As health and fitness professionals we like to think of ourselves invincible. After all, we help people feel better, and accordingly, we should never do anything to appear less than indomitable. We also all know this is simply not true.
In Part 1, I reviewed the ACSM study goals, statistics and barriers to weightlifting unique to women
In this article, I’ll cover the three E’s for empowering women in the weight room, and translate these recommendations into strategies that non-professionals can implement for themselves.
Understanding how physical attributes of gyms perpetuate negative messaging regarding women’s bodies and harmful myths about women’s fitness.
Overcoming these barriers:
People will often gravitate toward their comfort zones and do exercise routines that are more familiar and that are easy to execute.
Overcoming these barriers:
Knowledge is power. Promoting an understanding of the principles of weightlifting and its benefits is key to debunking myths and misconceptions and building a healthy relationship with the barbell.
Common myths and misconceptions about weightlifting:
Overcoming these barriers:
This is the time of our lives when we need to kick the societal status quo to the curb and take our health and wellness into our own hands and away from destructive narratives. The world is our oyster. We have established our careers, raised our children, and had our share of triumphs and failures. With that comes the wisdom to pave our own way into this new prime of our lives.
So, whether it’s your first back squat with a PVC pipe or a deadlift PR (personal record), congratulations on forging a new frontier to being your fittest, strongest, most vital self!
Dr. Carla DiGirolamo is a double Board-Certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist who specializes in the care of reproductive age and mid-life women. Carla completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brown University Medical School/Women and Infants’ Hospital and her Reproductive Endocrinology training at the Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School. She is a North American Meno
Fit Pros: Offer menopausal and perimenopausal women an individualized approach to training, nutrition and wellness as a Menopause Health and Fitness Specialist.
References
The hormonal changes of mid-life bring our muscle and bone mass under assault. As circulating estrogen declines and estrogen receptors in skeletal muscle become scarcer, changes in bone density, muscle mass, and metabolism become apparent.
Shoulder to shoulder with the importance of cardiovascular health, optimizing our muscle and bone health helps stave off decline in bone density which can lead to fracture, and can help mitigate the increasing insulin resistance that wreaks havoc on our changing metabolism.
To coin a phrase from Dr. Stacy Sims, there is a great benefit to women in this stage of life (and all stages of life) who “Lift heavy sh*t”. Now, if you have never lifted weights, this can sound intimidating. But don’t worry. You are not alone.
Historically, there have been many barriers to women in the weight room. Training environments where achieving a certain body image is the focus rather than building strength, healthy movement patterns, and improving body composition can be unmotivating and intimidating. The stigma of weightlifting as “masculine” or that it “makes you bulky” and the misconceptions that weightlifting is not beneficial for women are also among the many obstacles that women of all ages face.
In the May/June issue of ACSM Health and Fitness Journal, Claire Ford et al. do an excellent job of defining the obstacles that women face in the weight room and have created a framework called “The 3 E’s” that outlines strategies to overcome these barriers. I’ll take the summary points from this article and translate them into practical solutions for women and fitness professionals to empower themselves in the world of weightlifting.
Ford, C, Kercher VM, Kercher KA; ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal 27(3):p 14-19, 5/6 2023.
Goal of the study
Use a socioecological model to provide insight into the nature of women’s unique experiences with weightlifting and describe a practical approach for empowering women in this environment.
Some statistics
Just 2 days per week of resistance training can reap physical, mental, and emotional health benefits.
Only 25% of the US population meets these recommendations.
17.5% of women engage in weightlifting on a regular basis
Benefits of Weightlifting
Barriers to weightlifting unique to women
The notion that women face unique barriers to weightlifting has been a subject of investigation. Harne and Bixby organized these barriers into the following 3 categories:
Time / effort
Physical Effect
Social
The 3 E’s: A framework through which we can understand and address women’s barriers to weightlifting
After identifying and categorizing these unique barriers to weightlifting that women face, the authors created a framework upon which to overcome these barriers. This framework is called “The 3 E’s”.
This ACSM article speaks to an audience of fitness professionals and how the fitness industry can work to overcome these barriers.
In Part 2 of this article, I take this a step further and translate these recommendations for fitness professionals into strategies that non-professionals can implement for themselves.
Fit Pros: Offer menopausal and perimenopausal women an individualized approach to training, nutrition and wellness as a Menopause Health and Fitness Specialist.
Dr. Carla DiGirolamo is a double Board-Certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist who specializes in the care of reproductive age and mid-life women. Carla completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brown University Medical School/Women and Infants’ Hospital and her Reproductive Endocrinology training at the Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School. She is a North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Certified Menopause Practitioner and has been featured in multiple podcasts and speakerships at various events discussing the physiology of the hormonal changes of menopause, hormone therapy and functional fitness training.
