Strength training for women over 50

For a long time the advice for women with low bone density was to take it easy.Walk, go gentle, don't lift anything heavy.

In 2018 a team in Australia put that to the test.The LIFTMOR trial took 101 women past menopause, average age 65, all with low bone mass.About half did two supervised 30-minute sessions a week of heavy lifting and impact work for eight months.The other half did a gentle program at home.

The lifting group's spine bone density went up 2.9 percent.The home group's went down 1.2 percent.At the hip, the lifting group held about even, while the home group lost 1.9 percent.The lifting group also did better on every strength and function test the researchers ran.They showed up for 92 percent of their sessions, and in eight months there was one minor injury, a back spasm.

I'd rather you trust the numbers, so here's what they don't say.These women were screened before they started, and every session was closely supervised.And they lifted heavier than we do: sets of five at more than 85 percent of their max.At TCT, nobody maxes out.

What I take from it is simpler.Challenging weight, coached well, beats taking it easy.

Canada's movement guidelines for adults 65 and older ask for muscle strengthening with the major muscle groups at least twice a week, plus activities that challenge balance.The guidelines for adults 18 to 64 ask for strength work at least twice a week too.

The Too Fit to Fracture recommendations, written for people who already have osteoporosis and endorsed by Osteoporosis Canada, land in the same place.Strength training two or more days a week, hard enough that the last few reps of a set of 8 to 12 are a challenge.Balance work every day.

Twice a week keeps coming up.That's the number to aim for.

TCT Mornings is a group for women 50 and over.Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:00, fifty minutes, done before 8.Ten women at most, and the same group every week.

Most of the room is coming back to training, not continuing it.The first weeks are technique: squat, hinge, press, pull and carry, with a weight I pick.Then the weight goes up a little at a time, and I decide when.Every session also has balance and coordination work in it.

If a knee or shoulder flares up, tell me at the start and I'll program around it.

If you've been diagnosed with osteoporosis, or you've had a fracture, talk to your doctor before you start, and tell me at your first session.If it was a spine fracture, Too Fit to Fracture recommends seeing a physiotherapist first, and I'd say the same.I'm a coach, not a physio.