How Can I Explain How Lifting Helps?

csuhar

Usually, the arguments I use are the ones already posted here. The challenge I'm often coming up against, however, is people who seem to dismiss me off hand as having goals that are too different from theirs.

My mother, for example, has reached her current fitness goal. But every time I suggest adding some weight training as a new challenge to approach, she seems to think I'm trying to make her be like me. So I'm trying to figure out how to convince her that weights don't just help a 29 year-old military cop / "tactical athlete" type like me, but also provide benefits for a woman who's... let's just say "not so young" and whose life isn't as physically demanding. (Currently, I'm thinking finding the studies linking weight training and bone density will be my best bet.)

megalin9

You could start by showing her this thread -
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/977538-halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky

yeah, comparing her to other girls is the way to go.

hahaha. I know lots of people will probs be offended by this but you're right.
IF the comparison was comprable, it would be fine.
I enjoy success threads where the OP started like me (or me at some point) and got to a goal that I'd like to be at.
Then I can see the benefit.

but a 250lb chick who's never touched weights isn't going to get much inspiration from reading about how a 140lb chick got super skinny and HAWT from lifting and eating tongs of meat.

It's all relative.
A lot of those threads make me cry because I WANT them to inspire but they just make me feel crappy. (I'm a girl. bite me)

Preeeety sure the OP of that thread lost over 100+ pounds.

Vailara

Usually, the arguments I use are the ones already posted here. The challenge I'm often coming up against, however, is people who seem to dismiss me off hand as having goals that are too different from theirs.

My mother, for example, has reached her current fitness goal. But every time I suggest adding some weight training as a new challenge to approach, she seems to think I'm trying to make her be like me. So I'm trying to figure out how to convince her that weights don't just help a 29 year-old military cop / "tactical athlete" type like me, but also provide benefits for a woman who's... let's just say "not so young" and whose life isn't as physically demanding. (Currently, I'm thinking finding the studies linking weight training and bone density will be my best bet.)

Definitely! I'm probably closer to your mother's age than yours and friends around my age don't talk about it in relation to bulking up or slimming down or whatever, but we ARE interested in the health benefits. Bone health is a big issue for older women. In my (not very educated) opinion, some sort of strength training is probably even MORE beneficial to a woman of your mother's age than it is for a man of your age. It's not just about strengthening bones either. One thing that helped convince me was finding out that falls in older people can be caused by lack of strength, and that strength improves balance. Having stronger bones AND avoiding falls could add years to someone's life! This is probably more important for elderly women, but I think it's best to start in middle-age as we're already losing muscle by then.

The thing is, if we don't do strength training, we don't just stay the same. We're actually LOSING bone and muscle. I feel that I need to something to counteract that, at least.

Bernadette60614

Another motivator is: More muscle, more energy...because whatever you weigh you're going to carry it more easily than if you have less muscle.

If you can carry your body weight more easily, you're going to move more. Move more...burn more calories. When I've been lifting consistently, I'm the one who jumps up to go upstairs to get whatever...I'm the one who defines "just around the corner" as about a mile away.

The other is the statistic that you lose a lb of muscle (or so) every year starting round age 30. And, muscle burns more calories than fat. If you're looking purely at the calories in/calories out equation...a body with more muscle burns more calories.

Lane1012

Lifting doesn't help lose weight. At least not directly and not significantly.

Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, which is primarily a dietary issue. Lifting helps maintain muscle while you lose weight (meaning more of that weight loss will come from fat loss), but lifting doesn't actually cause weight loss.

Seems lately I've seen a lot of your posts, they always say the same thing "Exercising doesn't make you lose weight, diet does". Kudos :-) My line is usually "You can't exercise away a bad diet" but no one listens to me, they just go about eating what they want and say it's ok I'll exercise it off.

For me the simplest way to explain the difference ... how much I eat determines my body size, what I eat determines my body composition. Exercise helps both.

Sorry OP, off topic a tad

richardheath

You can explain how lifting helps by first stating what the goal is.

If your goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, lifting heavy takes on a different meaning than when you are trying to create a certain look. I am a running, adding 40 lbs of muscle I am sure would look good, but would be detrimental to my goals. Hence, heavy lifting doesn't help me...at all.

Technically, this is correct. [Well, actually, I might quibble about the "at all" bit. Being stronger (not simply having more mass) will help you run faster.]

But, from the pov of this thread, it is very VERY hard for anyone, let alone a woman, to put on 40lb of muscle. And, if they are in a calorie deficit, it just isn't going to happen. You need to be eating a large calorie surplus and training hard to gain any real significant muscle mass. Having lots of testosterone helps too.

Bernadette60614

One more consideration for women: We live longer. I want to be the old lady who can travel to Europe and have a great time not the old lady who is so lacking in muscle that it takes all my strength to get from bed to the TV set..

As for lifting, there are far more knowledgeable men here than I when it comes to male weight lifting. I distinguish between weight training and bodybuilding. I weight train (primarily using the New Rules of Lifting programs) and focusing on compound exercises which follow my body's natural functionality (pushing, pulling, squating, lifting). Those are activities our bodies do naturally and I want to be able to do them forever.

There are a lot of bodybuilding building books I see which seem to focus on just getting bigger biceps, rock hard abs, et al. I can't comment on how those, but those seem to be more in the competitive sport arena.