References
You’ve just spent the best part of an hour on an amazing presentation of your skills and services, you cracked a few jokes, you found some common ground, and you’re pretty certain you’re on your way to gaining a new happy client and they hit you with it: “Sounds good, I need to think about it.”
Every 6 minutes someone is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Most do not expect their physician to prescribe boxing along with dopamine replacement medication. Yet, every day movement disorder physicians, neurologists, and therapists (PT and OT) are doing just that with positive results, and quantifiable findings supported by years of in-depth research.
Before we answer the question, “why boxing?” Let’s review the epidemiology of Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive neurological disease and primarily affects dopamine producing neurons in the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra is a structure located in the midbrain, and plays an important role in how the brain controls movement. Substantia nigra is latin for “black substance,” reflecting the fact that parts of the substantia nigra appear darker than neighboring areas due to higher levels of neuromelanin in dopaminergic neurons.
People living with Parkinson’s Disease experience motor and non-motor symptoms such as, loss of balance, poor gait, postural issues, visual tracking problems, rigidity, tremor, freezing, facial masking, inability to focus on a task or process information clearly, bradykinesia, hypophonia (volume of voice), depression, anxiety, apathy.
Now, consider the skills a boxer possesses. They train regularly to hone the following skills, skills that align with Parkinson’s symptoms.
Therefore, it makes sense to include boxing in the regular exercise regimen of folks living with Parkinson’s. Additionally, when you integrate boxing with essential strength exercises that aid in bone health, you build a powerful, comprehensive exercise program that results in physical and cognitive growth and HOPE!
Can anyone with Parkinson’s Disease box? It depends on the person and their physical and cognitive imitations, but for the most part, the answer is yes! I work with those recently diagnosed and those fighting PD for over 27 years, ranging in age from 27-94! Some Parkinson’s “fighters” only have a slight finger tremor, while some are wheelchair bound. However, the one thing they have in common – the spirit to fight!
Now, the cherry on top of boxing for those living with Parkinson’s is the research that supports what we see each week in the gym. Rock Steady Boxing, a nationally recognized Parkinson’s fitness program located in Indianapolis, has been the focus of many research projects over the last 10 years to provide concrete supporting data.
1. Exercise is medicine! – Research by Johansson, Hanna et al reports that exercise is shown on a functional MRI (displays which areas of the brain are most active) to improve signal transmission in the PD brain, effectively demonstrating neuroprotection and neuroplastic changes related to exercise.
2. Improved Balance and Decrease Falls – In a national study conducted by Moore et al, shows an 87% reduction in falls of people participating in a Rock Steady Boxing program.
3. Improved Non-Motor Symptoms
4. Decreased Risk Of Hospitalization – Kannarkat, T., et al report in their study “Effect of exercise and rehabilitation therapy on risk of hospitalization in Parkinson’s disease,” that participants in Rock Steady Boxing increase exercise duration and intensity which reduces the odds of a hospital visit in the PD population.
The above Information encourages many to join an independent Parkinson’s boxing program or a local Rock Steady Boxing.
It is important to note that while my program, Bridges for Parkinson’s, addresses the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease with boxing, we also include Parkinson’s specific mobility, strength, fine motor, vocal, and cardio drills in each routine, along with love and support to keep “fighting back”. To quote a Rock Steady Boxing mantra,“ I promise you’ll feel better, but you’ll have to work for it and I’ll help you.”
Parkinson’s Disease is a journey and Bridges For Parkinson’s – Rock Steady Boxing Music City and Franklin want to support you and your Parkinson’s “fighters” on the journey. As a MedFit author and Parkinson’s Fitness Professional, I am here to help. You can contact me at info@bridgesforparkinsons.com for assistance!
Together, we fight back stronger!
Fit Pros: Learn The Skills You Need To Safely and Effectively Meet the Needs of the Clients With Parkinson’s Disease
Enroll in Colleen’s 12-hour online course, Parkinson’s Disease Fitness Specialist. The course brings the research, medical and fitness fields together so that fitness professionals gain a comprehensive understanding of Parkinson’s disease, and learn how to work with those who have it.
Colleen Bridges has worked for nearly 17 years as an NSCA Certified personal trainer, group exercise instructor and fitness consultant and as an independent contractor for Nashville’s first personal training center, STEPS Fitness. Her passion for understanding the body in sickness and in health, and how it moves, as fed her interest in and enhanced her talent for working with senior adults, especially those living with a neurological disorder such as Parkinson’s Disease.
