While it’s easy to live in the moment and indulge in immediate desires, a person’s current habits and rituals inform the quality of their lives. While women may be able to withstand certain toxins and stressors now, there’s an older version of them who will suffer the consequences. Strength training is a necessity in your young and able years.
Strength training builds muscle and endurance, which ensures ensuring your future self has full mobility and bones that can better withstand trauma. It impacts how much you’ll be to participate in your own life when you’re elderly.
“Strength training is working the body and its muscles in an intentional way,” said Chanice Taylor, a New York-based personal trainer. “This does not mean you are restricted to using weights or other modalities, such as CrossFit, yoga or pilates.”
Taylor who is also a certified life coach and an athlete, spoke to 21Ninety about the benefit of strength training, how it can impact your future, advice for newcomers and more.
21NINETY: Is strength training simply using weights, or are there other forms of it?
CHANICE TAYLOR: All forms of movement and equipment work to strengthen one or more aspects of the musculoskeletal system. The common denominator for all of these is the intention and attention you are putting during the action. If we mindlessly go through my yoga poses, have we truly gotten a good stretch? Similarly, if I am not being intentional on how we’re moving our body with weight, then the results we seek may not come. Prioritizing lifting heavy weights at least twice a week within your movement regimen will equip your body to endure all other forces that act upon it.
21N: Why is strength training important?
CT: From a scientific viewpoint, strength training is the number one determinant for a long life. This is assuming nutrition and life habits are also good. The stronger our body is, the more resilient it is. Keeping our muscles functioning and active is the first step in keeping our bodies functioning and active as a whole. The top two determinants of longevity is your VO2 max, [or] how much oxygen our body can use during exercise, and your grip strength, which essentially indicates how much force we can hold or withstand. The most direct way to train things is by cardio and strength training.
21N: What is some advice you’d give to any beginners venturing into strength training?
CT: First and foremost, trust the process. There’s going to be a lot of ebb and flow, start and stop, [and] progressions and regressions. That’s all a part of the journey. We will continue to relearn the same lessons. As long as you’re focused on the end result, over time your habits and actions will positively change.
The more you know the easier and less intimidating the journey will be. Take some time to review YouTube videos and movement tutorials if you are not sure on certain exercises. Find some trainers online whose content you enjoy and can learn from. The gym tends to only be intimidating because we aren’t sure how to do something or even what to do. Taking time to gain that knowledge will come in handy.
21N: What kind of difference can strength training in your youth make for older you?
CT: If you take care of your body from an early age, then it’s better equipped to deal with life. You can think of our bodies like a car. Brand new out of the shop we are well aware that natural wear and tear will occur. But, we also know that if we give it the right fuel and honor necessary checkups over the course of time, it’s going to run nice and smooth. To remain independent in our old age is a privilege that many of us should and can be afforded. It comes from caring for your body while you’re young, resilient, and recovery time is quicker.
21N: What are some ailments you can avoid in the future by strength training now?
CT: Having a well-rounded training routine can help avoid small missteps from becoming extravagant injuries. As we get older, our bodies resiliency naturally decreases. If you trip off the sidewalk, then the result can either be responsive and resilient muscles that help catch your fall or a twisted ankle. Other common ailments that become avoided when smart movement habits are in place [are] chronic back pain, knee pain, breathlessness when rushing or going upstairs, [and the] ability to carry heavy bags for a quality distance. Consider strength training to be less like a chore to look good and more of a gift for your body, so you can live better.
21N: Are you ever “too old” to begin strength training?
CT: Absolutely not. [As] long as we are living, we are growing. That’s what’s so fascinating about the human body, we still have the ability to develop. It just happens at a slower rate over time. It should be encouraged more than ever for our older population to find ways to move their body freely, as well as make time to move their body intentionally.
21N: What are some ways we can make strength training less intimidating, particularly for women?
CT: This is something I am very passionate about. As a trainer, I often witness women avoiding the gym floor simply because there is so much they don’t know. I recommend watching some YouTube tutorials on movement form and tutorials on certain gym equipment. If you don’t know the name, just write the description in chat GPT. Secondly, I would find that one athletic friend, even if it’s not gym-specific, and hang out with them a lot. If they love going to Zumba, go with them, and you don’t love Zumba but you don’t mind the stair master, now you’ve formed a habit. You have an accountability buddy. This is the BEST way to start your journey. Finding that ONE activity you genuinely enjoy that can also be challenging at times and having someone able to share that time with you.
This article has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.