We can lift heavy things, ladies.

This is me, encouraging you, to throw on some weightlifting gloves and prance yourself into the weight room. Lifting weights can do wonders for not only your physical health, but your mental well-being, too. Yes, you’ll have to sidestep the bulky Hulk wannabes flexing in the mirrors, but it’s well worth the effort. And you know, sometimes these guys are pretty helpful. They’re usually happy to help lift a heavy weight plate or give you a tip on proper form.

Adding weights into anybody’s fitness routine is important, but particularly beneficial for women. As we age and start to brush up against perimenopause and menopause, I’ve heard many a woman say they began to gain weight and notice the shape of their bodies change. Building muscle can help with both of these common midlife occurrences. Muscle burns more calories than fat, and muscle can help reshape your body.

Over the last year, I’ve become a regular lifter, going about four or so times a week to squat, lunge, row and press. I’ve done it most of my adult life, ever since my brother showed me a few exercises at Bally’s Total Fitness back in the day, though, naturally, my allegiance to the weight room has gone through ebbs and flows. Some years I only wanted to do yoga. Other years it feels like slogging through mud to get there, but I tell myself to do at least one exercise, and if I still want to blow it off and go putter around Ross Dress for Less, I can. But that rarely, if ever, happens, thanks to the wizardry of endorphins.

But just in case you don’t take my word for the undeniable perks of weightlifting, perhaps you’ll listen to Sophie Brock, who’s competed in every strength sport, including bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. She’s a personal trainer, a CrossFit 719 coach and trains competitive athletes in her barbell club, All Might Training Project. Find her online at allmighttrainingproject.com.

She got into lifting weights as a collegiate volleyball player: “The pushing yourself and always progressing. Seeing the numbers go up as you get stronger and feeling like you can do anything. When somebody picks up 200 pounds for first time, it’s like, ‘I’m capable. I can do so much more than I realized.’”

Besides the aforementioned reasons for lifting, Brock reminds us that as we get older, our bodies need to be able to hold us up. In a similar vein, people also need to be strong enough and flexible enough to get up off the floor, which is why I always recommend yoga, too. Yoga and weight lifting go hand-in-hand, in my book.

And please don’t think you’re too old to start. Brock recently had a 72-year-old client start lifting for the first time. Weights are great because they’ll meet you wherever you are. If you’re young and strong, you might be able to lift a lot fairly easily. If you’re a senior, start with a little weight, and go from there. No matter how old you are, doing the movements will benefit your body.

Sometimes I think women are nervous to lift. They still believe that old myth about bulking up like a guy. That is unequivocally false.

“It’s really difficult to get bulky,” Brock said. “Those who have big muscles worked really hard and ate lots of food to get that big. Just going to the gym to lift you won’t get gigantic. You’ll get toned and healthier.”

Another falsehood I often hear: If you stop working out, your muscle will turn to fat. Malarkey.

“(Muscle and fat) are completely different types of cells,” Brock said. “You can lose muscle and lose fat, but it’s never muscle turning to fat and vice versa.”

Creating a workout

You did it. You made it to the gym, or bought some weights. Now what? If you’re at the gym, you have two options: free weights or weight machines. Both have their place.

Machines are good for those who have injuries, are older, have balance issues or are new to the gym and weights. Machines force a good movement pattern and there’s less risk of injury and doing things incorrectly, Brock said. As you progress, or for those who don’t have those issues, Brock prefers free weights.

“If you’re holding a weight you have to engage your core and all the stabilizer muscles,” she said, “all those important muscles that won’t get used doing machine work.”

After you’ve warmed up, with three to five minutes of cardio and a bit of light stretching, decide on the heaviness of your weight. If this is brand new, start light and keep adding weight. Aim for eight to 10 reps that feel challenging, but doable. Keep it easy and slowly add weight during the first week. Aim for three sets of eight to 10 reps of each movement, and do about five to eight exercises per session.

You’ll know when to stop when the last two reps start to feel hard. Don’t go to full failure where you can’t lift anymore, Brock said. Go to where you can probably do two or more reps, so you can get another set in with the same number of reps.

Brock recommends your lifting session includes a lower body push and pull and an upper body push and pull. A lower body push is a squat or lunge, and a pull is a deadlift. An upper body push can be a bench press or shoulder press, while an upper body pull is a row and a pull-up or lat pulldown. Head to Google for video or photo demonstrations of exercises.

Post-workout, lightly stretch the muscles you worked, then have a clean, healthy meal and try to get good sleep. You’re probably going to be sore if you’ve never lifted before, but have faith in what you’re doing.

“You’re going to be glad in a few weeks that you started now,” Brock said.

Contact the writer: 636-0270