Women lose more muscle

If the promise of a lean, strong physique isn’t enough incentive to get you to pick up some weights as part of your workout, a scary study reported in the Globe and Mail might be enough to do the trick.

It’s no secret that we lose muscle mass as we age – it’s part of the reason why our metabolism goes into decline.

According to research out of the University of Nottingham, reported in the Globe, women take more of a hit than men do. Even worse, they have a harder time processing the protein in their diets to replace this lost muscle.

The toll of this lost muscle mass goes far beyond the superficial. "If a woman over the age of 65 has a fall, she has a 50-per-cent chance of being dead in two years and that is a frightening statistic," said one of the researchers, Michael Rennie.

I only added a regular weights routine to my workout a couple of years ago. While my doctor has always emphasized the importance of doing weights, to be honest, I found (and still do find) this part of my workout boring and repetitive. While I found a class at my gym that makes them tolerable – an hour of strength training with a song dedicated to each muscle group – I still slog through it twice a week. And truth be told, it’s the one part of my workout that makes the biggest difference. I can sweat it out on the treadmill every day, but I never feel firmer than when I’m sticking to my strength routine (if you’re wondering, my workouts are a rotation of weights, running, the elliptical machine and Pilates).

Tell us the truth, is weight training a regular part of your workout routine? If not – what’s holding you back: Boredom, intimidation, not knowing where to start??? (check out our 20 minute toning routine if that last one’s you.) And for those of you who do weights on a regular basis, how did you get started? How do you keep the routine fresh? Email us your tips here.