Do you know the end of a woman's reproductive life is called Menopause? Yes, it can be a difficult time for some women because it involves hormonal changes often with negative effects. To counteract these negative effects, strength training can come in handy. Strength Training is particularly important when it comes to maintaining muscle density, preventing osteoporosis, balancing hormones, among other benefits. This article highlights the importance of strength training for menopause women’s.
Why is strength training crucial?
During Menopause, women experience a decline in two important hormones, estrogen and progesterone. These leads to various symptoms producing brought hormone, such as hot flashes, weight gain and mood swings. These changes may bear down on the daily routine of women necessitating measures to help alleviate them. Other hormones that get altered in women during this period include the growth hormone and even cortisol. These too bring about negative effects which may affect the life of any woman during Menopause.
One way of alleviating such symptoms is through strength training. Strength training, otherwise known as resistance training, is defined as any form of training where movements or equipment come into play to help build muscle mass, strength as well as endurance. What are the benefits from it?
Strength Training has been shown to:
Help build strong bones hence reducing instances of fractures and associated
complications.
Reduce weight
Help in managing chronic diseases such as arthritis and backpack.
Enhance overall quality of life through enhancing density of muscles.
Strength training and increasing bone density
With an imbalance in estrogen and progesterone hormones during Menopause, bone density tends to reduce and eventually, osteoporosis sets in. Strength training has been shown to directly be involved in increasing bone density and hence reduce the risk of osteoporosis and associated complications. Exercises such as push-ups and using equipment such as dumbbells help put stress on the bones and this stimulates production of new bone tissue.
Strength training and Balancing hormones
Problems during Menopause are majorly due to an imbalance in hormones. Some of the hormones implicated include growth hormone and cortisol. Regular strength training can increase the growth hormone which will improve not only bone density but also muscle density. Also, the exercises may help regulate cortisol which when produced in excess will have negative impacts on the body. It can also help in balancing the hormones estrogen and progesterone with almost similar effects.
Increasing muscle density
Apart from bones, muscles also suffer during the drastic changes that occur in Menopause. Strength training is a good way to improve overall health and function through increasing muscle density. Muscle density is crucial especially when it comes to daily activities since without muscle density, walking and even climbing stairs becomes retarded. It is therefore important that strength training either through lifting weights or using equipment such as dumbbells be part of any woman during Menopause.
Designing Strength Training program
The importance of strength training for menopause women cannot be overemphasized. To succeed and have a smooth life during Menopause however requires that one comes up with a program that is effective. The principles of a good resistance training program include:
Having the right exercises
Optimizing how often one works out mainly through trial and error
Managing to get the right intensity by adjusting the strength accordingly.
While many women think that strength training is not effective, evidence has shown beyond doubt that strength training plays a very big role in alleviating some if not all the negative effects that come with Menopause. It is therefore important that one designs a good strength training program that will ensure that they get the best out of the training program.