Happy fall! I hope you all had a wonderful summer and that you are enjoying the start of the fall season (YAY for Vanilla Pumpkin scented candles from Trader Joes). This month I am excited to chat with you about why it is so important for women to build and maintain muscle mass and how a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) can help. And I promise you, building muscle will not make you “bigger” unless you want it to of course.
For years I’ve found that women have been afraid of building muscle because of the fear that it will make them bulky. Myself and any of the lovely CPTs at Fitness Unlimited can attest to the fact that this is not true. On the contrary, I know we are all EAGER to show you all of the positive benefits of building lean muscle and the reasons why we think you should start NOW!
1. Helps prevent injury and protects your joints
When muscles are weak they can easily become imbalanced which then causes a domino effect of issues with body alignment. For instance, a weak hip muscle can actually wreak havoc on the knee or an imbalanced calf muscle can cause pain in the low back. By properly strengthening our muscles we can help correct these imbalances which then helps us take stress off our joints because our muscles are strong enough to help the body move properly. The stronger we get the less our joints take the brunt of our movement which helps prevent injury in the long run. Our CPTs at Fitness Unlimited are experts in helping women correct muscle imbalances.
2. Helps prevent osteoporosis
Building muscle not only helps strengthen our muscles but also our ligaments, bones, cartilage, and connective tissue. As women age our bone density can naturally deteriorate but if we keep up with strength training we can actually help generate bone growth. This is a win- win and I think if women knew this we would be much more inclined to start weight training now.
3. Makes you feel strong and powerful – what’s better than empowering yourself!?
So we’ve chatted a lot about the positive physical effects of strength training and I think it’s SO important to also touch on the positive mental effects of it as well! One, exercising of any type releases hormones called endorphins which are natural mood boosters. Two, when our body is strong we can naturally do so much more and have to ask for help less often which is mentally empowering. Three, when we see that we are getting stronger by lifting heavier weights or finding an exercise class easy when it used to be challenging we realize that we are capable of so much more than we thought we were! Feeling strong from the inside out empowers us to take on new challenges and overcome fears. Our goal at Fitness Unlimited is to not only help you feel physically strong but mentally strong as well.
All of the above sounds awesome, right?! I hope if you haven’t been strength training already, this gives you the motivation to start. However, many of you may be thinking, “How do I begin?” “What steps do I take?” Don’t worry you are not alone; that is why we have an awesome team of CPT’s who are here to help! Stop by the front desk or email Danielle Miller, at dmiller@fitnessunlimited.com and we will gladly set you up with a free consultation with a trainer to talk about your goals and a plan to help you become your strongest self.
I can’t wait to hear how amazing you all feel once you start weight training!
Have a fabulous (and spooky) October and I look forward to chatting with you about more ways to feel your best and healthiest in November :).
Healthfully,
Jillian Boston
Personal Trainer & Fitness Nutrition Specialist
