Strengthening exercises are the number one way to age well, feel good, and reduce pain. The problem is that too much strengthening too soon can aggravate pain. When this happens it's easy to think we can't do strengthening sessions.
After the age of 30 muscle mass decreases an average of 3-8% per decade! But we have some say in this. When you incorporate strengthening sessions, we can counter the decrease in muscle mass, can experience strength gains, and getting stronger has been shown to reduce pain too.
But if we push too hard too soon it can set us back. It's easy to feel trapped in a cycle of wanting to do more, trying to doing too much, and then thinking we shouldn't work on challenging exercises because it's too hard.
My three tips are to start with -
Shorter workouts: this will ease the body into strengthening sessions. And allows more time for recovery which is essential with strengthening workouts.
Workouts that aren't as challenging: It may seem counter intuitive, but begin where you are, and scale back more than you think. I still use this if getting back into strengthening workouts after being ill. Use lighter weights or no weights. Move with a slower paced session so there is more time to focus on form. And if the workout feels easy, next time add more of a challenge (see #3 below).
How you feel and assess how this is going before, during and after a workout. If you're feeling good, try a strengthening workout. Notice how you feel during the workout, make adjustments, take a break, or stop the workout all together. Immediately after the workout and into the next day, how's your energy? If it feels depleted because of the workout, next time try a workout that isn't as long or as challenging.
Strength comes with months of repetition, and listening to what the body needs, not just pushing through.
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