Fit and Happier

When I first met Michelle at our daughters' school drop offs, I noticed a difference between us.  Despite the fact that we had kids the same age, she was often on her way to work out, whereas I was still in the "Mommy's too tired for anything but coffee and muffins" phase.  OK, so the "phase" had lasted 10 years and a dress size, but who's counting?

When Michelle mentioned that she was getting certified to be a personal trainer and offered me a free session, I went in warning her I might cry.  I'm a yoga teacher, I'm good at lying down. When she put down a couple of toilet rolls and said "Pretend they're weights and pick them up; I want to see your form," I burst out laughing.  Pretend they're weights?  What kind of actress does she think I am?  I have no idea how to pick them up!

Two major things happened that day.  1) Michelle gave me the cold, hard facts about why women our age MUST weight train to maintain our health, and why a balance of weights, cardio, and stretching is essential.  I'd been doing a lot of what I enjoy (stretching) and not enough of what I don't (pumping iron).  2) She showed me that it's not as painful as I remember from high school gym class.  It can even feel, when done properly, good.  As in, deep-down, bone-building good.  And when done with a friend, or a friendly trainer, it can even be fun.

I asked Michelle to share with you here what she shared with me that day, in hopes that we can all jump-start this New Year by committing to being fit and happier by the next.


Are You Doing the Right Work Out?
By Michelle Collins

When I was in college, my mother developed diabetes and hypertension.  She was overweight, and did not exercise, and it was so painful to see her health and her quality of life deteriorate.  It made me realize how important it is to maintain good health for as long you have it, to never take for granted having the strength and energy to work out because once your health is compromised it becomes so much harder to do.  When I became a mother myself, I realized I wanted to be as strong as possible to take care of my daughters and also show them how much more enjoyable life can be if you're fit and active, so exercise has always been a part of my life.

But when I decided to become a personal trainer, I hit an exercise plateau right in the middle of my course study, not able to lose that last 10 pounds of baby weight. What was going on?  The answer was right there in my textbook: when it comes to losing or even maintaining weight, it gets harder as we get older, and it’s more difficult for women than it is for men.  I was doing a one-dimensional routine of almost entirely cardio.  It was time to pick up the weights.  

If you are new to exercise or in a routine, it's important to make sure your regimen has a balance of weight training, cardio, and stretching. 

Make your muscles work for you:  The same is true for men and women: the formula of calories in vs calories out can’t be fudged.  If you take in more than you burn, you will gain weight.  Losing weight means burning more calories than consumed either by diet (reducing calories in) or exercise (increasing calories burned) or a combination.  But then why do men lose weight faster than women while eating more?  It's all about metabolism and metabolism is mostly (except for genetics) about muscle mass – men have more muscle than women.  The more muscle mass a person has, the more calories he burns at rest and during exercise.  Aging also has a unique effect on a woman’s muscle mass.  Beginning around the age of 30, a woman who doesn’t resistance train will lose about ½ pound of muscle mass per year.  Over time, this will slow her metabolic rate, change her appearance and how clothing will fit (because lean mass is compact and fat tissue is bulky) and affect her overall health, regardless of whether or not she does cardiovascular training.  And, unless she reduces her daily caloric intake or increases her cardio regimen to compensate for the slower metabolism and lower calorie burn, she will gain weight in the form of body fat.   The good news is if you work your muscles your muscles will work for you to boost your metabolism to lose or maintain weight, keep you strong to perform daily activities more easily, keep your body fat down to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, and help you to avoid injury.

Use it or lose it. Unlike cardio exercise, where the calorie burn is immediate, resistance training is a pay-now-benefit-later proposition. We build muscle and bone through regeneration, which means we literally must break muscle tissue and bone down in order for the body to build more. The more we stress our muscles and bones, the stronger they will become. When we do a bout of bicep curls, for example, and we work that bicep to exhaustion, the muscle tissue in the bicep and the tissue of the humerus, break down. Over the next 48 hours the body works to regenerate, creating tissue that is younger, stronger and more numerous than the original tissue. You must rest at least 48 hours between resistance training bouts to give your body a chance to rebuild.

Challenge your bones.  As women approach and reach menopause, estrogen production decreases, which affects bone health.  This is why osteoporosis is much more prevalent in women than in men.  Weight bearing exercise, including resistance training, has been proven to build and strengthen bones to help prevent and combat this debilitating disease.

Get Moving: While resistance training is a key component of exercise for health, it is not a replacement for heart-pumping movement.  Cardiovascular exercise strengthens the most important muscle in your body, your heart (cardio), and your vascular system - blood vessels that bring oxygen and nutrients to your lungs, skin, liver and brain.  Any amount of movement is beneficial compared to no movement.  Whether you take a one hour walk in your neighborhood or fit in six 10 minute walks today, those are calories burned and a deposit into your "healthier body" account.  Cardio exercise has been linked in studies to lower risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, many types of cancer, hypertension and early-onset dementia.  More recently, studies have shown aerobic training to relieve symptoms of depression, sleep disorders, menopause and improve cognitive ability in children and adults.  The more you do, the lower the risks and the greater the rewards. But guard against the all or nothing approach. Instead, your goal each day should be that you're going to get up and move whenever you have an opportunity whether or not you have time to go to the gym for a structured workout.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park far away from the door at the grocery store or mall, pace while you're on the phone, make dinner (standing) instead of picking up take out at the drive through (sitting), choose outside play with your kids over a family movie.

Stay Flexible.  Aging also does a number on collagen in our ligaments, tendons and muscles, making us less flexible. with less range of motion in our joints.  As a result, we begin to compensate for that loss of joint mobility by developing dysfunctional movement.  This dysfunctional movement makes us more likely to get injured during that Zumba class or when putting groceries in the car.  Weak muscles, lack of joint flexibility, and dysfunctional movement also lead to balance problems.  This is why the elderly are more prone to falls.

Mind-body exercise like yoga and martial arts are great for flexibility and balance.  Many Pilates classes combine resistance and flexibility training.  Stretching after exercise – whether cardio or resistance – is very important for flexibility and reducing your risk of injury.  Only stretch when your muscles are warm at the end of a workout.  Never stretch before exercise when your muscles are cold.

A balanced approach.  A balanced approach to fitness is best.  All women should engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week (according to the US Dept of Health & Human Services).  In addition, women should perform resistance training exercise 2-3 times per week, allowing at least 48 hours of rest between bouts.  Stretch at the conclusion of all workouts.

I couldn't believe I had been sweating my butt off four days a week doing cardio, only to learn it wasn’t enough anymore.  But I found that the resistance training could easily be done in the evenings in front of the TV, and I added a Pilates routine to mix it up and challenge myself.  I lost that last 10 pounds and have been able to keep it off.  I’m not the thinnest I’ve ever been, but I am most certainly the fittest I’ve ever been.  So ladies, join me: get moving, pump those weights, reward yourself with a relaxing stretch and fight genes, gravity and time.  We owe it to ourselves and our kids.


Michelle Collins is an American Council on Exercise (ACE) certified personal fitness trainer. She is the owner of Fit and Happier, a fitness service specializing in one-on-one and small group home-based training for women. Learn more at www.fitandhappier.com or find a certified fitness professional near you at www.acefitness.org and enter your zip code under ACE GetFit.