Losing Belly Fat Mission, LLC

No matter what your age, you can hurt yourself when you’re training with weights. You might have been too aggressive moving up weights, failed to allow enough recovery time, or used improper form. Injury is usually a setback, but only a temporary one. It does seem to take a while longer to recover than even a few years ago. But I have a long-term goal – living independently until it’s time to leave this earth. That means the physical me needs to be flexible with a sense of balance, good posture, muscle strength, and aerobic capacity. There will be no shuffling down the smelly hallways of a pathetic nursing home.

Weight Lifting for Women Over 50 My long-term goal is the major reason I decided to resume weight lifting after 50. I started with the workouts in The New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROL4W). Then I switched to The New Rules of Lifting for Life (NROL4L). Both books are by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. Injuries There were a few minor injuries when I was using NROL4W, especially in the beginning. I do not have an ACL in my left knee, so I needed to back off some of the leg exercises, especially the step ups. That correction allowed me to finish the entire set of workouts in NROL4W. Then I started NROL4L. Although the workouts can be tough, I managed to get through the first beginner phase.

I took a week off and started the second stage. Halfway through my back started hurting between workouts. That is a good indication that I was not using the proper form. The exercises causing the problem – Romanian dead lifts and 2-point rows. For some unknown reason I continued to increase weights on the Romanian deadlift. In this exercise any deviation from good form can cause an injury. On the last rep of a 3-set, 10 rep dead lift, I felt that back twinge that prevents you from straightening up. Out of Commission for Two Weeks The “twinge” turned into a massive lower backache for about 5 days. With rest and time in the hot tub, the backache morphed into stiffness. I decided to test the workout routine. After the first two warm up exercises, I knew I was not going to continue. The risk was another week of pain. That’s enough to make you stop. I jumped onto a stationary bike to do some interval training instead of the usual workout.

Finally, after 2 weeks, I finished an abbreviated (2 sets of weight exercises versus 3 sets) but complete workout – warm ups, core exercises, step ups with weights, push ups front squat, lat pulldown, metabolic exercise (interval), and cool down. Lessons Learned Using the proper form is key, I actually got one of the Custom Weight Belts in order to have good form when doing squats. If you go to a club, get a personal trainer to check your exercise form. Lifting heavier weights can cause you to compromise form. If you are on your own, visit for experts using good form. Allow sufficient time for recovery between workouts. I need two full days of recovery. Pay attention to the warning signs. Pain during lifting is a sure sign you injured yourself. Ignore the trainers who say you should “work through the pain.” That’s a dumb idea. Allow yourself time to heal when you injure yourself. When you and your doctor think you’re ready, try a simple set of warm up exercises. If you feel pain during the warm ups, stop and try again in a few days

There are several women’s weight training exercises I like to include in this training program. Some of these are the Push Press, One Arm Rowing with Back Step, and Walking Lunges. One of the reasons I like to prescribe these exercises for Women’s Weight Training is because they are energy costly. Or in other words they are very demanding and expend calories during and afterwords, the calories does not stop burning when your workout ends, but many hours later; that is the beauty of exercise it keeps on giving long after the workout ends. Another this is each exercise targets more than one muscle; so it is time-efficient more than other exercises that target only isolated muscles. Compound exercises or exercises that works many muscles are considered super exercises or the power house of exercises, exercises such as deadlift, squats, clean and jerk, among a few others; these exercises are at the top of the hierarchy of exercises.

 

Regardless, I will provide you with the instructions of the three exercises, and you can perform one of the three and supplement it with other less demanding exercises if you are just starting to exercise with weight training. These are exercises that work primarily a muscle or two. The Three Women’s Weight Training Exercises are The Push Press (dumbbells or Barbell) – Hold the dumbbells next to your collar bone, and stand with your feet parallel to each other and a little wider than the hip-width stance – Begin the exercise squatting partially (a quarter of a squat), and then forcefully stand straight while you press up with the dumbbells. One arm rowing with back step (using cable machine or tube resistance) – Stand at 12 o’clock facing the anchor of the resistance tube – With the right hand hold the tube (the tube should not be too loose nor too tight to pull) stand with the feet parallel to each other. – Squat about knee-level or higher – With the right hand perform the rowing motion, and at the same time take a step back and turn to 3 o’clock with the right leg – Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions then switch to the left hand. Walking lunges (hands free or prisoner pose which is more demanding for balance) – Stand with both feet parallel to each other and with a hip-width stance – Take a fairly long step with the left leg and squat slowly until the right knee is behind you and almost touches the ground – Repeat the same for the left leg And make sure you perform the same number of repetitions equally for each