My running came to a screeching halt. And I never did do that frickin’ marathon.
After months of no exercise, going to several physical therapists (who did nothing for me) and gaining 25 pounds, I am again returning to weight training to begin to re-strengthen my body.
I consulted with a no-nonsense Santa Monica trainer with more than 25 years of experience (he was a champion bodybuilder in his younger years) to give me and my readers recommendations for the top weight-bearing exercises for women over 50.
He told me that weight-bearing exercises are extremely important for women to combat the muscle loss that naturally occurs because of aging. Did you know that by the time a woman turns 50, she’s lost about 20 pounds of muscle? With weight bearing exercises, you can rebuild the muscle loss.
The top 3 exercises that my trainer recommends that all women over 50 do weekly are the
following:
1Seated Leg Press – works the glutes and thighs. Comparable exercises are lunges and squats.
2Seated Pull-Downs – works back and biceps. You could also use a seated rowing machine to get the same effect.
3Chest press – works chest, shoulders and triceps. The bench press or push-ups are comparable exercises.
My trainer recommends that weight-bearing exercises should be limited to two times a week at the most. For each exercise, he suggests doing 3 sets of each, 10-15 repetitions per set.
“To get the most out of a weight bearing exercise, you should try to push yourself until you can’t do the exercise any longer, exhausting the muscle completely. Working the muscles to failure is the key factor to rebuilding and toning up your muscles,” he stated.
He also told me it takes 48 hours for muscles to recuperate from this kind of workout. During those 48 hours, he said to eat more lean protein to help the muscle rebuild and get stronger, and to get plenty of sleep.
Ok ladies! Only two days a week for a few months and we will have flab-less arms, firmer boobs, lean legs and a smaller hiney! Let’s do this!
