September 4, 2025 • 16 mins
Strength training plays a critical role in women’s health, from building strong muscles and bones in early adulthood to slowing the losses that accelerate with menopause and age. In this episode, Dr. Rachel Tavel, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, explains why starting early matters, why it is never too late, and how simple strength training practices can support muscle and bone health at every life stage.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex Always and Always Discreet, and Walgreens,
the women's well being destination, supporting every stage. Together, we'll
bring you something good each week on women's health and longevity,
and it wouldn't be possible without their support. Each week,
(00:23):
we aspire to bringing the good news on women's health
by talking to renowned scientists and medical experts, and by
sharing health advice that can help you live healthier and happier.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Today, we're speaking.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
With doctor Rachel Table about strength training and why it's
especially important for women. We learn how it helps preserve muscle,
protect bone, and support healthy aging through life's hormonal changes.
Doctor Tabell is a doctor of Physical therapy and a
certified strength and conditioning specialist. Welcome, doctor Table.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hi, thank you so much for having me. So you
focus on a.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Very important area for both men and women, which is
strength training. But why is strength training particularly important for
women and what does it do that's different from other
forms of exercise.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So women have a tendency to lose lean muscle as
we age, This process can begin as early as in
your thirties and continue to increase in the rate of
decline and muscle as you age, and so because of
hormonal changes, really need to stay proactive so that we
(01:33):
don't experience this loss of muscle as we age. Men
begin with larger muscles and bones than women, so they're
starting with sort of a baseline of more material and
for women, when we lose muscle, it affects us more
quickly and it's a little bit more effort for us
to build and maintain that muscle. And it's really important
(01:56):
that we are proactive in this process because there are
certain biological changes that happen that are out of our control.
But then there's strength training, which is in our control.
Strength training is basically loading the tissue, the muscle tissue
and the bone tissue in such a way that it
creates healthy sort of stress and load that teaches your
(02:19):
body and trains it to adapt to these changes. It's
basically like you're living your life and your body has
sort of a status quo that it's used to, but
when you're doing strength training, you're kind of nudging it
to adapt to higher loads than you usually have. So
It's basically like a way of telling your body, no,
(02:40):
you're going to be needing to do more, So can
you adapt the muscles and become a little bit stronger
so you can handle that load that we're going to
be putting on you.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It's interesting because, as you mentioned, you know, it's different
for men and women, and we probably don't think enough
about strength training. I know you were an athlete, when
did you first start to real that strength training was
so important to building this muscle and slowing down this decline?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So I started learning about it more in my thirties,
especially as I went through the pre med and then
getting my doctorate in physical therapy. But personally, I have
been a thin person but strong my whole life. I
feel like I could go weeks without strength training and
maintain a certain level of strength and fitness. That definitely
(03:28):
started to change in my late thirties. I started to notice.
I mean, I also had a child during that time,
but it just feels like you can get away with
a lot when you're younger, but at a certain point
you start to realize that your body you need.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
To be doing the work a little more.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Like I couldn't get away with things and maintain a
certain level of strength. So I started reading more about
it and learning and working with patients in an orthopedic
physical therapy practice, and you realize how much strength training
really does have an effect, and how much you really
need to put in the work and be consistent at
a certain point in your life. It's not a freebie
(04:06):
to be strong, and I think that's what happens for
a lot of women, especially in their forties.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You start to realize your.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Body is changing a little bit and you have to
be a participant in the strengthening process. It's not just
a handout anymore. I mean some people feel that earlier on.
I feel lucky that I got to my mid thirties
that way. Yeah, for me personally, I was learning more
about the science behind it at the same time as
(04:32):
it started happening to me, So it kind of really
impacted me.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And now I just do what I can to help
other people understand it.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Well, we're grateful for that, because actually understanding a little
bit more about the science behind it is interesting and motivating.
