Calling all women over 40! Today I’m talking about the must-have tool to build muscle and improve bone density: the barbell. In this episode, you’ll learn a huge mistake most women over 40 are making in the gym (and how to avoid it), the ins and outs of using a barbell, and three barbell exercises to incorporate into your workout routine today to improve your body composition.

Most women are not confident with a barbell or think that they are just for men: false! The great news is that learning good technique with a barbell is easier than with dumbbells or bands. I break down why training with this long metal bar is so good for body composition, improving bone density, and decreasing muscle fatigue. Like with anything new, start slow! I outline three barbell exercises to try now including how many reps and how often. 

I hope you enjoyed this episode! And stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday next week! Stay strong, friend.

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Topics covered

• How to correctly and confidently use a barbell
• Why a barbell is easier to manage than dumbbells 
• High resistance, low repetition moves are the sweet spot for women over 40
• Debunking common barbell myths
• Tips for incorporating a barbell in your workout

Resources Mentioned

• Find the 5, 6 and 7-foot CAP barbells HERE
• Research on resistance exercise for knee osteoarthritis HERE
• Research on resistance training for musculoskeletal rehabilitation HERE
• Research on weight-training injuries HERE
• Research on the effects of strength training on women HERE
• Transcripts can be found on the official blog page for this episode at hollyperkins.com/blog

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Find me on Instagram: @hollyperkins

Learn more on my website: hollyperkins.com

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/HollyPerkinsFitness

Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Mentioned in this episode:

Workshop Promo!

Holly Perkins 0:00

It's not necessary to become a beast in the gym in order to improve your strength, muscle mass, and bone density. But if you start now using the must-have tool that I'm about to reveal, you might find it's actually quite easy to transform your strength and your health. If you want to preserve or build lean muscle so that it, in turn, improves your bone density, you need this tool. So keep listening.

Hello and welcome! I am so thrilled that you're here. If you are new, welcome. I'm Holly Perkins, and after 30 years in practice helping women improve their body composition, I've had a front-row seat to the habits and practices that my most successful clients use to become stronger, leaner, and energized—even when they think they will never regain the boundless energy of their younger years.

Holly Perkins 1:07

Today's episode is so special because it was born out of a conversation that I had with the editors of my next book, which is coming out next year. I have been deep in book-writing mode for the past couple of months, actually. Right now, this week, I'm creating the strength programming for that book. That's right—when you buy my book next year, you're going to get a science-backed strength plan to help you improve your muscles and your bones. You don't want to miss this one because it is going to be revolutionary. So stay tuned for that.

Something I've witnessed for years now is that many women really struggle to just feel well. I know this has been a big theme in my life.

Holly Perkins 2:03

My clients come to me because they are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired—if you know what I mean. They hate the aches and pains that come with age, and they want to do something about their body fat, their body shape, and just how they feel in their body so that they feel strong, lean, athletic, and youthful. To me, that's like the Holy Grail, right? Speaking from experience, it really sucks to feel old. It is the worst.

It's something that I know very well because, for most of my life, I've struggled in a number of ways. But the biggest theme really has been symptoms of depression and, at times, debilitating fatigue—like crushing fatigue. Even today, I am always having to protect and manage my energy.

Holly Perkins 3:03

I was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder a few years ago, and some days it literally just feels like a full-time job managing it. It is. It's just the lot that I've been assigned, I guess. I don't like to talk about it too much because I'm the type of person who believes that what I focus on becomes my reality. I know that if I focus on what I want to feel and what my goals are, I do a lot better.

But I also think it's important to share this part of my health journey with you because I walk the walk and talk the talk of the women that I help. I know that so many women over 40 want to feel better, just feel good, and stay in the game of life as they age—and stay out of the rocking chair in the years ahead.

Holly Perkins 3:55

So in this episode, you'll learn the must-have tool if you want to actually make a difference in your muscle mass and bone density. You'll learn a huge mistake to avoid that most women over 40 are making, which is causing them to literally just spin their wheels and waste their time. You'll also learn the first three exercises that you need to master so that you can improve the architecture of your body to fortify you for all the amazing years ahead.

