Building muscle is one of the most important things you can do as you get older. It helps improve every health indicator you can think of and makes you look better in your clothes. Additionally, resistance training is quite simple.
In this article, I explore:
- The many ways muscles can help improve your health
- The most common objection I have when talking about strength training
- How to build muscle, even if you’re perimenopausal or menopausal
- How Maca Root Can Help You Build Muscle and Reach Your Fitness Goals Faster
5 Ways Muscle Is Critical to Your Health
I’ll say it again: building muscle it’s one of the most important things you can do as you grow older.
Why exactly do you want to add more muscle to your body?
There are many reasons, including:
- Insulin sensitivity: your muscles help improve your insulin sensitivity, which helps with weight loss, improves your mood, increases energy and helps prevent diabetes. (1)
- Fat loss: when you increase muscle, you change your body composition and decrease your body fat percentage. And it’s not just about looking good. Because fat cells can actually produce estrogen, this helps with the estrogen dominance we see so often during perimenopause and menopause. (2,3)
- Total strength: strong muscles help maintain strong bones and joints. Plus, muscles help you maintain your balance and flexibility—two key indicators of longevity. Muscle mass also helps prevent injuries and falls, which often lead to painful broken bones and long-term disabilities later in life. (4)
- Brain power: excercise helps boost cognitive function and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is a protein important for memory and learning. (5,6)
- Heart health: That’s right, resistance training helps with your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, which are factors in heart disease. (7-11)
Don’t worry about getting too muscular!
I can hear what you’re thinking right now.
“I don’t want to get too bulky!” This is one of the most common concerns women have when it comes to adding resistance training to their workout routine.
But I can promise you this – unless you try really hard, you won’t get “too muscular”.
The bodybuilders you see who have a lot of muscle and a very low body fat percentage have to follow a very strict training and diet plan to produce the results you fear.
I promise that most women who incorporate strength training into their lives experience only the benefits I described above. And they look slimmer and more fit and curvy, not bulky.
How to build muscle in menopause
So now that we’ve talked Why you want to build muscle and allay your bulking fears let’s talk how for building muscle in menopause.
- First, you will need incorporate resistance training into your workout routine. This can look like bodyweight exercises (think pushups or yoga). Or you could consider weight training, where you lift weights repeatedly to target specific muscle groups.
It’s important to note here that you don’t have to join a fancy gym to build muscle—unless you want to! You can always do bodyweight exercises anywhere, anytime. And if you choose to go the weight training route, a used pair of dumbbells in your garage will build muscle just as effectively as a machine at the gym.
2. The next step is to get adequate protein in your diet. The great news is that proteins of plant origin can give you all the protein you need. They are just as effective as meat in providing you with the protein needed to build and maintain muscle. (1)
3. Many rest and recovery time. Sleep is vital to building muscle and being energized to perform your workouts.
If you can do these three things consistently, you can build muscle in menopause and beyond. For some women, consistency looks like a few weight exercises a day, and for others, it looks like a full 60-90 minute session four times a week.
Just make sure that if you do decide to lift heavy weights, you only target one muscle group at a time and then allow those muscles to recover before working them again.
Does Maca Root Help Build Muscle?
Here’s the challenge for building muscle in menopause. Estrogen plays a role in maintaining your muscle mass and strength. So when your estrogen levels start to drop, you need to give your body every advantage you can to facilitate muscle building.
That’s where maca root It comes to.
Maca is one of the most powerful natural foods on the planet — especially for menopausal women.
It can help you:
- Increase energy levels
- Support your mental health
- Put hot flashes in their place
- Sleep blissfully through the night
And it could also help support, build and protect your muscle mass.
Although we don’t have strong human trials showing maca’s direct effect on muscle building, when scientists added maca to a culture of muscle cells and let it sit for a few days, they noticed that the diameter of the muscles increased. As a result of their observations, they concluded that maca can promote muscle growth. (2,3)
Furthermore, damn it has a strong amino acid profile — with a host of minerals and nutrients to its credit as well. (4) This means it can help you get enough protein to build muscle efficiently and provides you with nutrients that support muscle function and maintenance.
Maca For Curves?
If you’ve heard of women taking maca to try to change their body composition or create “curves” — that’s because maca, when combined with resistance training, makes your body look amazing!
When you combine its nutritional profile with its energy-boosting ability, maca is the perfect companion for women who lift. I combine it with mine Keto-Green® Protein Cream and Keto-Green® Diet for spectacular results. Thousands of women from all over the world have transformed their bodies and extended their health with this combination.
Check out mine Keto-Green® Deluxe Kit 16 for everything you need to get the body of your dreams!
Is Maca Good for Energy?
Maca’s true superpower helps your energy levels explode. And this is one of the amazing ways it can help you build and maintain muscle, boost performance, and recover from workouts faster.
Studies show that just a few grams of maca a day could improve energy levels – and mood. (5,6) These are both critical factors in training well and building muscle.
How often do you take Maca Root?
In Peru, people eat maca for everything, every day. When I was there, it seemed like maca was offered as a solution for almost any ailment you can think of.
Maca is considered well tolerated and most women get the best results when taken daily. (7)
The ultimate weight loss + muscle building solution
We’ve learned why you should really focus on building muscle mass. And we’ve talked about how to do it.
We’ve also touched on maca’s role in helping you increase your energy levels and get the most out of your workout.
Now, it’s time to meet the ultimate weight loss and muscle building package, the Keto-Green® Deluxe Kit 16.
This kit includes everything you need to change your body composition – and fight menopausal symptoms like hot flashes while you’re at it.
The Keto-Green® 16 Deluxe Kit It combines the power of maca, plant protein and test strips to help you achieve ketosis and alkalinity, two of the most important components of menopausal weight loss.
Check out the Keto-Green® 16 Deluxe Kit here.