Tell us a little bit more about the science behind it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So women during I mean now, there's a lot of
talk about perimenopause, but the real time in your life
when things start to change is menopause. It's sort of
a build up which perimenopause can be five to ten
years long for some people. And what happens during menopause
is one of the most major changes is a drop
(05:11):
in the hormone estrogen. And estrogen is basically you can
think of it as like a bone supportive hormone. Estrogen
helps facilitate and encourage the cells called osteoblasts, which help
build and maintain bone in your body. And once you're
losing the estrogen, that activity decreases.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And so it's.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Something out of our control. I mean that we go
through this process. There are a lot of treatments available,
hormone replacement therapy, all this other stuff. So that's something
that's happening on a biological level. But it's important to
keep in mind that lifestyle, your nutrition, the way you're moving,
all of these things can also affect the rate of
bone loss. There are things to do. I feel like
(05:57):
it sounds so depressing to be like this is going
to happen. You're gonna lose bone, but it's a gradual process.
But it starts to happen more rapidly after menopause, and
so it's just important to be aware of that and
also know which things are in your control which aren't.
So on a biological level, that's sort of a scientific level,
that's what's happening. And we also start with smaller bones
(06:23):
than men, smaller muscles, so if you think about it,
bone loss in a smaller bone is more dramatic. And
the big concern is a condition called osteoporosis, which is
severe bone loss. It's basically a weakening of the bones.
And why this is important because the thing is osteoporosis,
(06:44):
you cannot really a lot of people don't have symptoms
that it's happening. Osteopenia precedes osteoporosis, so it's considered a
silent disease. It's something that is sort of happening that
you don't know what's happening, and most people don't even
know they have process until they've fallen and have a fracture.
The problem with it, it's sort of like a snowball effect.
(07:08):
So if you have weakened bones and as you get older,
your balance isn't as good or whether you're at that
age or not, and you just fall. Fractures can be
much more catastrophic if you have weakened bones. Instead of
a single bone break, it can be a bone shatters
or multiple bone breaks. And this translates into a loss
(07:31):
of function, which is also a loss of independence in
some way. When you lose independence or function, it can
affect your mood, It can affect how much you're able
to exercise, It can affect your health in so many
different ways. So I think that's the sort of sequence
to think about that why does having strong bones matter?
(07:52):
It translates into so many real life situations that you
don't really consider until something happens.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I love you framing it that way because I think
thinking of it as a silent disease is really important.
And the fact that you could actually be proactive that
was very for me. That was a very big awakening,
which is that osteoporosis doesn't happen sort of in your seventies,
but it's a kind of a slow process that happens
throughout your lifetime. And so when we think about strength training,
(08:20):
I know we typically don't think that women in their
twenties thirties are focused on strength training to prevent osteoporosis.
But in fact, I've understood that you actually bank bone
very early in life, and so tell us about the
importance of young women and strength training.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, So basically I think of it as sort of
investing in your future body. The work you do in
your twenties or when you're younger. I believe you reach
peak bone mass in your late twenties, so the work
you put into building bone then really does matter, and
I think most twenty somethings are not thinking about this.
(08:59):
And also when you think of strength training, most people
think about muscles, not the bones. But the muscles are
attached to the bone and they contribute to what's happening
on the bone level. So stronger muscles need stronger bones
to support them. It's kind of they are related. But
think of it all as the baseline you're creating will
(09:21):
impact the rate of bone loss or muscle loss when
you're older. So if you have stronger muscles and bones,
you can afford a little more bone loss.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
But I think the.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Main thing is creating healthy habits at a younger age,
getting comfortable with strength training and lifting and all these things,
and learning proper form, enjoying it, finding what you enjoy
when you're younger, it pays off later on because I
think you know, as a physical therapist, there are a
lot of women I would see in their seventies or
(09:52):
beyond who are like I never lifted weights because we
didn't do it back then.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think getting comfortable.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
One thing I'm very excited about in the world today
is that I think women are more aware of strength
training than ever and it's benefits. It's even like a
social thing to do, or it's just the earlier you
get comfortable with lifting, whether it's lifting heavy or just
getting into some form of resistance training that stresses your body.
(10:22):
And a stress sounds bad, but it's sort of like
a physiologic process of stressing your body in a positive way.
