Working Out With Weights At Age 67!

During the summer of 2009, I joined a woman’s health club and began to work out several times a week. I was really tired of seeing my muscle vanish through insufficient use. Little did I know when I started out, the amount of strength I had lost. That has been discovered as it came back.

I received a complete workup by an Exercise Physiologist and was not shocked, but was dismayed to learn that my body fat Percent was 44! I was chubby. Really chubby… And at 5’2? - well, a few pounds show. And I had much more than a few…

I began slowly with the weights, using the small ones that the trainer had shown me. Combined with that, I walked the fitness treadmill at my target heart rate for 30-40 or so minutes twice a week.
As the months passed I was really pleased to be upgrading to heavier and heavier weights with regularity.

I was also thrilled to discover that it seemed to be once again easy to get out of the car, walk up stairs and do normal things that had come to be difficult. Amazing.

At some point, I stumbled upon Tim Ferriss’ “work short and HARD” weight lifting suggestions and started to make use of them.

In March of 2010, I met with my sisters (who live a distance from me) to try on dresses for one sister’s wedding - a gala event scheduled for July and in which we were all taking part. My sisters were raving about how great I looked. I didn’t recognise that the changes showed - since I had been experiencing the slow improvement and the people I saw everyday were, too. However my sisters saw a huge difference.

The upshot was in fact - I didn’t drop any weight to speak of throughout the 1st nine months of training. Perhaps a pound or two. Yet I was SMALLER, and my body fat % had gone to 31! WOW.

Subsequently, I discovered the SLOW CARB method of eating and have shed more weight. I am pretty darned happy.

So my message right here is that for a female past 65 who's “let herself go,” there isn't any reason not to get into a gym and begin workouts using weights. You won’t get muscular. And everyone will quickly be telling you how fantastic you look.

I had read Miriam Nelson’s book, Strong Women Stay Young, and she is right! Having the capacity to do the everyday things that I used to find simple and easy has been more fantastic than I'm able to describe.

So go for it. And if you’re lucky, you’ll find a woman’s gym like I did which catered to older women - so
 you won’t have to deal with nubile 20-somethings in tights! And I wish all of you the best.