‘I really should be doing strength training’
Sound familiar?
Since I’ve started seeing clients for health coaching, one of the things I hear a lot is ‘I run/swim/do some other cardio, but I know that I really should be doing strength training.’
It’s great that people are now aware that strength training may be the best thing you can do for your health. We start losing muscle mass from our 30s onwards, and this unfortunately accelerates after menopause.
But so many of us still don’t do it. What’s stopping us?
The oft-repeated reason that women are worried about ‘getting too muscly’ doesn’t ring true for me. I don’t think any woman actually thinks they’re going to walk out of a gym looking like Arnie. I think it comes down to having the time and headspace to work out how to do it properly:
Should you invest in a personal trainer? That’s expensive long-term, and would you have time to actually go? What about buying weights to use at home? Which ones are best? Where would you keep them? Is a resistance band just as good? Why are there so many different ones? How am I supposed to know where to start?
You ask yourself all of these questions and, before you land on any real answers, something else comes up that you have to deal with more imminently. This is life.
But could the answer be in realising that strength training doesn’t actually have to involve weights?
You’ve probably seen people powerlifting on Instagram, and you might be under the impression that that’s what you need to do to get strong. But there are other ways.
Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of Pilates, and was delighted to hear Michael Mosley extolling the virtues of it on his Just One Thing podcast recently. The power of Pilates, he explained, is in its ability to strengthen your deep core muscles.
‘Pilates is discipline’, says Marsha Lindsay, founder of Nobu Pilates who, impressively, is third generation trained by Joseph Pilates himself. ‘There are elements of stretch but it's hitting strength, mobility and flexibility in one, looking at posture, alignment and balance.’
If you’re thinking: ‘Nobu? I thought they did black cod, not workouts?’ You’re right; Marsha’s studio is based in the Nobu hotel, next to the iconic restaurant. And brilliantly, they’ve just launched a Stretch + Sushi package, where you can do one of Marsha’s classes followed by a bento box and an alcohol-free cocktail for £90.
If Pilates at Nobu feels a bit extra for now, then roll out your mat and fire up YouTube because there are plenty of videos that you can do at home for £0.
I like @MoveWithNicole, who is clearly basing her whole schtick on @YogaWithAdriene, right down to instructing us to ‘find what feels good’. She doesn’t have Adriene’s Texan charm, but she always seems to be on a beach or by a swimming pool, which feels like a nice escape when you’re in rainy East London.
And Pilates is not the only way to get strong without weights. Barre is a combination of Pilates, ballet and cardiovascular movements and I recently went to a class with Barre Series founder Catie Miller that left my arms feeling as though I’d been pumping iron for days.
‘All you need is a mat and a chair,’ says Catie. The back of the chair is your ‘barre’ and, if you want to add hand weights, you can use water bottles (personally, I found it hard enough without them).
‘People will say that they don’t have space in their flat but, if you have space to roll out a mat, then you have enough space,’ she continues. 'I teach on Zoom at 6.45am three days a week and it's amazing to see everyone waking up in the little boxes on my screen. It's empowering.’
If you’ve been feeling like you ought to be powerlifting, you’re probably sceptical that this is enough, but Catie is adamant. ‘It’s enough,’ she says. ‘You can get strong using just your body weight. I promise, it’s enough.’
Like Pilates, barre has a big focus on breath and alignment, which is as good for your mind as it is for your muscles, not to mention your pelvic floor. There are plenty of free videos online, or you can sign up for Catie’s classes on the Barre Series website.
Paid subscribers to Well Well Well can try a virtual Barre Series class live for free; scroll down to the bottom for the link and code to book ↓
As with everything I recommend, remember to enjoy it. So many things in life are bloody miserable and there’s not much that you can do about that. But you are (hopefully) in control of how you move your body, so make it fun.
On a mission to make barre as fun as it can be is Disco Barre in Dalston (which offers on demand classes for £22.22 a month). With its pumping music and New York loft-style vibe, the classes feel more like you’re on the dance floor than ‘doing exercise’. Founder Sophie Ritchie is also trained in the Lotte Berk barre technique, which gets those deep core pelvic muscles so strong, it sells itself on promising to improve your sex life. I mean, you don’t hear that about deadlifting, do you?
[Correction: I’ve since been contacted by weightlifting fans keen to inform me that it also strengthens your core muscles, and so is good for your sex life. Basically stronger = sexier 🍑]
Finding a barre or Pilates class that you actually enjoy could be a solution to the old I-know-I-should-be-strength-training-but-don’t-know-how conundrum. But don’t forget you can use your own body weight to do resistance training around the house. Not having weights or a personal trainer is no reason not to start right now. After all, even very short bursts of daily activity have now been linked to reduced cancer risk.
So do some step-ups on a chair. Use the kitchen surface to do incline push-ups. Get down on the floor and hold a plank for as long as you can. Or stand up and do some squats or lunges. If you’re feeling as though you ‘really should be doing strength training’, then please know that it doesn’t have to be complicated.
In fact, it really can be as easy (and fun) as you want it to be.
This week I’m…
Finally investing in a red light face mask after thinking about it for ages. I bought this one, but my dream is this one. Would love to hear if anyone else has tried one.
Watching Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix. The double crossing among the contestants - and abrupt way in which they’re eliminated - is totally addictive.
Very excited to see that Anna Jones has a new book coming out - although we have to wait until March for it.
Loving the pre-Christmas workout from @ThisWomanLifts 😂
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