I think that pays off just in terms of creating
good habits later on.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Now let me ask you this. So you mentioned that obviously,
as estrogen declines, that affects your bones, and this all
obviously happens in menopause pretty dramatically. Is it ever too
late to start strength training?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I love this question because it's never too late. I
think that's really important for people to know you can
always work on your.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Muscular skeletal system.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You can always work towards building strength and doing mobility exercise,
all these other options, but I think you can feel
that the results are less dramatic as you get older.
It's a little harder to notice and build bulky, larger muscles.
(11:18):
I think of it a little bit as like you're
on a treadmill where something's working against you, so you
have to I think you really have to be a
little more dedicated and as I've said, proactive as we
get older, just because there are some systems working against
you unfortunately. So it's never too late. If you've ever
(11:39):
had physical therapy after an injury or something a fitness goal,
you've probably seen that if you work towards it, you
do make improvements. People can come back from a risk fracture,
a hip fracture, rebuild their strength, regain their function. So
that's possible at any age.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Great, that's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I do know that there are people who are doing
significant strength training to their seventies eighties, and that's really positive.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So if you're just getting.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Started, what should be your goal in terms of how
many times a week you do strength training?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So the American Heart Association and many experts will say
at least two times a week you should be doing
moderate to intense strength training. I think that this is
really important if you're targeting all the muscles in your body,
two days a week is good. Ideally, I would say
if you can do three days a week. Even I
(12:33):
don't do three days a week all the time, it's
like aspirational for me when you have I know people
are busy and all that, So in the name of
not overwhelming people, two times a week non negotiable if
you can do that. What I recommend also is body
weight exercises any other day you can. Body Weight exercises
(12:55):
are also really important for osteoporosis prevention and maintaining strength
and mobility. But what I love about them most is
they're accessible and do anywhere anytime. Can you give us
a couple examples, So, for example, I recently did challenge
myself to do push ups every day for a month,
and I wrote a article about it. Exercises that use
(13:16):
your own body weight as resistance are super important because
this is actually real life function that you need. You
at the minimum need to be able to support your
own body weight. So as we get older, let's say
getting up and down from the floor is a little
bit harder, but you're only lifting your body weight to
get up and down. So doing things like pushups, whether
(13:38):
that's against a wall on an incline that you can adjust,
you know, it gets more intense if you go lower
or body weight squats. Doing things even like carrying groceries
put some load on your body. But one of the
most commonly fractured body parts in women is the wrist,
(13:58):
the bones of the wrist, because when you trip in
your seventies or eighties, we tend to have a reflex
to put our hands out. It's called a flush injury
falling on outstretched hand, and that is a lot of
force on your tiny wrists. You know, I have a
very small wrist. A lot of women have smaller bones
there that can really shatter your wrists or cause of fracture.
(14:23):
And the risks aren't the body part you're weight bearing
through most of the time. So even doing upper body
exercises that put weight through your wrists, arms, and shoulders
can help strengthen the bones in the upper body. I
think often people think about, you know, it's much easier
to do weight bearing exercises on your feet, but doing
something that you're putting weight through your wrists and hands
(14:44):
is also really important for the shoulder, the arm. So yeah,
any form of a pushup or a squat every day
I think is super helpful and functional.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Well, that's a great challenge to all of us. Really
appreciate your time and your research and really making us
all aware of why this is so at any age,
and it's never too late. So again, thanks so much
for your time and for your very practical recommendations.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
What a great conversation with doctor Tavell.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Here are the top takeaways.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
First, know that strength training helps build not just muscle,
but bone. This is especially important as women age and
estrogen drops leading to bone loss. Strength training can lower
the risk of ustioporosis and fractures. Second, it's never too
early to invest in your bone bank. Peak bone mass
is reached in your late twenties, so resistance training when
(15:38):
you're young builds reserves that may make you more resilient
to bone loss later in life. Lastly, just as it's
never too early to build strength, it's also never too late,
even in your sixties, seventies, and beyond regular strength training
at least two times per week can improve strength, function,
and independence. Have a great day. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(16:02):
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Today's episode of Here's Something
Good on women's health and longevity was brought to you
by P and G, maker of trusted brands like Tampax,
Always and Always Discreet, and by Walgreens, the women's well
being destination, supporting every stage
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex Always and Always Discreet, and Walgreens,
the women's well being destination, supporting every stage. Together, we'll
bring you something good each week on women's health and longevity,
and it wouldn't be possible without their support. Each week,
(00:23):
we aspire to bringing the good news on women's health
by talking to renowned scientists and medical experts, and by
sharing health advice that can help you live healthier and happier.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Today, we're speaking.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
With doctor Rachel Table about strength training and why it's
especially important for women. We learn how it helps preserve muscle,
protect bone, and support healthy aging through life's hormonal changes.
