Wellbeing : Weights for Beginners

Weight training is having a moment and it seems everyone is talking about their age, body type or starting point. Here are five things to know if you’re getting started with building both inner and outer strength…

l Start slow “I would always encourage a gradual, ‘slower is faster’ long game mentality,” says Elizabeth Davies, personal trainer and author of Training For Your Old Lady Body (Leap). “If it feels too easy and pointless, it isn’t.” She likens it to computer games where “the first few levels are super easy and smashing them feels good. It makes you want to keep going and do more.”

2 Try different types of weights Weights machines target specific muscles and can offer more control and stability in a gym. Free weights (dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells) offer a more comprehensive workout with moves like squats and deadlifts also helping with balance and mimicking real-life movement.

3 Don’t overspend on kit If you’re working out at home, dumbbells are inexpensive and easy. Sports therapist and strength coach Sam Charlwood recommends buying two light (2-3kg) weights and one heavier one (8-10kg) to start. You can also use exercise bands or even start with household objects like food tins or a backpack filled with books.

4 Don’t be too ambitious The greatest gains come when you go from no resistance training to a modest amount, so there’s no need to go in all guns blazing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that adults and older adults strengthen major muscle groups at least twice a week. Around 30-60 minutes per week is associated with a meaningful reduction in your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Keep it realistic and allow yourself time to do some form of stretching, too.

5 Find a trusted trainer Try a local gym or fitness studio or, for home workouts, an online trainer. There are many trainers offering online coaching and beginners’ courses. Check out Sam Charlwood (@samantha_charlwood) and Elizabeth Davies (@thiswomanlifts) on Instagram.

The above blog is extracted from our feature, ‘Why Weight?’ in our May issue by Rebecca Frank. Find out more from page 84. Buy this month's The Simple Things -buy, download or subscribe

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Find your natural strength

Treating resilience not as an innate quality, but as a skill to be practised and nurtured, allows you to make lemonade whenever life throws you lemons

The Finnish word sisu refers to a mix of courage, resilience, grit and ‘guts’. In her new book Sisu: The Finnish Art of Courage (Gaia), Joanna Nylund explains how the Finns’ close connection with the weather and nature has played a crucial role in forging the resilient nature of the people. “Living in Finland means living with sharp contrasts,” she says. “It is the extremes that rule our lives – from gritting our teeth and summoning our sisu at the approach of winter to celebrating the eagerly anticipated summer with a devotion to the sun that most closely resembles Celtic worship.”

After that long, hard winter, the Finns’ summer ritual is more about celebrating discomfort than luxury hotels or even glamping. In late June, the country collectively withdraws from everyday life and heads out into nature, spending a few weeks in a mökki (summer cabin). The cabin will have a fireplace and cooking facilities, but rarely central heating – and sometimes no electricity or running water.

“Squatting by the lake to wash your dishes in cold water is so romantic!” says Nylund, who explains how their ancestors grew resilient through hardship. “We are modern people living in a modern world, but at heart we are still rural, and we love our sometimes harsh environment. It has given us our sisu.”

Nature is grounding, it teaches self-sufficiency and spending time in it boosts self-esteem. You don’t have to spend four weeks in a cabin – start by spending a bit of time outdoors every day, read and learn a little about the nature around you, dabble in being more self-sufficient by growing a few veg or salad leaves in your garden, spend a night under canvas, and go from there.

Turn to page 92 of May's The Simple Things for more of our feature on How to bounce back.
 

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