The Importance of Strength Training for Older Women
Strength training is not just for men, on the contrary it is one of the most important things you should be doing as an older woman.
Strength training is not just for men.
Strength and balance training is hugely important for women, particularly as you age, from both a physical and mental health perspective.
However, a lot of older women find gyms intimidating and find the thought of lifting weights scary or are held back by the idea of weight and strength training being “not for women”.
On the contrary it absolutely is, for the following reasons, and a whole lot more!
Improves your bone density and reduces risk of osteoporosis
Improves mobility and reduces your falls risk as you age
Improves some menopausal and pelvic floor symptoms
Improves your sleep quality and mood
Improves your cardiovascular health
Can help with weight fluctuations due to hormone changes
Empowers you to do more independently and feel safer within yourself
As you start to reach menopause your levels of oestrogen and other hormones drop. Because oestrogen helps maintain bone density, this drop can lead to significant bone loss and to low bone density over time.
Weight bearing and resistance (strength) training signals to the body to keep regenerating bone which helps to maintain your bone density. It also builds muscle, tendon and ligament strength to support your joints, and lift heavy things on your own!
Improved strength, balance and agility means you are less likely to fall, and also less likely to injure yourself badly if you were to fall. You will also be able to get yourself up off the ground after a fall, which is extremely important particularly if you live alone.
Menopause can also cause an increase in pelvic floor and incontinence symptoms as you begin to lose elasticity of the muscles of the pelvic floor.
Combining pelvic floor exercises with your strength training, and adding in things like small jumps and change of direction movements teaches your pelvic floor how to contract and relax quickly. This can be helpful for situations in life like jumping off a small wall, sneezing or running small distances.
Why you might avoid strength training, even when you know the benefits.
Often it can feel intimidating going into the gym or the weights section. It may feel like lifting weights is just for men or people in their 20s!
While there are many gyms, bootcamps and group exercise classes that are designed for women, we know that sometimes even the thought of starting those without any previous experience, or “knowing what you are doing” can be rather terrifying.
You’re possibly worried about injuring yourself or don’t believe that you can lift the heavy weights.
You’re worried about getting “bulky” or “too muscular”.
You might avoid doing classes because they involve jumping or running, which very often causes stress urinary incontinence (leaking urine).
You might have even been told in the past that lifting weights would damage the pelvic floor. However we now know that with the correct technique and slow progression of weights, you can actually improve your symptoms by strengthening the pelvic floor along with the rest of the body.
How we can help you move beyond these (sometimes literal!) hurdles:
We start off with one-on-one sessions so you will be completely supported and not have to worry about “knowing what to do”.
As Physiotherapists we are experienced with training around pain and injuries and can modify almost anything to allow you to still exercise safely.
As we have extra experience in strength training we are able to help you progress from injury or a low baseline in strength, right up to competence in doing things you probably never realised you were capable of!
You will not get bulky or big with the kind of exercise we’ll be doing, the kind of training needed to build visibly big muscles requires a specific kind of training and diet, repeated for years! You will likely just improve your muscle tone.
We are all trained in pelvic floor rehabilitation and so can incorporate exercises that will improve your function, as well as give you appropriate exercises that won’t stress the pelvic floor beyond your current capabilities.
Does this sound like something you would like help with? Feel free to book an Initial Assessment via our booking page with any of our experienced team.
Click the button below.
Alternatively give us a call on 0422 483 865 or email admin@formotionphysio.com.au
We have locations within gym settings in Osborne Park, West Perth and Joondalup
Is it DOMS or an injury?
How to tell the difference between DOMS (post exercise soreness) vs Injury, and what to do about both.
How to tell the difference between normal post exercise soreness (DOMS), and injury, and what you can do about both.
DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) is the normal muscle achiness you get after starting an unfamiliar exercise, coming back to training after time off, or after a particularly heavy or high rep training session.
At a microscopic level it is tiny tears of the muscle fibres which is the necessary evil (depending how you look at it!) to stimulate your body to adapt and come back stronger/fitter once the muscle has repaired.
If you’ve never felt it before, or sometimes after a particularly intense session, the discomfort can be so intense that you might start to worry that you might have done something else this time!
We’ve got you covered! Read through the checklists below for the difference between the common DOMS symptoms vs Injury and what you can do about both.
DOMS
TIME FRAME: Usually occurs ~12-24 hours after unfamiliar or intense training, begins to ease after ~48-72 hours. DOMS straight after training often feels more like “jelly-legs” that can still function but are not painful.
WARMS UP: The soreness should ease with continued movement or a warm shower.
LOCALISED PAIN: You’ll be able to find it by pressing the muscle group or area of your body that you trained (e.g. quads if you did squats, lats if you did pull ups). Usually the pain will be about equal on both sides of your body if you trained both sides.