Just this week, one of the women in my coaching program got her most recent DEXA scan, and let me tell you, the results are nothing short of shocking. I literally squealed and jumped up and down when she sent me the message! After five months inside of The Body Composition Project—which is my six-month, live, guided coaching program where I'm involved, I'm coaching you, I'm guiding you every single week, and sometimes every single day—

Holly Perkins 5:02

So after five months in the program, her lean muscle mass increased by 4.2 pounds. And this isn't a guesstimate. This is based on a DEXA scan, which is the gold standard for measuring body composition: how much of you is muscle, how much of you is bone, and how much of you is body fat. And what's crazy—crazy, crazy—are you ready for this? Her body weight went up, but her body fat percentage went down.

Think about that. What a conundrum, right? I see this all the time, and this is why I'm so passionate about using real data to understand what's happening inside your body. You really can't use the scale as your key metric. Imagine if you were committed to improving your body composition, followed the program, did all the things, and worked hard for five months.

Holly Perkins 6:06

If you didn't use real data in the form of a DEXA or even an InBody scan, you would probably be freaked out to see the scale go up by nearly five pounds, right? I have people reach out to me all the time saying, "I don't understand. I'm doing everything. I'm working hard. I'm eating right. And the scale went up or didn’t go down!" But because we got to see what was actually happening with her body weight and where that was coming from—and that her body composition was changing and improving—it was a glorious victory for both of us.

Holly Perkins 6:47

She's smaller overall. When you look at her photos, it's really impressive. The quality of her muscle is better. She looks more fit. She looks more athletic. She looks amazing.

And don't forget—the scale went up by almost five pounds. Yet she looks more fit. Her bikini bottoms are falling off of her. And I know this because I see her progress photos every two weeks. And guess what? Here's the kicker—she's not in her 30s. She's not in her 40s. She's 58 and getting these kinds of results.

I say this to you—don't you dare think that it's too late for you or that your body will never be as fit or as lean as you want. Because I am watching my clients prove that is a big, fat lie. And today's episode is going to help.

Holly Perkins 7:38

So let me reveal the must-have tool that you need for strong muscle and bone. And oh yes, my client was using this tool. Can you guess what it is? When I realized this week that I believe this is the missing link for women in their efforts to build muscle and improve bone density, I realized that I have to talk about this more and get real granular about this tool. The must-have tool that I believe you need if you want to truly improve the architecture of your body is—drum roll—a barbell.

Holly Perkins 8:26

Now, listen, I realize you might be like, "Gosh, Holly, duh, that's not a mystery or secret tool at all." Right? Everyone knows what a barbell is. But here's the thing—most women, and I'm gonna bet my career that it's you—if you're sitting there right now listening to this, I bet this is you. There's a good chance it's you. Most women are either intimidated and/or afraid to use a barbell, or maybe you're just unsure how to use it safely and effectively.

Holly Perkins 9:07

You might be like, "I see the barbell all the time. I used to use it in college. I'm not afraid of it. It's no secret." But my real question is, are you confident? Are you using it? Do you feel like a boss of the barbell? For most women, that's not the case. The vast majority, in my experience, are not using a barbell regularly, and even fewer are using it correctly. When I've asked, so many women have told me that they thought barbells were for men or for advanced lifters, and this just is not true. Really, I think it's the best tool, and it's the first tool that a person should adopt.

Holly Perkins 9:47

So while a barbell might not be a mystery tool for you, I'm gonna bet that you're not using it, or you're not using it as effectively as you could be—if you're using it at all. And that there is some mystery around it in general. So why is a barbell a must-have tool if you want to improve both your muscle and bone mass? The first reason is that, contrary to what you might think, it's actually easier to learn good technique with a barbell as compared to dumbbells or even bands. Really. Especially if you are new to strength training or refining your technique. That is a total game-changer. Because most of the time, when women aren't familiar with strength training, they start with just their body weight. There's nothing wrong with that. There isn't anything wrong with that—there's a time and a place for it.

My argument is, if you really, really want to do this right, you can do some of those exercises with just your body weight or with light dumbbells and incorporate a barbell for the exercises where it's actually super important. Now, before I explain this more—or talk forever about it, as I do—I want to make sure that we are on the same page, you and me, when I'm talking about the word "barbell." So the barbell—first of all, if you're completely new to this—a barbell is the long piece of metal that looks like a pole. Okay? I know most people know that. Sometimes people confuse a barbell and a dumbbell. Some people refer to free weights as a thing, but a barbell and dumbbells—those are both free weights. They're not machines. Okay? So you've got machines.

