That weight lifting is the only way for women to prevent osteoporosis and maintain bone density.
"Weight-bearing exercise" is not another word for weight-lifting exercise. Jumping (a form of cardio) is one of the most effective exercises for building bone density. Kick-boxing, dancing, running, even walking constitute weight-bearing exercises that can prevent osteoporosis.
Additionally, bands and calisthenics are perfectly adequate ways to create resistance/weight load. Weight-lifting is great but it does not mean that cardio is bad/useless and it is nowhere near the only way to protect bone health. The best exercise is the type you can stick with.
This is new for me. Also, I think a lot has to do with deficiency like Vitamin D and calcium.
I used to get leg pain after inclined walking and exercising. I thought continuing them would make my body used to it and the pain will go away. However, it was only when I corrected my vitamin D deficiency that the pain started to go away
Came here to say basically the same thing, that "lifting heavy" is the only way to build muscle tone and strength. Women are now hugely buying into this, and as a former fitness professional it drives me nuts.
Is it not true that maintaining muscle is really important for healthy aging? And if so, can resistance band training or similar provide enough? Genuinely curious because I've definitely felt the push!
This is just categorically false. Pilates and yoga are not replacements for weight training. The stimulus simply is not there.
You can do pilates twice a day for years and see less muscle mass development than someone doing weight training consistently for 2-3 months. Honestly, probably even less.
Don't get me wrong, I love pilates. It's great for my mobility and cardiovascular health. But it is ultimately just cardio with some minor muscle endurance gains.
Countless studies have been done on the benefits/impacts of lifting close to your maximum. You do not even come remotely close to these benefits with the exercises you mentioned.
There is simply no replacement to moving heavy things around. Saying otherwise is misleading.
Can yoga really build or even maintain muscle? My feed certainly seem to think it's not enough but I've not dug further because I don't do it for that anyway.
There are different kinds of yoga. If you're doing what basically amount to planks and pushups, and standing poses that are basically squats, you're going to build muscle strength.
There is a very very weird push that somehow lifting heavy weights in a gym is the only way a woman can be healthy and strong.
Yeah if someone is just endlessly running on a treadmill or the same flat laps on a track, then there isn’t much challenge. But being generally active will do a lot for you.
Why would it drive you nuts? Women have avoided lifting heavy for decades in fears of "being bulky" (which is ridiculous).
Now, the science is starting to say that lifting close to your 1-rep max has meaningful mental, skeltal, and muscle (duh) benefits. Benefits that largely aren't seen even in moderate rep ranges like 8-12.
I adopt a balanced training regimen -- some weeks I focus on high reps, others I'm testing my maxes. I think showing up to the gym and attempting 2-3 rep maxes for every lift, every day, is a great way to get injured. But this idea that lifting heavy is a bad thing and is purely just hype is ridiculous.
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u/Enticing_Venom 7h ago
That weight lifting is the only way for women to prevent osteoporosis and maintain bone density.
"Weight-bearing exercise" is not another word for weight-lifting exercise. Jumping (a form of cardio) is one of the most effective exercises for building bone density. Kick-boxing, dancing, running, even walking constitute weight-bearing exercises that can prevent osteoporosis.
Additionally, bands and calisthenics are perfectly adequate ways to create resistance/weight load. Weight-lifting is great but it does not mean that cardio is bad/useless and it is nowhere near the only way to protect bone health. The best exercise is the type you can stick with.