Doctor Tabell is a doctor of Physical therapy and a
certified strength and conditioning specialist. Welcome, doctor Table.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hi, thank you so much for having me. So you
focus on a.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Very important area for both men and women, which is
strength training. But why is strength training particularly important for
women and what does it do that's different from other
forms of exercise.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So women have a tendency to lose lean muscle as
we age, This process can begin as early as in
your thirties and continue to increase in the rate of
decline and muscle as you age, and so because of
hormonal changes, really need to stay proactive so that we
(01:33):
don't experience this loss of muscle as we age. Men
begin with larger muscles and bones than women, so they're
starting with sort of a baseline of more material and
for women, when we lose muscle, it affects us more
quickly and it's a little bit more effort for us
to build and maintain that muscle. And it's really important
(01:56):
that we are proactive in this process because there are
certain biological changes that happen that are out of our control.
But then there's strength training, which is in our control.
Strength training is basically loading the tissue, the muscle tissue
and the bone tissue in such a way that it
creates healthy sort of stress and load that teaches your
(02:19):
body and trains it to adapt to these changes. It's
basically like you're living your life and your body has
sort of a status quo that it's used to, but
when you're doing strength training, you're kind of nudging it
to adapt to higher loads than you usually have. So
It's basically like a way of telling your body, no,
(02:40):
you're going to be needing to do more, So can
you adapt the muscles and become a little bit stronger
so you can handle that load that we're going to
be putting on you.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It's interesting because, as you mentioned, you know, it's different
for men and women, and we probably don't think enough
about strength training. I know you were an athlete, when
did you first start to real that strength training was
so important to building this muscle and slowing down this decline?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So I started learning about it more in my thirties,
especially as I went through the pre med and then
getting my doctorate in physical therapy. But personally, I have
been a thin person but strong my whole life. I
feel like I could go weeks without strength training and
maintain a certain level of strength and fitness. That definitely
(03:28):
started to change in my late thirties. I started to notice.
I mean, I also had a child during that time,
but it just feels like you can get away with
a lot when you're younger, but at a certain point
you start to realize that your body you need.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
To be doing the work a little more.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Like I couldn't get away with things and maintain a
certain level of strength. So I started reading more about
it and learning and working with patients in an orthopedic
physical therapy practice, and you realize how much strength training
really does have an effect, and how much you really
need to put in the work and be consistent at
a certain point in your life. It's not a freebie
(04:06):
to be strong, and I think that's what happens for
a lot of women, especially in their forties.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You start to realize your.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Body is changing a little bit and you have to
be a participant in the strengthening process. It's not just
a handout anymore. I mean some people feel that earlier on.
I feel lucky that I got to my mid thirties
that way. Yeah, for me personally, I was learning more
about the science behind it at the same time as
(04:32):
it started happening to me, So it kind of really
impacted me.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And now I just do what I can to help
other people understand it.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Well, we're grateful for that, because actually understanding a little
bit more about the science behind it is interesting and motivating.