You've got those little dumbbells that you hold in your hands—big dumbbells, I hope, if you're following me. And then the barbell is the long metal bar that you put weight plates onto. Okay? The barbells that you see in a typical commercial gym or even in the media are almost always what's called a "standard Olympic barbell," and it's seven feet long and 45 pounds. Now, that barbell is tricky if you're newer to strength training or you don't yet have the actual strength to move the barbell around safely. It is a lot of metal and a lot of barbell, and it's awkward because it's seven feet long.

So if you're five feet tall or five feet three or five foot five, seven feet is long and awkward, even if it only weighs 45 pounds. And for a lot of women who haven't worked with a barbell, or maybe are doing classes or just weight machines, 45 pounds is significant when it's in this shape. Okay? I distinctly remember the day when I learned how to do a bench press. I was in my 20s, and at the time, I was pretty fit. I was a trainer in New York City. I was training Howard Stern and Julia Roberts, and—oh gosh—the list goes on and on and on. I had a very illustrious clientele, and I had, honestly, the best job in the world. I was the luckiest trainer in the world. I had an incredible mentor. It was amazing. I believe it's why I still love what I do today and why I'm good at it.

So my fellow trainer friend at the gym where I worked thought that doing a bench press for me would be a piece of cake. But when I lifted the bar from the bench press rack—right, the type where you're laying on a bench and it's on a rack over you—I nearly dropped it on myself because the length makes it so awkward. It just requires a different kind of strength to stabilize it. But what you may not know is that there are hundreds of different kinds of barbells. And my preferred barbell that I'm really talking about here is only five feet long and 25 pounds. And oh, by the way, it's about 70 bucks online. This barbell is easy to handle, and I'll argue that any woman can start with this weight load. It's only 25 pounds—even if you're brand new to strength training.

In fact, my beloved Carmen, whom I talk about all the time—who's been in my community for a very long time and is one of my clients inside the Body Composition Project—she's 80, and she is using this very barbell in her home, and she is deadlifting like a boss. So when you visualize a barbell, just know that starting with a five- or even a six-foot barbell is the best way for a woman to learn, because the 25 pounds gets distributed among a lot of body parts—your back, your chest, your shoulders, your arms, and your core. So it's 25 pounds really handled by your entire upper body.

The reason it's actually easier to learn good technique with a barbell is because, as I just said, numerous muscles are helping to control the weight, and there is stability that happens because your hands are locked off on the barbell in a stable position. This is in contrast to dumbbells or even bands, where each hand, arm, or shoulder has to independently maneuver the weight in space. Can you see that? Can you kind of see what I'm talking about now?

Now, this might be relatively easy to handle with a five-, eight-, or ten-pound dumbbell, but at some point—listen closely—if you want to keep progressing, you'll have to use heavier dumbbells. And when you get up to 25-, 30-, or 35-pound dumbbells—or beyond—it gets a lot harder to manage each dumbbell. But a 50- or 70-pound barbell is much easier to work with because that weight load is spread across a stable piece of metal. And oh, by the way, there was a time when I was in beast mode—I was doing walking lunges for like five minutes holding 35-pound dumbbells. That was 70 pounds on my body while I was doing walking lunges.

And here's the crazy thing—I remember this so distinctly. I had to end my sets because my hands, my arm, my grip, and my shoulders couldn't handle the 35 pounds. But I could load up a barbell, put it on my shoulders, and do walking lunges that way. Therefore, I was not limited by a heavy dumbbell. I was able to continue challenging my legs with walking lunges, but also my core, back, shoulders, and entire body, really. The focus of a walking lunge is your lower body, and I was able to continue my training and challenge myself because I had a different apparatus. Imagine if you're doing a squat—whatever variation of a squat you can visualize right now. Imagine you're using 15-pound dumbbells, one in each hand, versus a 30-pound barbell across your shoulders.

Can you imagine how a barbell is just more stable? I mean, once you get comfortable with it on your shoulders. I've even had times where, if it was a lighter barbell, I could literally take my hands off the barbell and keep it stabilized on my shoulders. At one point, I was able to do a squat without even holding onto the barbell—it would just stay on my shoulders because I knew how to anchor it there. There's a skill in working with a barbell across your shoulders, if that's where we're placing it in this example. But it's just more stable, it's easier to handle, and it loads your body at your torso. So the barbell—whether it's in your hands, on your shoulders, or even on your hips for a hip thrust—loads your body more centrally to your core, spine, and the big joints of your shoulders and hips.

