Do you even lift, sis? Why and how to start lifting heavy.
Let’s be real for a second - women have been conditioned to think lifting weights, especially heavy weights, is just for men and bodybuilders, because it makes you bulky…
And that’s some bullshit that will screw over your long term health.
Instead, women are told they need to do yoga, low weight Pilates, and cardio, so they can stay slim and lean.
No shade being thrown at any type of movement, but these low resistance types of training are just a small part of how we were built over the millennia.
For 95% of human history, and even in modern hunter-gatherer societies, women were lifting heavy and often, every single day.
In addition to carrying kids, they were carrying sacks and baskets that weighed dozens of pounds to bring food back to their village. They were squatting and lifting these heavy sacks several times for about 4+ hours per day.
And guess what … health issues we face today just weren’t that common.
Today, women are diagnosed with these issues at much higher rates than men:
40-88% of US adults are insulin resistant (depending on the study, with higher rates being found in post-menopausal women than men of the same age)
⅔ of Alzheimer's diagnoses are for women
27.5% of women are overweight (according to the BMI scale)
13.1% of women aged 50-64 have osteoporosis (and it only increases with age)
There are a million different factors contributing to these dumbfounding statistics, but one thing is common in them all…
Yep, you guessed it… muscle mass.
“But there are so many other reasons” and “science hasn’t proven that” …
I hear you, but let’s think this through for a hot minute…
Evolution, in a nutshell, happens when the “fittest” survive their environment. The environment for most of human history has involved:
Sleep and wake rhythms in tune with a 24 hour day
Sprinting to escape predators
Lifting weights (both light and heavy) most of their non-resting hours
Eating what people could find, which was mostly a diversity of plants and animals
So, in order to adapt and survive this environment, a specific diet and highly adaptable muscle was essential.
However, modern society that’s really only taken hold in the last 150 years includes:
Sitting for extended periods of time
Eating pre-made boxed goods full of monotonous, over-processed, synthetic materials and tons of sweeteners
Staying indoors the majority of the day, often staring at blue screens
Inhaling thousands of different types of pollutants from cars, planes, and building materials
Yes, our modern diet is vastly different, various forms of pollution are now found literally everywhere, we live longer than at any point in history…
All those points are totally valid and issues that we need to research further.
But, muscle mass is also directly tied to each of these issues individually. We no longer have the muscle mass that we should have, and it’s killing us slowly.
Let’s take a look…
Insulin Resistance.
First off, what is insulin? The short of it is that insulin is a messenger that gets glucose into our cells to use. It’s the go-between that introduces glucose into our cells.
But when insulin comes knocking, and knocking, and knocking every time our glucose levels go up, our cells are just like “nah, you’re killin’ my vibe, go away.”
Our cells become increasingly more resistant to insulin, which means glucose isn’t able to fuel our cells, which has a whole downstream effect on all of our bodily systems.
Why does our glucose, and therefore our insulin, go up and cause this to happen? Because our diet sucks.
We in Western society eat tons of sugar - literally, Americans eat an average of 34 teaspoons of sugar per day, or about 775 pounds per year.
The recommended daily limit of sugar for an adult is 9 teaspoons of sugar per day…
We’re eating nearly 4 times as much sugar in a day as is recommended, and a hell of a lot more than our ancestors did (outside of their fruit consumption).
Also, because most people are probably undereating protein, they are starving and replacing those calories with quick carbs and sugars, which burn fast and keep us hungry for more.
We are pretty sedentary and lack the muscle mass to use the massive amounts of glucose we consume every day.
Even if you’re naturally slim, you could still be insulin resistant and harboring fat internally (aka “skinny fat”, which is a whole other topic of discussion).
Muscle cells use glucose and insulin much better than fat cells do.
So, the more muscle you have, the better your body can handle the insulin and glucose in your bloodstream.
Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are now being called “Type 3 Diabetes.”
An oversimplified breakdown of Alzheimer’s is that your brain cells can no longer use the glucose in your bloodstream because of major insulin resistance. So, your brain cells start starving to death.
If you’ve ever seen someone suffer through this gods-awful disease, you know how heartbreaking it is when they can no longer function.
It is terrifying that 2/3 of Alzheimer’s cases are women. So, why is that?
The science is still emerging, but scientists think it has something to do with insulin resistance increasing once a woman hits menopause.
When a woman transitions from peri-menopausal to post-menopausal, her estrogen drops, and estrogen increases sensitivity to insulin.
But when our estrogen drops, and we don’t have adequate muscle mass, our bodies really struggle with insulin resistance.
Keeping your body and brain sensitive to insulin is essential to avoiding Alzheimer’s, and while diet is a huge part of it, so is maintaining adequate muscle mass.
Osteoporosis & Osteopenia.
You ever see that little old person hunched over their cane or shopping cart and think “I really hope I never end up like that”? No? Just me? Ok.
Osteoporosis is the medical term for porous bones. Osteopenia is the process of our bones losing density and becoming more porous over the years.
You are probably thinking “wtf does muscle mass have to do with osteoporosis?”
I’m glad you asked.
As we age, our bone density and muscle mass both weaken and decrease for so many reasons:
We’re not eating enough nutrients these days, so our bodies have less to work with.
We’re not eating enough protein to prevent sarcopenia (the process of our muscles losing strength), let alone to reverse it.
We’re sedentary, and as we age, it becomes harder to build muscle.
Our bodies struggle to use the nutrients we do eat.
But let’s take it a step further and talk the cultural contributions…
Women are supposed to be slim. For at least the last hundred years (probably longer, but I’m not a history buff), thinness was the goal.
And how do we get ultra-thin? Starving ourselves and burning fat.
Women were not building muscle. They were not lifting weights.
So their bones were not experiencing those micro-stressors to rebuild themselves stronger.
Yes. Lifting heavy weights causes stress to our bones, and our bodies being miraculous self-healers, heal those micro-stressors to become stronger.
Lifting heavy while you’re younger and have the ability to also creates stronger bones.
Lifting heavy is a win-win for you. You get the strong muscles AND the strong bones, so “old age” just won’t hit as hard when the time comes.
“Great, so I’m screwed, right?” WRONG. Here’s what you do:
1. Squat.
Before the invention of chairs, our ancestors squatted all day every day, not just to use the bathroom…
They’d hang out in a deep squat while in chill mode, or work mode, or beast mode.
This study found that squatting about 10 times every 45 minutes was more effective at regulating insulin than a regular workout once a day.
Read that again…
10 regular body-weight squats every 45 minutes was more effective at regulating insulin (and therefore preventing diseases) than one daily training session.
That means that you don’t have to waste your time at the gym to protect your older self.
Any able-bodied person can squat a handful of times throughout their day and stave off major health issues like Alzheimers, insulin resistance, diabetes, and more.
Squatting is essential for strengthening all the muscles throughout the lower half of your body, which not only prevents diseases, but also keeps you stable as you age and therefore prevents major injuries from minor falls.
2. Deadlift.
Lifting heavy things off the ground is also a regular movement our ancestors did.
They’d lift that sack of tubers and throw it over their shoulder to head back to their village, or lift that cuddly toddler to kiss the boo-boos. They all lifted all the time.
Lifting weights from the ground strengthens your legs, back, and arms to give your whole backside the strength it needs to keep you standing upright.
You don’t need to lift heavy for this either.
Start with a broom handle, then slowly increase the weight until it’s too heavy to keep your form. Incorporate it slowly over time and you’ll be amazed at how strong you get.
3. Push & Pull.
Grownups just don’t climb trees like the kids do. We also don’t push stuff out of our way to get where we need to go - most of the time, anyways.
Pull-ups and push-ups are ancestral movements that strengthen your entire upper body and core, not just your arms.
Pull-ups stretch out your shoulders and back, which feels amaze-balls, especially if you’re sitting at a desk all day.
Again, start small. If you can’t do a pull-up, no biggie.
You can modify just about any workout by using a stool or chair, or you can also use resistance bands under your foot to help push as you pull.
For push-ups, start with your hands being elevated (like the kitchen counter while prepping the millionth meal or snack of the day), and slowly decrease the height as you get stronger.
Tiny commitments for just a few minutes every day is the key here. Do what you can where you’re at, and when it gets too easy, decrease the supports and modifications, and then start adding weights.
4. Eat your Protein.
Your body cannot build muscle without the building blocks of protein.
While the jury is still out on just how much protein we need (approximately 0.8-1.2 grams per pound of your ideal body weight seems to be the recommendation), you should probably make sure that you’re eating at least 100 grams a day.
Make it easy by frontloading your protein. Start your day with 40-50 grams of protein whenever you break your longest fast.
Eating enough protein, especially early in your day, helps:
Reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS for short) that most people experience after working out
Increase your satiety (aka, it helps you feel full for longer because protein takes longer to digest than carbs and fibers)
Regulates your cravings because your body isn’t starving for more nutrition to function
Increases your insulin sensitivity because you’re not hungry for more, more, more (and resorting to glucose spiking goodies)
Give your bodies the tools to heal itself. Your present body composition and your future muscle and bone mass will thank you for it.
Key Takeaways.
Your goal is to build your muscle mass.
Muscle mass = longevity, increased insulin sensitivity, decreased likelihood of serious diseases and injuries as you age.
Muscle is built slowly - so start slow and work your way up.
Consistency is important - start where you’re at, and build those habits.
Muscle is built using protein, so make sure you eat enough protein.
Muscle will help keep you stable as you age and reduce your risk of serious falls and injuries.
Plus, adequate muscle helps you look good naked. Doesn’t matter who you’re trying to look good for (yourself or that cutie that comes to mind), we all want to feel good in our own skin.