MUSCULAR ACHE WITH USE: No pain at rest - you shouldn’t feel DOMS unless you are using the affected muscle group.
SORENESS WITH STRETCH: Usually you will feel DOMS in the movement direction that stretches that muscle - eg: straightening your elbows with bicep DOMS, walking down stairs with quad DOMS.
WEAKNESS OR ”JELLY ARMS/LEGS”: You might feel like your limbs give way with similar movement patterns as above (we call this eccentric movements), this might improve with warming up.
What you can do about it:
1. Keep moving! Generally DOMS warms up, so once you’re up and going or moving the area it should ease a little. A warm shower can help ease the symptoms too.
2. Wait it out. Don’t worry - it should start to ease up after about the 48 hour mark.
3. Don’t take anti-inflammatories. The inflammation associated with DOMS is a necessary process in adapting and getting stronger/fitter after the training session. Reducing this process can reduce the effect of all your hard work.
4. Don’t over stretch, not to ease the symptoms anyway, it won’t do a whole lot to speed up the recovery so you’re better off just using the time to move gently!
5. Gentle massage might help ease the symptoms slightly for a little while, but it won’t really speed up the process either.
5. Train gently, but don’t go too hard on the same area or with a similar workout, give your body time to adapt or you may end up overloading yourself and in the injury section.
INJURY
TIME FRAME: More severe pain felt during/soon after your training session, or 1-2 hours later once you cool down and doesn't begin to ease naturally. If it worsens after ~48-72 hours it is unlikely to be DOMS.
MIGHT NOT WARM UP: Some injuries won't improve or will worsen with continued movement/use of the painful part. Be careful as some tendon/muscle injuries or strains will also warm up, but then are likely to feel worse once cooled down.
WHERE IS IT: One side notably worse, or pain felt further up or down from the area is likely to not be DOMS. Pain that doesn’t feel like it’s in the muscle, or if it’s very obviously in the joints or tendons is also not normal DOMS symptoms.
TYPE of PAIN: Burning/shooting or sharp, deep throbbing pain at rest, or when the muscle is unloaded is not a DOMS symptom. Catchy, pinchy or clicky pains are also not typical of DOMS.
OTHER SYMPTOMS/NIGHT PAIN: Pins and needles/numbness, and severe resting/night pain that keeps you awake is not typical of DOMS.
WEAKNESS: More severe weakness in a concentric pattern (opposite direction to the muscle stretching), that has no associated pain is less typical of DOMS.
What you can do about it:
If your symptoms are mild you can try to wait-and-see for a few more days and just keep the area moving gently to give the area time to heal on its own.
If the niggling lasts longer than about 4-5 days after the training session in question, it may be worth getting it checked out.
For any severe symptoms, pins and needles/numbness or shooting pain, painful clicking and locking, or simply if you are worried its best to go and see your Physiotherapist or another health professional.
Check out our blog on managing Acute Injuries with “PEACE & LOVE”
Often when we catch and manage injuries early they are easy to manage and you’ll reduce your time off in the long run!
We’d love to hear from you and answer any questions if you are concerned. Or click through to book an appointment.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth , Joondalup & Osborne Park, Western Australia
Incontinence During Exercise
Leaking during exercise. What causes it, and what you can do about it.
Does the idea of double unders, box jumps or running make you need to rush off to toilet before you start your workout?
If you've ever leaked, or felt like you might during these movements or things like sneezing or laughing, you might have something called Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI).
SUI is a pelvic floor issue that affects many women (and men!) whether you've had kids or not, and is common in sports that have movements involving jumping/high impact or heavy weights.
While it is common, it does not mean it is normal.
There are exercises and strategies you can learn that can teach your pelvic floor how to function during these more demanding activities.
What is the Pelvic Floor?
The culprit is likely to be the trampoline-like group of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis called the Pelvic Floor.
The pelvic floor is important when it comes to controlling when, and when you don't go to the toilet. It is also important for supporting and keeping all your abdominal and pelvic organs inside you, as well as during sexual function.
If this group of muscles isn't working correctly and the pressure in your abdominal area increases suddenly - for example if you lift heavy/jump/cough/sneeze or bend over quickly, the control and contraction it normally puts around the urethral and anal sphincters to stop you going, can be overcome by the pressure, which can lead to leaking either urine or faeces.
What can you do about it?
Traditional pelvic floor exercises, sometimes known as "kegels", are the ones that are recommended most often. These are the ones where you squeeze as if you're trying not to go to the toilet, and are usually encouraged while you’re relaxing in sitting or standing, like at traffic lights or queue at the checkout.
While these can be a good first step to creating awareness of these muscles, they don’t give you the full picture. This may be why you can you still have problems when it comes to intense exercise and coughing/sneezing, even if you are religiously doing them.
Pelvic floor “weights” have also become quite popular recently, however these also have their limitations (see below).
Make sure you are able to contract, and relax correctly.
It may be that you are weak, the muscles are too tight, or you are not using the muscles correctly.
It is important that you are able to gently “lift” the muscles. The action is the one you would use to stop yourself going to the toilet, you should have awareness and be able to control both the front and back passage. Often people will have more control of one but not the other so it may give the perception of good function, but in reality there is a lack of control where it matters.
The ability to relax when required is also just as important as this allows you to go to the toilet, for sexual function and also to rest the muscles.
A muscle that is always wound up and switched on will eventually become too fatigued to react and work when it is required. They can also cause pain with penetration in some cases.
*This is why pelvic floor “weights”, which you generally walk around with for a long time without getting that all important rest and relax time, are not recommended.
Try it.
1) Lie down or sit in a deep squat if you can.
2) Imagine you are trying to hold in a wee. A cue we love is “Pick up a jelly bean with your vagina”. For men a good cue is “Nuts to guts”. It should just be a small contraction, imagine it is moving about 5mm.
3) Relax and notice if it feels like the pelvic floor is dropping back down.
4) Now try it with your back passage, as if you are trying to hold in wind. Usually this one is easier so make sure you can differentiate between the front and back.
5) Then try and do them both at the same time. Making sure to relax in between.
6) You can build strength by performing a strong or hard contraction, for example a “1cm” lift which you can try to hold for 2-5sec.
7) For endurance try to hold a gentler contraction for a longer; 10-20 seconds for example.
A cue we don’t love is “belly button to spine” because this generally cues the upper abs and can create more downward pressure on the pelvic floor.
Test it.
A quick test you can try is attempting to stop a stream of wee while on the toilet, if you can then you’re likely to be contracting the muscles correctly.
If you can’t, or you end up “pushing down” then this is probably a sign that you lack strength and awareness and you’ll probably need some help from a Women's/Men’s Health Physiotherapist to teach you how to to activate correctly.
Make sure you only do this very occasionally as doing it too often increases your risk of urinary tract infections.
Combine it with functional exercise.
Once you are confident with this then the next step is to make sure your strength and timing is working well during more complex and intense activities.
As we explained before, instead of being constantly contracted, your pelvic floor should be able to respond fairly automatically to these sudden increase in pressure at the right time, and relax when the pressure subsides so that the muscles can rest.
Randomly squeezing and relaxing your pelvic floor, without training towards a functional goal can be likened to just tensing and relaxing your biceps, instead of using them to bend your elbow at the time you need to lift something up.
Functional Example
Gently squeezing and lifting right before you go for a 1RM squat.
Cueing a few “quick squeezes” before you start a round of skipping to get the muscles and nervous system ready for the type of contraction it will need to be doing.
Your body is also designed to work in movement patterns, as opposed to using single specific muscles. When there is a functional goal this cues a movement pattern that can create more force than an isolated contraction. For example your bicep will create more force by climbing up a rope than by simply tensing it as hard as you can. In the same way, your pelvic floor is better engaged during an action that has the context of a useful function.
Consider the big picture of technique.
To give your pelvic floor the best chance of being able to manage extra pressure, make sure the rest of your technique is spot on to put your body in the best position for the pelvic floor to work at its best.
For example if you are “donkey kicking” during your double unders (skipping) the force you are hitting the ground with a lot more, this means that the downward force of your abdominal contents onto your pelvic floor is also a lot more which can overcome even a relatively strong and coordinated pelvic floor.
Your running and lifting technique will also play a big part in this.
Train your pelvic floor like you would any other muscle.
Once your technique has been considered, train in a way that works within your body’s limits.
For example if you are leaking after 20 skips then this is more than your max. Instead try building up your endurance by starting with 3x10 skips and build up from there.
If you feel like you are about to leak with an 80kg squat, then maybe 79kg is your 1RM? Adjust your mindset so that even if you can lift the weight it doesn’t count unless your pelvic floor is able to lift it to.
This is how you’ll keep yourself safe and be able to continue the sport you love in the long run.
Where to from here?
We can only fit so much information in a blog, and this information might not be appropriate for your individual needs.
So as usual we’d suggest getting help from a professional to first help you figure out the reasons it might not be functioning correctly and address these issues first.
Once you’ve done that you can begin learn how to improve your awareness of it and incorporate it into your daily life or training. This is something we can help you with as it is often a lot more complex than what we’ve written here.
If you have any issues related to traumatic childbirth or have severe issues we’d suggest seeing a specialist Women’s Health Physiotherapist. Feel free to contact us for any recommendations.
By Lucia Tennant
Principal Physiotherapist
B.Sc. Physiotherapy
Director - Formotion Physio
lucia@formotionphysio.com
Formotion Physio is a Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth & Osborne Park, Western Australia
4 Reasons You Can't Maintain your Mobility
There is more to flexibility than you might think.