It helps to make the move more symmetrical so that you're using both sides of your body more evenly, as compared to a 15-pound dumbbell on your right side and a 15-pound dumbbell on your left side. If your left arm is weaker—oh, by the way, I've never worked with a client who's perfectly symmetric—it's going to handle that dumbbell differently. Now, oh, by the way, disclaimer: this isn't a bashing of dumbbells because I still love and use dumbbells. You need them for certain exercises. I just want to help you see the benefits of a barbell so that you're not afraid of it and that you're open to learning how to use it. For some key exercises—generally, it's 20 to 30% of the exercises that you do in a week—you'll want to use a barbell for.

The best way to reduce your risk of injury is to ensure symmetry between your right and left body parts. When we look at research, we know from studies on professional athletes that the ones with significant asymmetries—between their right and left leg, right and left glute, right or left shoulder or arm—are the ones who have an injury ahead of them. Asymmetry in your body is a direct indication of potential injury, and most humans are asymmetric, so you need to be aware of this. Imagine that you advance, you get stronger, and you increase your weight load on any exercise. But let's continue to use the squat as an example. Which seems easier to manage: 40-pound dumbbells or an 80-pound barbell?

If you're not sure, trust me—the 80-pound barbell is so much easier once you learn it. In a moment, you'll hear the most important reason of all why I believe a barbell is a must-have tool, but first, I've got a very special announcement for you. The biggest reason why a barbell is a must-have tool for strong muscle and bone is because it gets increasingly harder to build muscle. Number one, as you become more fit. And number two, as you get older. Now, listen, research shows that a person can build muscle at every rep range and at every age. Yes.

So if you've listened to my podcast enough, you've heard me talk about this. There's hypertrophy that happens. Hypertrophy is muscle growth. Okay? Hypertrophy happens with what's called HRLR—high resistance, low repetitions. And there's another kind of hypertrophy, which is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, that happens at low resistance, high reps—LRHR. But here's the thing—you don't hear about this a lot, if at all, in popular media, especially as spoken by male voices. When it comes to the various protocols, I've found the most effective for women, especially over 40, is the former—high resistance, low repetitions.

The reason for this is that, one, it reduces systemic fatigue. The majority of women that I work with often struggle with energy and fatigue. High resistance, low repetitions can generally be done in a faster amount of time. Imagine you're doing three sets of 15, 20, or 30 reps—that takes a lot longer than three sets of 8 or 10 reps. So it puts the intensity of your workout on the load, on the effort, not on the time and the number of repetitions. I speak from experience as that person who might be like you, where fatigue is a real thing. I saw a huge change when I literally quit doing repetitions above 10. I almost never do 12 repetitions anymore.

Sometimes I do—there's a time and a place. But you will never catch me doing 15 repetitions, I can tell you that. The second reason I prefer this protocol is that it develops what's called myofibril hypertrophy, which is different from the other hypertrophy I mentioned. This is the type of muscle growth where the muscle fibers actually become stronger and larger, instead of the fluid becoming greater, which is sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Again, I talk about this on other podcast episodes. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by performing big, complex, compound movement patterns—like squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, bench press, and overhead press.

When you involve more than one joint, you incorporate numerous muscle groups. The more muscle groups that get recruited in a movement, the better hormonal response that triggers muscular development. I would argue that if you're over 50, it is nearly impossible to truly increase your muscle mass with just dumbbells alone.

I do believe that there are a few women out there doing it, but they are very rare, and I am not totally convinced that they are doing it 100% barbell-free. Even if they are—again, it's really hard and really rare. So if you're like, "But Holly, so-and-so on social media only uses dumbbells, and she looks incredible." Here's the thing: Number one, I'm gonna bet she's selling a program that is dumbbell-based so that it can be done at home. Or, number two, she's under 40—or I would even say under 45—because things really change at 44 or 45 hormonally for most women. Or she's just genetically gifted.

