Growing up in the primetime diet era, would you say there’s a more memorable solution for your health than this phrase…

“Move more, eat less”?

I mean, it makes health about as simple as it can be.

And don’t you want that when health now is evermore confusing?

Eating fat was bad, now it’s good. Low sugar was good, now it’s bad.

But the problem with “move more, eat less” is that - after turning 40 - health is no longer simple. While exercising more to help you lose weight and feel more toned might’ve worked in your 20s and 30s, it doesn’t cut it anymore.

And that’s hard.

Because you have enough to worry about in your life. Your job, family, and friends. Maybe kids, a spouse, and taking care of your parents. Add in everything going on in the world and you have the perfect recipe for a big ball of stress.

And now you’re asked to spend MORE time figuring out what works for your health because what used to work doesn’t…

You couldn’t possibly find the time or energy for this. I don’t blame you, I’d do the same thing.

But while “move more, eat less” was popular then, there’s a new fad that’s popular now…

Remember when Paleo and Keto were the most popular diets? There were at least 3 people you knew whose whole identity became the diet.

Now it’s happening with exercise.

Yoga, pilates, and pickleball are more popular than ever.

Before I share why I don’t like the list above, I want to share why I do like it.

I’m a movement optimist. Meaning, if you find a thing you love that keeps you moving and active - keep doing it!

But the problem comes in when yoga, pilates, and pickleball replace the most necessary part of your exercise routine.

And that part is strength training.

I get that they might seem similar, all forms of exercise, but there’s one distinct difference and here’s why.

Yoga, pilates, and pickleball will get your joints moving, raise your heart rate, make you sweat, burn calories, put you in with a tight knit community, and they can be fun!

These are SUPER positive things and why I think you should keep doing them if you already are.

If you look back of the list of benefits, there’s one crucial thing missing.

And to find it, it would help to look at the biggest health challenges and problems for women over 40.

Osteoporosis and muscle loss (sarcopenia) often go together and create the biggest challenges for women over 40.

What these forms of activity above don’t solve is for building muscle and strength. More muscle and more strength will reduce your risk of osteoporosis and sarcopenia more than anything.

Even with this, strength training and these activities might still seem similar…so there’s one thing that differentiates the two.

Progression.

To help, think of your muscles like your morning coffee habit.

Remember the feeling when you drank your first cup of coffee? That energized feeling is what hooked you and kept you coming back.

But after you drink the same amount every day, you need more to get the same feeling.

Your body gets used to it — it adapts.

To feel anything, you either need more coffee…or stronger coffee.

Strength training is like drinking coffee and that’s what makes it so great…the possibilities for adding weight (more coffee) or challenge (stronger coffee) is endless.

But doing the same light movements (yoga, Pilates) over and over is like drinking the same coffee and expecting it to give you different results after your body adapts.

Instead, your body stops responding.

Have I sold you on the importance of strength training yet? 😆

Now not all types and amount of strength training is created equal.

So let’s go over what’s best for you (and other women 40+)

To help get you setup on the right path, let’s look at the most important parts:

HOW MUCH

Strength training 2-4 times per week is ideal. This is based on your schedule, other activities, and what you realistically can fit in. Anything more than 4 days and your body doesn’t have a chance to recover…leading to a higher risk of injuries.

HOW LONG

Somewhere between 15 minutes and 45 minutes. If you’re working out 2 times per week, closer to 45 minutes is great. And if you’re working out 4 times per week, closer to 15-20 minutes is great.

BEST EXERCISES

Full-body workouts using your arms, legs, and core are best using variations of exercises such as:

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?

The beauty of strength training is that you can start with just your bodyweight at home…and go a long time until you need anything else. If you have bands or some weights, that’s even better for helping you make progress even faster.

WILL I GET BULKY?

Ahh, the million dollar question of will strength training make women bulky.

My silly answer: I wish because I’ve been trying to get bulky for 15+ years lol

The real answer: No it won’t cause you to get bulky.

To help share why - imagine a loaf of Wonder bread.

The loaf as is would be equivalent to 1lb of fat. Now if you took that loaf, and squeezed it in your hands, making it as small as possible, that’s 1lb of muscle.

Both are the same loaf of bread but muscle is more dense that fat. Ultimately meaning that you’ll shrink when you build muscle, not get bulkier.

THE MOST IMPORTANT CAVEAT

With strength training, what matters most is finding exercises that don’t cause pain. While squats are a great way to tone and strengthen your legs, if they cause knee pain, don’t do them. And there will be 100s of other exercises you can do to build them.

If you’re active with walking, running, yoga, pilates, and/or pickleball but not seeing the results you’d like, there’s a good chance it’s because you’re not strength training.

Start small, with a few days per week and start to add some days and weights as you get stronger.

You got this!

Your friend and coach,

Ben Miknis

P.S. If you’d like more specific help with strength training, here are 2 ways I can help:

1) I coach a small group Zoom class where I help 4-6 women in a small group feel:

1a) feel stronger without hurting their joints
1b) confident knowing they’re doing it right.

I have a 2 spots open this week so reply back with “zoom” if you’d like to try out a class on me.

2) If you’d like some guidance but on your own schedule, I share Follow-Along Friday workouts every Friday inside the Revitalized Inner Circle Facebook group. This way you never have to wonder what to do for your workout by simply pressing ‘play’.