Tell us a little bit more about the science behind it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So women during I mean now, there's a lot of
talk about perimenopause, but the real time in your life
when things start to change is menopause. It's sort of
a build up which perimenopause can be five to ten
years long for some people. And what happens during menopause
is one of the most major changes is a drop
(05:11):
in the hormone estrogen. And estrogen is basically you can
think of it as like a bone supportive hormone. Estrogen
helps facilitate and encourage the cells called osteoblasts, which help
build and maintain bone in your body. And once you're
losing the estrogen, that activity decreases.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And so it's.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Something out of our control. I mean that we go
through this process. There are a lot of treatments available,
hormone replacement therapy, all this other stuff. So that's something
that's happening on a biological level. But it's important to
keep in mind that lifestyle, your nutrition, the way you're moving,
all of these things can also affect the rate of
bone loss. There are things to do. I feel like
(05:57):
it sounds so depressing to be like this is going
to happen. You're gonna lose bone, but it's a gradual process.
But it starts to happen more rapidly after menopause, and
so it's just important to be aware of that and
also know which things are in your control which aren't.
So on a biological level, that's sort of a scientific level,
that's what's happening. And we also start with smaller bones
(06:23):
than men, smaller muscles, so if you think about it,
bone loss in a smaller bone is more dramatic. And
the big concern is a condition called osteoporosis, which is
severe bone loss. It's basically a weakening of the bones.
And why this is important because the thing is osteoporosis,
(06:44):
you cannot really a lot of people don't have symptoms
that it's happening. Osteopenia precedes osteoporosis, so it's considered a
silent disease. It's something that is sort of happening that
you don't know what's happening, and most people don't even
know they have process until they've fallen and have a fracture.
The problem with it, it's sort of like a snowball effect.
(07:08):
So if you have weakened bones and as you get older,
your balance isn't as good or whether you're at that
age or not, and you just fall. Fractures can be
much more catastrophic if you have weakened bones. Instead of
a single bone break, it can be a bone shatters
or multiple bone breaks. And this translates into a loss
(07:31):
of function, which is also a loss of independence in
some way. When you lose independence or function, it can
affect your mood, It can affect how much you're able
to exercise, It can affect your health in so many
different ways. So I think that's the sort of sequence
to think about that why does having strong bones matter?
(07:52):
It translates into so many real life situations that you
don't really consider until something happens.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I love you framing it that way because I think
thinking of it as a silent disease is really important.
And the fact that you could actually be proactive that
was very for me. That was a very big awakening,
which is that osteoporosis doesn't happen sort of in your seventies,
but it's a kind of a slow process that happens
throughout your lifetime. And so when we think about strength training,
(08:20):
I know we typically don't think that women in their
twenties thirties are focused on strength training to prevent osteoporosis.
But in fact, I've understood that you actually bank bone
very early in life, and so tell us about the
importance of young women and strength training.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, So basically I think of it as sort of
investing in your future body. The work you do in
your twenties or when you're younger. I believe you reach
peak bone mass in your late twenties, so the work
you put into building bone then really does matter, and
I think most twenty somethings are not thinking about this.
(08:59):
And also when you think of strength training, most people
think about muscles, not the bones. But the muscles are
attached to the bone and they contribute to what's happening
on the bone level. So stronger muscles need stronger bones
to support them. It's kind of they are related. But
think of it all as the baseline you're creating will
(09:21):
impact the rate of bone loss or muscle loss when
you're older. So if you have stronger muscles and bones,
you can afford a little more bone loss.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
But I think the.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Main thing is creating healthy habits at a younger age,
getting comfortable with strength training and lifting and all these things,
and learning proper form, enjoying it, finding what you enjoy
when you're younger, it pays off later on because I
think you know, as a physical therapist, there are a
lot of women I would see in their seventies or
(09:52):
beyond who are like I never lifted weights because we
didn't do it back then.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think getting comfortable.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
One thing I'm very excited about in the world today
is that I think women are more aware of strength
training than ever and it's benefits. It's even like a
social thing to do, or it's just the earlier you
get comfortable with lifting, whether it's lifting heavy or just
getting into some form of resistance training that stresses your body.
(10:22):
And a stress sounds bad, but it's sort of like
a physiologic process of stressing your body in a positive way.
