Most women over 50 find it challenging to achieve or maintain a decent level of fitness. Looking fit, sexy, and young is about how well you have taken care of your body, not how many years you have lived. There are several exercise equipment, fitness routines, and weight loss programs to choose from more than ever before for women who are above 50, but one of the most effective to lose weight fast is interval training.
What is Interval Training?
Have you heard the term “interval training” and wondered how you can benefit from it or whether it can help women over 50 lose weight or not? The truth is that interval training is one of the most effective workout regimes that can improve your overall physical condition, thus burning more fat than other types of exercises.
Interval training is a set of drills in which you alternate periods or cycles of work at high intensity – referred to as harder or work intervals – with periods of work at low intensity or rest, known as recovery, rest or easier intervals. It is all about alternating between periods of modest workouts and those of exercising as fast or hard as you can.
For instance, if your choice of workout for the day is walking, start with a warm-up walk for about 5 minutes. Then increase your speed to an intense fast paced walk for two minutes. Then slow down to a normal walking speed for 60 seconds to allow your body to recuperate.
After one minute, you then walk fast for the next two minutes and keep alternating between regular paced walks and fast walks throughout the workout period. You can end the workout session with five to ten minutes of slow walking to allow your body to cool down.
This type of training can also be adopted for cardio workouts or any other form of exercises.
Why Interval Training Helps Women Over 50 Burn Fat
Since you turned 50 years of age, you may have noticed that it is progressively more challenging to lose weight, especially around your middle. It is true that muscle mass deteriorates with age and therefore, the rate at which your body burns off calories decreases significantly as well.
To further complicate matters, the declining estrogen levels in post-menopausal women cause your weight to burgeon.
However, interval training is an excellent way of maximizing the fat-burning potential in you, especially since it involves rotational cycles of low-intensity and high-intensity exercises within one workout session.
Why It Helps Women Over 50 Lose Weight Faster Than Typical Workouts
Interval training allows women over 50 to lose weight more quickly than regular exercises. This is because interval training helps you to burn a lot more calories within a very short period than typical workouts. Secondly, your metabolic rate remains at an all-time high several hours after your workout session thereby increasing skeletal muscle capillarization.
Researchers have even demonstrated that interval training can increase metabolism after a workout session than weight training or jogging.
Why Women Over 50 Have Trouble Losing Weight
Research has shown that the older a woman gets, the harder it becomes to lose weight. When you have reached 50 years and above, your body begins to lose that vitality it once had by not burning calories the way it used to.
Work, health issues, and family responsibilities also contribute to making you reduce your activity level. Your metabolism also slows down as you grow older thereby making it harder to keep weight off.
Women over 50 are also prone to osteoporosis since they lose bone mass, especially after the onset of menopause.
If you, therefore, want to lose weight at 50, you need to find the right balance of energy intake.
If you have been engaging in workouts and it appears as if there is no improvement, the following may be some of the reasons why you are not gaining muscle:
• You’re not consistent with your workouts
• You are not lifting weights often enough
How Interval Training Is Incorporated With Weights
Regular strength training – i.e., lifting weights – is somewhat like a multidimensional treatment for all interwoven ailments as it helps in the preservation of bone density and maintenance of lean muscle mass. These help to boost up metabolism as well.
The best way to begin incorporating interval training with weights is to start gradually, according to health experts. Begin with low intensity and a light load, and then start increasing from there.
You can begin by engaging in body-weight strength-training exercises like dips, push-ups, squats, etc. Then as you become more comfortable with these movements and get stronger, start lifting weights. It is true that bodyweight exercises alone help in building muscle, but your overall health gain will be more significant if you add some extra load.
You deserve to live a life devoid of any health issues even after you have clocked 50 years of age. Engaging in interval training and incorporating it with weights will hasten the weight loss process, thereby giving a toned and healthy body within a short time.