4 Reasons You Can't Maintain your Mobility
“I stretch every day before bed but I never seem to get any more flexible?”
Sound familiar?
Here we’ll go into some other things you probably aren’t considering much in your flexibility/mobility routine - but they may have a bigger impact than you might think!
We’ll be using the terms flexibility and mobility interchangeably, as they are often both used to simply refer to how much your muscles, tendons, joints and nerves allow you to stretch and move freely.
1. You're only moving for 1 hour out of 24.
Possibly the most important one that we don't consider enough. Your body will adapt to what is continuously demanded of it. If the majority of your day involves being in one position - sitting at your desk or in an Uber, or standing at a checkout or reception desk, your body will change to allow you to do these things well. In this example, most likely tightening up the muscles that help to hold you in these positions like your hip flexors and glutes!
If you really want your 30min/day mobility gains to stick, you need to put your body in those positions as often as possible or it won't bother to maintain them. Things like an interchangeable sit/stand desk and taking regular breaks to move or walk can help. If your work makes this difficult you'll need to make sure that every chance you get to move or put your body in different positions outside of work is used.
2. You have nervous nerves.
Your nervous system (Including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves) is what allows your joints and body to move - it also serves as a protective mechanism by preventing movement if it senses that what you are doing is unsafe or risks causing you injury. In terms of mobility and range of motion - there is a threshold of when your nervous system starts to sense something as "risky" and it subsequently tries to protect you by doing things like tightening up the muscles so you don't move any further, or perceiving a movement as uncomfortable or painful so you stop the action.
Your nervous system can begin to reign you in earlier (i.e. lower the threshold) when it is sensitised or feels out of control - things like overloading in training with back to back difficult, heavy or repetitive sessions without adequate recovery time can cause neural sensitivity or pain. Think of that feeling in your hamstrings/lower back when you try to touch your toes after a heavy deadlift session.
Image: firepowerteams.com
By foam rolling an already overly sensitive structure, or trying to "stretch through the pain", all you are doing is playing tug of war with your own neural system and adding to the sensitivity.
One of the ways you can avoid excessive sensitivity is by discussing optimal training loads and recovery times with your instructor, coach or Physiotherapist.
3. You're not in control.
Uncontrolled or unstable movements can also stress out your nerves to the point they revoke your movement privileges. Your nervous system will allow movement in joints when it feels there is enough stability further up the chain to make that movement safe. For example hamstring "tightness" can often be caused by poor lower back and pelvic control and similarly poor shoulder range of movement can be caused by poor scapular stability.
Image: angliahandling.co.uk
Imagine a crane trying to raise a heavy cement block to the top of a building when its base has not been properly secured and stabilised. It would most likely reach a point where the torque would topple it over. In the case of the human body our sensory system aims to stop us before this point of fail.
By working on your proximal control and stability (joints closer to your midline), you can improve the achievable range of movement in the joints further away. This is a principle that is used often in disciplines like Pilates and Yoga, as well as the bracing techniques taught in weightlifting.
4. You're not cementing movements.
Image: kingofthegym.com
So you've done all the right things - kept moving throughout the day, ensured your loading and recovery is correct, stabilised proximally to the joint you're working on, and have spent hours doing all the cutting edge stretches and mobility exercises you can find. Yet you are still pulling up a couple of days later feeling just as stiff?
The last point to consider is cementing. If you are not strengthening and training into this new range of movement soon after, your body isn't going to bother maintaining it. For mobility routines I generally encourage the steps of active mobilisation, specific strengthening and then application into your training; the cement!
By being strong into the new range you will be able to use the movement as you are able to move into it actively under load during your training. You will also calm the nervous nerves by showing them that you are in control of this new range and are therefore not at risk of any injuries.
In closing remember that improving mobility is a long process and your body needs time to change and adapt to new movements and exercises (weeks to years!). So as cliché as it might sound, patience and commitment to the process is what will allow you to reach those goals in the end.
Please get in touch if you need advice that is specific to you.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth & Osborne Park, Western Australia
Lucia Tennant
Physiotherapist and Founder of Formotion Physio
BSc Physiotherapy
Stretch Series for Tight Lower Backs and Hip Flexors.
Your QL (quadratus lumborum), obliques and hip flexors are often tricky to find a good stretch for, these are our go to!
How to stretch your tight lower back and hip flexors
Your quadratus lumborum (QL), obliques, and hip flexors often get tight if you have been doing any heavy lifting, running or sitting for long periods. They can also be quite tricky to find good stretches for!
This series are a few of our favourites and cover all 3 of those areas.
Give them a go and let us know how they feel, but please remember that not all pain and injury is because of tightness. Sometimes the tightness that you feel is because of injury or weakness and is a protective mechanism that your body is using to keep you safe!
Stretching during these times might not be helpful so if this is the case rather get in touch with us before trying these!