I think that pays off just in terms of creating
good habits later on.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Now let me ask you this. So you mentioned that obviously,
as estrogen declines, that affects your bones, and this all
obviously happens in menopause pretty dramatically. Is it ever too
late to start strength training?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I love this question because it's never too late. I
think that's really important for people to know you can
always work on your.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Muscular skeletal system.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You can always work towards building strength and doing mobility exercise,
all these other options, but I think you can feel
that the results are less dramatic as you get older.
It's a little harder to notice and build bulky, larger muscles.
(11:18):
I think of it a little bit as like you're
on a treadmill where something's working against you, so you
have to I think you really have to be a
little more dedicated and as I've said, proactive as we
get older, just because there are some systems working against
you unfortunately. So it's never too late. If you've ever
(11:39):
had physical therapy after an injury or something a fitness goal,
you've probably seen that if you work towards it, you
do make improvements. People can come back from a risk fracture,
a hip fracture, rebuild their strength, regain their function. So
that's possible at any age.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Great, that's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I do know that there are people who are doing
significant strength training to their seventies eighties, and that's really positive.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So if you're just getting.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Started, what should be your goal in terms of how
many times a week you do strength training?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So the American Heart Association and many experts will say
at least two times a week you should be doing
moderate to intense strength training. I think that this is
really important if you're targeting all the muscles in your body,
two days a week is good. Ideally, I would say
if you can do three days a week. Even I
(12:33):
don't do three days a week all the time, it's
like aspirational for me when you have I know people
are busy and all that, So in the name of
not overwhelming people, two times a week non negotiable if
you can do that. What I recommend also is body
weight exercises any other day you can. Body Weight exercises
(12:55):
are also really important for osteoporosis prevention and maintaining strength
and mobility. But what I love about them most is
they're accessible and do anywhere anytime. Can you give us
a couple examples, So, for example, I recently did challenge
myself to do push ups every day for a month,
and I wrote a article about it. Exercises that use
(13:16):
your own body weight as resistance are super important because
this is actually real life function that you need. You
at the minimum need to be able to support your
own body weight. So as we get older, let's say
getting up and down from the floor is a little
bit harder, but you're only lifting your body weight to
get up and down. So doing things like pushups, whether
(13:38):
that's against a wall on an incline that you can adjust,
you know, it gets more intense if you go lower
or body weight squats. Doing things even like carrying groceries
put some load on your body. But one of the
most commonly fractured body parts in women is the wrist,
(13:58):
the bones of the wrist, because when you trip in
your seventies or eighties, we tend to have a reflex
to put our hands out. It's called a flush injury
falling on outstretched hand, and that is a lot of
force on your tiny wrists. You know, I have a
very small wrist. A lot of women have smaller bones
there that can really shatter your wrists or cause of fracture.
(14:23):
And the risks aren't the body part you're weight bearing
through most of the time. So even doing upper body
exercises that put weight through your wrists, arms, and shoulders
can help strengthen the bones in the upper body. I
think often people think about, you know, it's much easier
to do weight bearing exercises on your feet, but doing
something that you're putting weight through your wrists and hands
(14:44):
is also really important for the shoulder, the arm. So yeah,
any form of a pushup or a squat every day
I think is super helpful and functional.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Well, that's a great challenge to all of us. Really
appreciate your time and your research and really making us
all aware of why this is so at any age,
and it's never too late. So again, thanks so much
for your time and for your very practical recommendations.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
What a great conversation with doctor Tavell.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Here are the top takeaways.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
First, know that strength training helps build not just muscle,
but bone. This is especially important as women age and
estrogen drops leading to bone loss. Strength training can lower
the risk of ustioporosis and fractures. Second, it's never too
early to invest in your bone bank. Peak bone mass
is reached in your late twenties, so resistance training when
(15:38):
you're young builds reserves that may make you more resilient
to bone loss later in life. Lastly, just as it's
never too early to build strength, it's also never too late,
even in your sixties, seventies, and beyond regular strength training
at least two times per week can improve strength, function,
and independence. Have a great day. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(16:02):
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Today's episode of Here's Something
Good on women's health and longevity was brought to you
by P and G, maker of trusted brands like Tampax,
Always and Always Discreet, and by Walgreens, the women's well
being destination, supporting every stage
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel