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
Do you really need to squat so straight?
Why it’s ok for your knees to go over your toes and for your feet to be wider than your hips when you squat.
There are a few old ideas and myths that come up in the clinic, which we often have to spend a good chunk of time re-educating about. A few of which relate to how you should squat.
The two main ones which we’d like to bust with this blog are:
“You should never let your knees go over your toes”
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“You need to squat with your feet and knees straight forward, or in line with the hips”
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These misconceptions are based on some old research, but as we know, research is continuously being updated and improved on. These ideas have since been found to not be true as a blanket statement.
If you have been told and believe either of these things, this blog is to free you from these ideas and give you permission to move and squat how your body was designed to!
Lets break them down:
Myth 1. “You should never let your knees go over your toes”
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In short, in healthy populations, it is completely fine, and actually good for your knee joints and muscles to move and get stronger throughout their whole range of movement.
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It can also help improve your squat technique by allowing you to distribute your weight better. Without bending your knees enough you have to compensate by either leaning forward or excessively bending the hips to get your full depth squat.
Your body is designed to squat low - think of the movements of a child, almost everyone in Asia, or you, when camping and nature calls! (Possibly not quite as comfortable looking, yet!)
Watch this video to see the difference:⠀
We will say though, if you have been avoiding this for a while, you’ll need to slowly re-introduce it so your knees have time to adapt to moving into a range they are unaccustomed to.
Myth 2. “You need to squat with your feet and knees straight forward, or in line with the hips”
Everyone’s hip joints are a slightly different shape, check out these two femur (thigh) bones to see what we mean!
This means your squat will look different depending on your body’s anatomy.
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Forcing your knees/feet to move straight forward when your body and bones aren’t designed to is often a reason for finding the whole experience difficult, “pinchy in the hips” or uncomfortable, no matter how much mobility work you do!⠀
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Watch this video for the difference in ability to squat to full depth with the feet and knees in line with the hips vs wider than the hips.
In short, the best position is whatever is most comfortable for you, and whatever is best for you to produce force (lift heavy things). ⠀
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We suggest playing with a few variations of foot width/turn out and see what works best for you in terms of comfort/force production. Generally it’s best to pick somewhere in the middle of your ideal range (not too wide/narrow) so you have room to move either in or out if required, or to land slightly wider for our olympic weightlifters.
Please note that if you have been told to squat in a particular way for a specific medical reason, then please carry on with whatever works for you!
Still stuck? Let us help you.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth & Osborne Park, Western Australia
By Lucia Tennant
Physiotherapist and Founder of Formotion Physio
BSc Physiotherapy
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!
3 Steps to Better Overhead Mobility
Mobilise, Activate, Cement for better mobility.
3 Steps to Better Overhead Mobility
Mobilise • Activate • Cement
Your body won’t maintain what it doesn’t use.
Mobility or flexibility is only useful if you have the coordination and strength to actively use the range of motion - meaning you use your muscles to move into the range rather than an outside force, like a band or a weight. Your body will not generally maintain mobility that it can't use regularly or does not sense that you are safe moving into - luckily too!
The M.A.C acronym is a reminder to always follow any “Mobilisation”, or stretch, with a simplified stabilising or coordination exercise - "Activate". And to then put that movement into context with your sport, training or everyday movement - "Cement".
Context is key with any form of learning, so the best way to understand M.A.C is to try it for yourself!
This sequence is specific for improving your overhead shoulder mobility.
1. Mobilise
The best mobilisation or stretch is the one your body needs most - which normally comes with a good assessment. Test these ones out but remember to seek advice if you are unsure if they apply to you!
Peanut Ball Thoracic Extension
For overhead mobility, having adequate thoracic (upper back) extension is important to give your shoulder blades, and therefore shoulders, a good base to move on.
Lie down with your knees bent with a peanut ball placed on either side of your spine on your upper back.
Support your head and tuck your chin in. Posteriorly tilt your pelvis so that your lower back is flat on the ground.
Push the back of your head towards the ground and hold for a few seconds, relax back up slightly and repeat.
Perform 3-4 sets of 4-6 reps, for each set you can move the ball up or down slightly on the spine depending on where you need it most. You don't need to go lower than the bottom of the shoulder blades or above the top of the back.
Prayer Stretch (for Lats)
The lats are your "climbing" muscles, they work by pulling your arms down from an overhead position and internally rotating the shoulder (rolling them in). So when they are tight or over-active they make a good overhead position a battle against your own body!
Hold a stick shoulder width apart with palms up.
Kneel down with your knees in front of the hips and rest your hands on a low bench.
Imagine you are “pulling” you body away from the hands while you sink your chest down.
Spend at least a minute in this position - you can break the time up if needed.
If you get pinching in the top of the shoulder, try it with your palms down or with your hands further apart.
2. Activate
Y- Raises encourage active thoracic extension, rather than lower back arching, with full active overhead flexion.
Lie on your stomach with your arms outstretched while holding a broomstick.
Posteriorly tilt your pelvis so that there is a gap under your stomach.
Lift your collarbones, face and stick off the ground and hold this position.
Start with 4x15 seconds and reduce the rest until you can hold 1 minute continuously.
If this is impossible you can bend your elbows, or hold the stick further apart initially.
3. Cement
Now to give this mobility some real life context.
For example an overhead press.
The important part here is to practise MOVING INTO the new range under added load. Think about pressing up to the ceiling and bringing the arms slightly back in line with the ears to encourage further range.
Back sure you keep your ribcage pulled down to the pelvis so you don’t arch your back (like you did in the Y-raise)
The reps/sets/weight will be completely individual here depending on your training experience and goals.
Remember that mobility and strength changes can take weeks to months to years and the key is consistency and creating good habits. This means incorporating these principles daily into your training and spending designated practise on your problem areas at least 3x week.
For help that is specific to you please get in touch or book an appointment with us.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice located in West Perth and Osborne Park
By Lucia Tennant
Physiotherapist & Founder of Formotion Physio
B.Sc Physiotherapy