A short YouTube interview segment (Melissa Vogel) arguing that weight training is essential for women over 35. Vogel lists benefits including increased metabolism, stronger bones, improved posture and joint health, hormone and mood stabilization, and neuroprotective effects (hippocampus size). She also addresses common misconceptions (fear of becoming 'bulky').
Why do you say weight training is a must for women over 35? It is absolutely a must. And it still gets to me how many women. I go into, like, a weight room, and the women are all on the cardio machines, and I'm left alone in the weight section with all the men, and I'm like, come join me over here. There's so many things that happen with weight training. I mean, it's boosting metabolism, it's strengthening your bones, it's improving your posture, your overall joint health. I mean, and it stabilizes your hormones and your mood, everything. And I don't think people understand either that you can make your brain healthier, too. Like, exercise actually makes your brain bigger. So if you think of your brain as a muscle, which it's not, but every time you exercise, you're making that brain bigger, and it increases the size of the hippocampus, of. Of the brain. And as we're aging, we're fighting that things are shrinking, things are getting smaller. And if you're weight training, you can actually increase the size of that so you stay smarter and sharper and everything else. But there's such a mis understanding around weights. And women think, well, I don't want to get too bulky, or if I have fat on my body, is that just going to make me bigger? Because the muscle gets bigger underneath, so it just makes me look wider and bigger out there. And it's like, no, that's not going to happen to you.
