I thought it important for me to write about why you should increase your weights because I think most women over fifty don’t use enough. Slow and steady is my mantra but if you are using three or five pounds weights and can easily work through one of my tapes, it’s time to go up.
I do advocate starting with low weights because I think until you know your body and strength, safe is always best. I generally suggest weights in the three to eight pound range because I feel that’s a good amount for women over fifty who have never done resistance training before. With that said, if you are running through your workouts without any strain you are not going to see the changes you want. This is why you should increase your weights.
You should be doing between ten and fifteen repetitions (reps) and usually three (sometimes four) sets of each exercise. That means when you’re performing bicep curls and you can easily complete forty-five total moves and you don’t either feel it in your muscle, are breathing a little heavier, or having trouble doing the last few, its definitely time to increase your weights. If you are currently using five pound weights I would step up to around eight pounds and see how you feel. It’s always okay when you increase your weights to only do the first or second set with the heavier weight and then drop down.
Moving your body is always beneficial to health. But as a women over fifty if you really want to change your body you absolutely must be challenged. This is why you should increase your weights to a level that will make your muscles know they are being worked.
This post has some great tips on how to incorporate movment daily:
7 SNEAKY WAYS TO GET EXERCISE INTO YOUR DAY
