I really liked the Elle article! As someone who is trying to get moving again in middle age, it was really helpful. And your "starting point workout with cat" has been a really nice entry into weight lifting. One thing i wonder about is--what if my goal isn't to lift massively heavy weights, ever? I'm re-starting exercise and weight-lifting solely to age better. is it okay to plateau? And maybe, when i get to the point where I find it pretty easy to lift heavier weights, i'll want to keep going but right now that is not a goal. I don't love exercising and want to do as little of it as possible lol but also want to have a body that can keep doing things, even as I grow old. Thank you!
Massively heavy weights are not required at all! It sounds like your goal is to stay moving, which is wonderful. The simple answer here is that ANY exercise is better than none, and the best kind of exercise is what you can sustain with consistency over the long term.
Plateauing is totally okay. You'll maintain the strength you've built, and that's a lovely thing. However, we do naturally lose muscle as we age, and if we want to combat that decline, we have to push a bit — and increasing muscle mass is also really helpful for our bone density and for overall health.
I would say, meet yourself where you are now, but remain curious and open minded. Maybe in a few months, you start to dip a toe into pushing the weights a bit (or increasing your number of reps or sets) and are surprised to discover that it actually feels sort of fun! Or maybe you try it and it's not for you, for now. Don't be afraid to try again later :-)
I really liked the Elle article! As someone who is trying to get moving again in middle age, it was really helpful. And your "starting point workout with cat" has been a really nice entry into weight lifting. One thing i wonder about is--what if my goal isn't to lift massively heavy weights, ever? I'm re-starting exercise and weight-lifting solely to age better. is it okay to plateau? And maybe, when i get to the point where I find it pretty easy to lift heavier weights, i'll want to keep going but right now that is not a goal. I don't love exercising and want to do as little of it as possible lol but also want to have a body that can keep doing things, even as I grow old. Thank you!
Massively heavy weights are not required at all! It sounds like your goal is to stay moving, which is wonderful. The simple answer here is that ANY exercise is better than none, and the best kind of exercise is what you can sustain with consistency over the long term.
Plateauing is totally okay. You'll maintain the strength you've built, and that's a lovely thing. However, we do naturally lose muscle as we age, and if we want to combat that decline, we have to push a bit — and increasing muscle mass is also really helpful for our bone density and for overall health.
I would say, meet yourself where you are now, but remain curious and open minded. Maybe in a few months, you start to dip a toe into pushing the weights a bit (or increasing your number of reps or sets) and are surprised to discover that it actually feels sort of fun! Or maybe you try it and it's not for you, for now. Don't be afraid to try again later :-)
For more on what pushing yourself might feel like, this could be a good resource for you: https://howtomove.substack.com/p/how-heavy-do-you-really-need-to-lift
Oh my gosh, that link was written just for me! Thank you!
You are welcome! You can also listen to it if you prefer; I recorded that one :-)
PS thank you for the kind words on the Elle essay! It was really fun to work on.
Yay! Congratulations!
Happy orange checkmark!