It is no secret that we, as men, have failed miserably when it comes to our health. According to The Men’s Health Network (MHN), we die at higher rates than women from the following top 10 causes of death: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accidents, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, suicide, kidney disease, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. If you examine the list above closely, you will notice that most of them are preventable
Do you want to live longer better without long hours spent in the gym and grueling workouts? If so, then get ready for this NEAT hack that will reveal a powerful form of simple and fun movements that can add years to your life and life to your years.
Recent research has shed light on an often overlooked aspect of energy expenditure known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT encompasses the calories burned through daily activities that are not classified as formal exercise. This article explores the findings of a study published in the Journal of Exercise Nutrition and Biochemistry, which highlights the impact of NEAT on all-cause mortality and its potential for promoting longevity.
NEAT represents the energy expended in activities such as fidgeting, standing, walking, and other forms of non-exercise movements. Unlike planned physical exercise, NEAT is the spontaneous, low-intensity physical activity that we engage in throughout the day. It includes activities like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, standing instead of sitting, or even simple actions like tapping our feet or drumming our fingers. While each of these activities may seem inconsequential on its own, their cumulative impact on energy expenditure and overall health should not be underestimated.
The study published in the Journal of Exercise Nutrition and Biochemistry aimed to examine the relationship between NEAT and all-cause mortality. The research involved a large-scale analysis of data from multiple studies and demonstrated a significant association between higher levels of NEAT and reduced risk of premature death. Participants with higher NEAT levels had lower mortality rates, independent of their engagement in structured exercise. This finding suggests that NEAT may play a vital role in promoting longevity and mitigating the adverse effects of sedentary behavior. Simple moments are the key to your life and health extension.
Several mechanisms explain how NEAT positively influences overall health and mortality. NEAT contributes to an increase in daily energy expenditure, which can help maintain energy balance and prevent weight gain. As obesity is a significant risk factor for many chronic diseases, NEAT’s role in weight management is crucial for reducing the incidence of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
NEAT movement also impacts various physiological processes in the body. Studies have shown they influence insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism, and lipid profiles, all of which play important roles in maintaining optimal health. And they have also been associated with improvements in cardiovascular health, including reduced blood pressure and improved arterial function.
Given the potential benefits of NEAT, finding ways to incorporate more non-exercise activity into our daily routines becomes essential. Here are some practical suggestions to increase NEAT:
Take your pick, find as many ways to move through your day and enjoy just how NEAT it is to live longer better.
Check out Dr. Melissa’s Longevity Lifestyle and Fitness Specialist online course on MedFit Classroom!
Dr. Melissa Petersen is a THRIVE Catalyst For over 25 years, she has been a sought out leader in the fields of precision health and human longevity.
As the founder of the Human Longevity Institute, a TEDx Speaker, host of the Human Longevity Podcast, author of the best-selling book, the Codes of Longevity, an adjunct professor of continuing education at Life University, a clinical educator and advisory board member for Medfit and a scientific advisory board member for Awakend, she is dedicated to up-leveling flourishing across the planet,.
She is a true change agent, on a mission, to help people thrive by design as they unlock the potential within to live their longest, healthiest and most fulfilling life. To discover what is possible for you or to learn more about Dr. Melissa and the ways to connect, visit www.DocMelissa.com and www.HumanLongevityInstitute.com
With the right training, you can help older adults retain or regain balance and reduce fall risk. Losing balance as we age is not inevitable. However, your older clients may express increasing concerns about falling. Those concerns may be well founded, especially if their senses are diminishing with each passing year. Certainly lack of movement also contributes to balance challenges.
We rely on information from our body in space and the environment to stay upright. Both internal and external factors affect this ability (over 200 factors. Wow!). For instance, we notice where we are in relation to the terrain and anticipate and adjust accordingly. But if the information coming in is compromised – due to weakening vision or hearing loss, for example – balance is compromised. Certainly if your clients have lost muscle mass over the years, their fall risk rises as well.
Fortunately, whether you work one-on-one or with a group, you can design effective, science-based, cutting edge balance workouts. The “old school” approach of offering static balance moves to reduce the risk of falling by standing on one leg is not backed by research. Instead, offer dynamic, integrated, functional tasks and movement challenges.
Before addressing training protocols, let’s review the three internal systems that affect balance. Let’s call these three systems “Feel Me, Hear Me, See Me.” (Any of you just get “Tommy, the Who” playing in your head?) When any system is not functioning correctly, a person can feel off-balance.
Visual – See Me: (the most heavily used system) The visual system works with the vestibular system (defined below) by sending signals from the eye muscles to the balance organs in the inner ear. For instance, when you turn your head, your eyes go in the opposite direction. If eyesight degenerates, balance becomes more challenging.
