It is a beautiful Saturday in Alabama – the sun is shining, the temperature is mild and we still have some picturesque foilage remaining. I just finished walking my German shepherd Beau and we passed several runners during our brief walk. I am now in the throes of runner’s envy! I want so badly to get out and get my endorphin fix. But today is gym day for weight training and the treadmill. Last night I ran 5 miles and it felt great! I am ready to get feeling again.
So why can’t I just run 5 miles and skip the gym? At least I will be exercising and any kind of exercise is better than sitting on the couch, watching TV with a box of Ding Dongs. Exercise is exercise, right? Not so fast.
Cardiovascular exercise (running, walking, aerobic dance) is very important for lowering blood pressure and cholestrol and for burning fat. It is a vital part of any wellness program. But we need a balanced exercise program, particularly after age 40. Women especially need that balance, which includes resistance training. According to emedicine health, resistance training is “any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the expectation of increases in strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance.” When we think of resistance training, we think of weight-lifting. Women associate this image with sweaty, grunting men at the gym and tend to shy away from resistance training. The good news is that the external resistance can include exercise bands or even one’s own body weight. Pilates and some forms of yoga are great options for resistance training - the more advanced, the better.
The health benefits associated with resistance training are compelling. As we age, we lose bone mass and also muscle mass and tone. We need to regain some of that loss, or better yet prevent it to avoid serious health issues as we continue to age. Resistance training can give us stronger muscles, which helps prevent falls in our elderly years. More importantly, it helps build bone mass to prevent or even reverse osteoporosis.
The topic of osteoporosis elicits a great deal of passion in me because my mother suffered from it and took medication for it for several years. The problem is that many of the medications used to treat osteoporosis can cause esophageal damage, which can lead to esophageal cancer. My beautful, sweet mother suffered terribly from esophageal cancer for 13 months before she finally succumbed to this insidious disease in 2008. I suspected a link between her osteoporosis medication and her esophageal cancer because she had no other risk factors. She did not smoke or drink alcohol.
I contacted the FDA and found that they have studied the link between osteoporosis and esophageal cancer. Although they cannot conclusively declare a link between the two, they have found reason for further investigation. You can learn more by viewing the peer-reviewed article at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/360/1/89.
Another common treatment for osteoporosis is estrogen, which has been shown to increase breast cancer risk. It seems like it would be much easier to maintain an exercise program that includes resistance training to prevent osteoporosis than to take medication associated with increased cancer risks. And I can tell you that it helps. Not only did Mom suffer from osteoporosis, but Dad has it, too. The genetic odds are against me. But last year, I had the dexascan bone density test and found that my bone density is excellent. I can only attribute this to a long history of resistance training.
Okay, let’s put health issues aside and look at vanity. Have you ever seen someone on the other side of age 40 who lost a lot of weight without toning? They were probably left with sagging skin, including the under-arm dingle-dangle. We need to tone as we lose weight, and this need increases as we age, due to our loss in muscle strength and tone. As I get older, I see that more effort is required for toning to minimize the effects of gravity and weight shifting. It all wants to go to the middle! I also see an improvement in metabolism with an exercise program that includes an optimal balance of cardiovascular activity and resistance training.
I don’t know if I have convinced you to include resistance training in your workout regimen, or to start a workout regimen, but I am headed to the gym…after a short run:)
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