BUILDING STRENGTH

Are you gaining or losing muscle?

We are big fans of strength training – although we will admit, for many of us, it can be a bit daunting to start.

Many women are nervous to start strength training because they worry they will get “bulky”. The thing is, it takes a very specific type of training to build muscle like a body builder – most likely, even if you tried to put on muscle like that, you wouldn’t get “bulky”!

You don’t have to be a body builder reap the benefits of building and maintaining muscle – and you don’t have to be lifting huge barbells over your head to get those benefits either!

Strengthening our muscles is important for maintaining strong bones, preventing falls and making you feel confident! Beyond how we feel in the short term, building muscle mass, can also helps prevent several metabolic diseases. Muscle loss is present in many conditions including type 2 diabetes, as our muscles are THE major organ to respond to insulin and take sugar from our blood to our cells. Losing muscle mass makes us more susceptible to insulin resistance. And it’s a vicious cycle - the more insulin resistant we become, the more we release free fatty acids from our fat cells leading to inhibition of other hormones involved in muscle regeneration. Muscle loss makes us insulin resistant and insulin resistance makes it more difficult to build muscle. Muscle is also our primary storage spot for protein.

This is important in states of starvation but also in times where we need quick healing – like in severe burns – as well as chronic conditions like AIDS, heart disease and cancer.
Higher muscle mass is associated with improved survival in these conditions.

The benefits of muscle are more complicated than size – it’s also about the function and quality. Training our muscles improves how they use blood sugar, how they use energy and how blood flow changes through them. We need to USE them to build them – protein shakes without movement aren’t going to do much!

So where to start? Everyone should be doing some form of strength training at least twice per week. This can be body-weight exercises, following youtube videos, going to a gym, joining a group in a park etc.

Many women find the gym intimidating – we don’t blame you! That’s why we are SO pleased to have a strength and fitness trainer that we trust coaching one-on-one at the clinic. Whether you are a beginner or a gym rat, Grace is happy to meet you where you are. Focusing on correct form, giving guidance on exercises to start with and empowering you to feel confident in how you are moving your body.

One-on-one coaching in a supportive environment is an approachable way to start your strength training in a way that feels GOOD. You might be surprised how good being strong feels!