Vestibular – Hear Me: This inner ear system lets us know that even when our bodies move through space, the world is not suddenly shifting. Our legs, ankles, knees, and neck muscles also send signals that help us keep our balance.
Somatosensory – Feel Me: A complex system of sensory neurons and pathways that responds to changes at the surface or inside the body, the somatosensory system is also involved in maintaining postural balance. Proprioceptors within the joints, muscles, and inner ear give us info about our body’s movement relative to its base of support and the various body parts. Relaying information about body position to the brain allows it to activate the appropriate motor response or movement.
If any of these three systems give faulty or reduced data to the Central Nervous System, the response will be also reduced. Bad data in; bad data out. So if your clients have inner ear issues, sarcopenia or stiff feet, for instance, balance will be negatively affected.
In addition to taking into account the three internal systems defined above, Balance, Posture, Strength (including speed and power), and Cognition are also critical and integrated factors. If you affect one, you affect the others.
A well-designed and effective balance program will offer tasks that recognize the integrated aspect of balance, posture, speed, power, and coordination (aka cognition). Look for dynamic exercises that enhance the above.
The prime example is gait. Walking is our number one functional balance activity. Every leg swing through requires balance on one leg. Therefore a balance program for older adults needs to offer some form of gait training: walking slowly, walking quickly, walking with stops and starts, walking up and down steps, walking backwards, walking with frequent turns, walking around obstacles. You get the idea.
In order to accomplish these gait tasks, clients will simultaneously improve their posture and/or strength as they strive to follow your cues. For an additional posture challenge, they can put glider discs, foam yoga blocks, or small, deflated balls on their head while walking (forwards and backwards). You can cue random squats or hops or small jumps as they walk with the glider or ball staying in place.
They may also improve their cognition if they are walking while citing their childhood phone number or counting backwards by threes or naming animals in alphabetical order. To challenge their senses, you can dim the lights or play music or cue them to walk in ever-decreasing space without running into each other or anything in the room. Of course, safety is always the first consideration, so choose your variations according to your client’s or group’s abilities.
Can your clients walk and talk at the same time? We take this ability for granted, however older adults may start to walk in stops and starts if the cognitive load increases. Challenge them to maintain a constant speed while thinking through a conversation, math problem, recall task, or verbal pattern (such as naming their teachers from kindergarten through sixth grade).
To challenge their somatosensory, vestibular, and visual senses, ask them to toss a tissue or balloon or scarf in the air as they walk. Right hand toss and catch only; then left; then two-handed. Then have them toss the item back and forth with you or other group members. Do you see where you are also addressing at least two of the four integrated factors with these challenges?
Walking examples are just a fraction of the tasks, games, and exercises you can use to help your clients with their balance. For more ideas and exercises that out the above factors into action, view the related webinar, “Help Your Boomers Achieve Better Balance.”
Older adults want to ford streams when hiking, climb stairs abroad where no railings exist, recover when they do fall. In short, they want the freedom to move, walk, and balance with confidence and a spring in their (upright) step. If you apply the concepts of function, dynamic movement, and an integrated approach, you will offer them an effective (and dare I say, “fun”) balance program.
Whether you work one-on-one or with a group, you can design effective, science-based, cutting edge balance workouts. Join Kymberly Williams-Evans for this webinar to learn more!
Kymberly Williams-Evans PhD (ABD) has taught fitness to more than 40,000 participants on 4 continents in 4 languages. Her teaching career spans land, sea, and airwaves and started in the first aerobics studio in Europe. Former faculty at University of California Santa Barbara in both the Dept of Exercise and Sports Studies and English, she specializes in baby boomer and older adult group exercise. Her newly released online Better Balance course offers more than 120 videos and concise manual for both pros and consumers.
“I just don’t seem to have the motivation to really make changes.” This is a lament frequent to the ears of health and wellness coaches. Our clients are often puzzled by a lack of success in their efforts to start living a healthy lifestyle, or keep such efforts going. They blame it on either a lack of motivation to get started, or that their motivation fades as old habits reassert their rule.
Coaches help their clients examine and re-examine whatever sources of motivation they have mentioned. They help their clients revisit their desire to change and what drives it. They look at fear-based motivations such as not wanting to have an illness get worse, or not wanting to develop the maladies that have been prevalent in their family. They look at the love-based motivators like caring enough about ones self, wanting to be there for their grandchildren as they grow up, the intrinsic joy of dancing, swimming, tasting delicious and nutritious food, etc.
