- At the age of 58, Grace Lee began strength training with her daughter, Sohee Carpenter, a personal trainer.
- Strength training has many health benefits, including counteracting muscle loss and boosting bone density.
- Carpenter has helped her mom stay consistent with positive reinforcement.
Grace Lee, 63, grew up in a time when the weights room at the gym was considered strictly for men.
However, in recent years, growing research has demonstrated the health benefits of resistance training for people of all ages and genders, and public opinion has started to shift. In the years 2019 to 2023, kettlebells and free weights were the fastest-growing gym activities, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.
Lee realized she should be doing some form of strength training, but didn't know where to start.
With the help of her daughter Sohee Carpenter, a personal trainer based in Orange County, she started lifting weights at age 58.
Carpenter is a qualified strength and conditioning coach with a BA in human biology and an MA in psychology. She's currently finishing her PhD studying resistance training in women, researching the barriers to lifting and how they can be overcome. She's applied her research to helping her mom.
Lee and Carpenter have been training on and off for five years. Not only has Lee gained confidence but her golf game has improved — and she loves the look of her biceps, Carpenter told Business Insider.
Strength training has a range of health benefits, including counteracting age-related muscle loss (known as sarcopenia) which begins in our mid-30s, as well as boosting bone density. Having greater muscle mass and strong bones is beneficial for older people in particular, reducing the risk of falls and fractures.
An increasing number of women understand the benefits of lifting, but for many, they are outweighed by the perceived barriers, according to Carpenter. These include the "psychological fear of judgment, fear of not knowing what to do, their friends and families actively discouraging them from lifting weights, or not wanting to go to the gym alone," she said.
Many women also have more responsibilities at home to juggle alongside full-time jobs, meaning time is an issue too, Carpenter said.
Carpenter explained how she's helped her mom make strength training a habit by removing perceived barriers, and how anyone can do the same, whether for themselves or a parent.
Strength training can be relaxed and friendly
Carpenter knows her mom extremely well and has tailored her approach to training her accordingly. While some people might respond to being barked at and seeing their weights go up, this doesn't work for Lee.
In fact, Lee doesn't want to know how much she's lifting, Carpenter simply hands her the weights.
A relaxed environment is important for Lee to enjoy herself, Carpenter said, so she lets her mom do what she wants in rest periods, be that wandering off into the garden or ordering something online from her phone.
"Do your sets, but in between, do whatever you want," Carpenter said.
Carpenter keeps an eye on her mom's form but she doesn't overcorrect and instead offers lots of praise, she said.
"I'm fostering an extremely welcoming, supportive environment where I don't overcorrect her," Carpenter said. "I give only the main form corrections and otherwise I'm heavy on the verbal praise. I know if I don't, she'll get discouraged and she won't want to come back."
Remove your barriers to lifting
Carpenter has noticed a change in her mom after a few years of regular resistance training, including how much stronger she is.
That said, Carpenter is always the one to initiate their training sessions.
"My mom, she's not someone who loves exercise," Carpenter said. If you tell her to train on her own, she won't do it, Carpenter added, but if she has a trainer or the accountability of a group setting, she'll show up.
"On her own, she'd be like, 'I don't remember a single thing that I've done ever in the gym in the history of lifting,'" Carpenter said.
Carpenter recommends group training for some people. But fear of judgment and not wanting to go to the gym alone is a big barrier to many women, Carpenter said, so working out alone at home with household objects instead of weights for 20 minutes might be less daunting and thus more sustainable. Short home workouts over Zoom can also be a great way to start.
You also don't have to travel if you work out at home, making workouts easier to fit into a busy schedule.
Workouts also don't need to be perfect, they just need to be something, Carpenter said.
"Everyone should be lifting weights," Carpenter said. "There's no one right way to be lifting weights. Even five minutes of lifting is better than nothing."