That book I've been telling you about, Younger Next Year for Women, was written by a physician and one of his patients. The patient does not love weight-lifting, but he is very insistent about its value. One of the things he said about the importance of weight-training left me initially skeptical. But then we had a round of freezing rain that left us with annoyingly icy sidewalks, and I am here today to tell you that he seems to have been correct.
I had noticed over the past several years that my balance is not what it used to be. It's not that I was falling over on a regular basis, but I am definitely more tippy than I was 25 years ago. Because I walk to and from work every day, over sidewalks that may or not be shoveled after winter storms, I am keenly aware of this difference. I would watch the college students go zipping up sidewalks covered in tamped-down snow, and I would think to myself, "Huh, there is no chance I could move that fast on this sidewalk."
A regular yoga practice made some difference, but my capacity to hold tree pose in my living room didn't really transfer into a renewed ability to walk confidently on icy surfaces. So when Chris Crowley said that strength training would improve my balance, it caught my eye. He said it would do so through two different mechanisms: first, that increasing the demand on my muscles on a regular basis would improve my proprioception, my sense of where my body is in space. Second, the increase in strength would make it easier for me to salvage the situation if I did stumble. He said 50-year-olds don't stumble any more often than 20-year-olds -- they just can't respond as effectively to their stumbles.
"Hm," I said as I stroked my chin thoughtfully. "Game-changing if true."
As you know (and might even be a little tired of hearing), I started lifting weights in May. I think I had lost a fair amount of muscle mass over the years, you guys. Everybody loses muscle mass across time, of course; the actual numbers are pretty depressing. But women who attempt to lose weight are at particular risk. A determination to shift the number on the scale quickly means that your body sheds muscle as well as fat. And when I wanted to lose weight, I wanted it GONE. Have you seen this Instagram post about the long-term effects of rapid weight loss on body composition? Interesting, right? And maybe a little sobering, even if it's only an Instagram post without much hard data to back it up?
So anyway-- we've had icy sidewalks for almost all of January, and they are not stressing me out. I do not have to think carefully about every step I take. I do not worry that I'm going to concuss myself while walking to the office. Don't get me wrong; I'm still taking it slowly and I did wear my Yak-Trax for the worst of it. But I feel more comfortable walking on treacherous sidewalks than I have felt in years. This morning Stella said, "It looks pretty bad out there, Mom; should you drive me to school?" She was right; it did look pretty bad out there. But I said, "Nah, we'll be fine." And I was also right.
Tomorrow morning I am going to head down to the basement before work. It will be my Day 1 lifting workout: three sets of pull-ups, three sets of Bulgarian split squats, three sets of shoulder press, two sets of incline bicep curls. It won't take me that long; it won't hurt that much. (Except for the incline bicep curls. Those are pretty painful.) But you guys, I cannot say enough good things about cultivating the habit of showing up and moving heavy things around. Give it a whirl! You have nothing to lose but your fear of falling on the ice!
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