Perhaps the coach concludes, like their client, that these motivators just ‘aren’t enough’. The next step is to begin a usually fruitless search for additional motivators. Their client runs out of ideas and coaching descends into ‘what about this?’ suggestion after suggestion. What is really going on? What’s a more productive avenue to explore?
Your client may have enough motivation. They may in fact, have listed three, four or more reasons they want to change. They may possess a terrific combination of motivators. Motivation is like the fuel for a vehicle to run on. The problem might not be the fuel, but the lack of an actual vehicle! The vehicle is a methodology, a structure, and a process that facilitates change. To get where they need and want to go, the client needs both a vehicle to carry them and the fuel to put in it.
How do we mobilize motivation? By providing our client with methodology. I’ve always been amazed at how simple successful change can sometimes be when clients have a well-developed way of achieving it.
Coaches often hear their client’s frustration at wanting to improve their lifestyle, but not having much of a history of success at it. If we inquire if they have ever started their change efforts by first taking stock of their health and wellness in a really clear way, we find they rarely have. If we ask if they have ever begun by first developing a thorough plan as to how they will make their changes happen, we often find them admitting that they usually just get their will powered amped up and set some sort of goals. Rarely have they ever carried out their change efforts with the help of an ally who helped them with support and accountability. And, all too seldom have they ever keep track of their efforts at change and actually written it down.
A mentee of mine was recently coaching a middle-aged woman who complained of a lack of motivation holding her back. As we began listening to the recording, the coach helped the client describe at least four strong motivators that had propelled her into action. She realized that when her children were younger playing with them had provided her with more activity and energy. Now her energy was low and she wanted to reclaim that. She also talked about hoping for grandchildren and wanting to be a very active part of their lives. The client was concerned about her advancing age and not wanting to lose the health she had. She didn’t want to become a burden to anyone. She went on to list at least two more motivators.
As the client described her lack of success at change, her conclusion was that she was just lacking motivation. She described coming home from work tired and just fixing a quick (though not necessarily healthy) meal and watching television in the evening. “I just don’t have the motivation I need” the client lamented. She intended to be more active and intended to eat better. All she had for a plan were intentions.
Doing a great job of coaching, my mentee gently confronted his client and recited the substantial list of motivators that she did, in fact, have. He questioned whether it was a ‘lack of motivation’, or something else that was missing.
Clients try to figure out what is keeping them stuck. Unless it’s a matter of identifiable internal or external barriers, clients often say it’s a lack of motivation. They are looking for an explanation and, frankly, they often don’t know what else to call it.
An often ignored part of coaching is the work it takes to Co-Create The Coaching Alliance. In addition to getting acquainted with our client and hearing their story, an important part of our first session with a client is to convey to the client just how coaching works. Clients are used to meeting with consultants, not coaches. They expect to be able to provide the consultant with lots of great information and hear the expert recommendations. We spoke about this from the coach’s point of view in our blog post, “Making and Maintaining The Shift To The Coaching Mindset”. The client also needs to make a mindset shift to get oriented to this new way of working with someone.
Coaching is about co-creating agreements. We co-create with our client agreements about how we are going to work together. Some aspects of our working together are negotiable and can involve compromise. However, we are not going to compromise the nature of our coaching relationship. That is, we are not going to agree to just be our client’s educator, and let go of the role of coach.
Part of what an effective coach does is to explain, in a succinct fashion, exactly how coaching works, how it is structured and what the benefits of this structure are. The client-centered nature of coaching is conveyed with real reassurance that the client remains the one in the driver’s seat.
Part of the coach’s job is to facilitate the client’s use of the coaching structure. The coach does this by showing the client how advantageous it can be to operate with a solid plan, to track one’s progress at making changes, etc. The coach provides tools that make these processes easier. Mobile apps for tracking can be recommended and then, importantly, integrated into the coaching accountability.
Motivation can be puzzling and elusive, but when it is present a methodology, a structure, is what the client needs in order to mobilize it. By providing our client with the vehicle, we help them get where they want to go.
Word Origin – Coach: In the 15th Century the Hungarian village of KOCS was the birthplace of the true carriage or “coach” as the word evolved in English.
In other words we might define both types of coaches as: A coach takes you from where you are at, to where you want to be!
Originally published on Real Balance blog. Reprinted with permission.
Dr. Michael Arloski is the CEO and Founder of Real Balance Global Wellness Services, Inc. (www.realbalance.com). Real Balance has trained thousands of wellness coaches worldwide. Dr. Arloski is a board member of The National Wellness Institute, and a founding member of the executive team of The National Consortium For Credentialing Health and Wellness Coaches. He is author of the leading book in the field of wellness coaching: Wellness Coaching For Lasting Lifestyle Change, 2nd Ed.