I was lucky in my early teens to get the opportunity to take up the sport of weight lifting. I grew up in a gym environment and at the time of the Seoul Olympic games my father’s partner was representing Great Britain, I decided that I would love to get this chance. I had a fantastic weightlifting career g competing and training all over the country and in Europe. I believe that this has kept me in good health, strength and balance into my mid years.
As we all age there is an increasing risk of osteoporosis (the weakening of our bones - making them more prone to fractures), this is especially true for post menopausal women. To help reduce these risks weight bearing and weight training exercise can help. When we are younger weight bearing exercise helps our body to lay strong bone structure, whilst weight training helps to strengthen our muscles that move our bones. As we age the structure reduces and bone density is lost, however, by keeping active with weight bearing exercise the level of bone density loss can be reduced and weight training will help with strength to aid in preventing the risk of falls.
Weight bearing exercise are those that involve using the whole body - walking (brisk is best), running, aerobic exercise including dancing, classes, hiit, sports activities - tennis, badminton, netball, football etc.
Weight training exercises are those that involve lifting, pushing, pulling weights and help to tone and shape the muscles.
An added bonus of building muscle tone is the increase in body metabolism, we use more calories the more muscle we have and toned muscles aesthetically look good