So there are always exceptions to every rule, but as someone who's been in the business for 30 years, in the gym, working with bodies, I can tell you right now it is rare—if it exists at all—that a woman is actually really building muscles in a sustainable way, progressively, with just dumbbells. Building muscle is already so darn hard. Why make it harder by requiring all the skills and equipment needed for advanced dumbbell movements? If you work out in a commercial gym, a combination of weight machines for bigger muscles and dumbbells for smaller ones definitely works, but I can promise that you'll get even better results if you incorporate barbells for the big moves that address and recruit the big muscles—quads, hamstrings, glutes, lats, deltoids, even. This leads right into another misunderstanding that many women have, and that's that any weightlifting works for building muscle and therefore stimulating bone density.

So again, make sure you listen to all my podcast episodes. What a lot of people don't know—a lot of women and even, honestly, a lot of medical doctors don't really realize—is that progressive resistance strength training, building muscle, is the most effective way to improve your bone density. I'm going to even argue it's the only way to legitimately improve your bone density. Yes, nutrition is important, but you can take all the calcium in the world—it doesn't necessarily improve bone density if you're sitting in your rocking chair. Quick physiology lesson: it's the tugging and the tension to your bones caused by muscular contractions that stimulate bone cell activity, osteoblasts, that improve bone density and strength.

The best way to stimulate bone mineralization is through big, challenging, mechanically—quote, unquote—stressful strength exercises, the ones that require a barbell. While all strength exercises are valuable, they are not all created equal when it comes to actually building muscle. For example, imagine that you want to target your glutes and develop some muscle there. I hope you will, because your glutes really are the most important muscle group in your entire body, and they are designed to be the largest, most powerful muscle group in your entire body. But in my experience, 90% of women are severely undeveloped and have dysfunctional glutes. So I hope you're going after building some glute muscle. A popular glute exercise is a cable kickback. Now, I love a cable kickback. In fact, it's probably one of my most favorite exercises. It's fabulous, but when you compare it with a barbell hip thrust or a barbell back squat, it is a very different experience. I would argue that you almost can't build glute muscle with just a cable kickback alone, but you could develop your glutes with just a hip thrust.

This doesn't mean that cable kickbacks aren't good. They are. I just said that. There's a time and a place for them, but it's going to be a lot easier to actually improve that muscle with a barbell because your glutes are a powerful, high-capacity muscle group, and you don't have the leverage on a cable system to be able to generate enough force with a cable kickback. So you're going to see the great booty queens on social media demonstrating a cable kickback. And it's true, they're doing them. I would do them if I was working out in a gym. I love them. I miss them desperately. There's a time and a place for them. They are a tool. They are not really a needle mover.

So here are some tips if you're interested in incorporating a barbell in your workouts. Number one: depending on your fitness level, I encourage you to start with a five- or a six-foot barbell. This is super easy if you work out at home because the brand CAP has an awesome barbell that you can get online for around $70. I have the five-foot, six-foot, and seven-foot barbells, all from that brand. If you work out in a gym, it might be a bit harder, but ask someone who works at the gym to point out the five- or the six-foot barbell. Most gyms have at least one. If they don't have one, I encourage you to be brave and bold—speak with the manager and request one so that, and I quote, their female members have a more suitable option. I am on a mission to help more women get comfortable with barbells and become stronger and build muscle. Hopefully, my listeners, you will serve as my messengers out in the world. Gyms need to start supporting women by offering a greater variety of equipment. Don't get me started.

This gets the redheaded me fired up. As I've always said, the gym industry has been built by men, for men. Women are severely underserved, and it is time for us to change that. Thank goodness more women than ever are taking their strength training seriously. Okay, off the soapbox. Number two: it's important to start slowly and gently when you're working with a barbell. First, get your hands on a barbell and just see how it feels to handle it. Go over, pick it up, put it down, move it two inches—just feel it. Feel it in your hands. Move it around just so you can experience the weight distribution.

Maybe once you get comfortable, perform a few just partial reps of one exercise so that you can get the feel of using a bar. Number three: the first three exercises I have my clients master with a barbell are: barbell squat to a bench (if you're new to squats or if you're new to a barbell), barbell deadlift, and barbell overhead press. Disclaimer on that one: it's really important to start with a 25-pound barbell there if you're newer because an overhead press targets the deltoids, which is a smaller muscle group, and a lot of people have dysfunction overhead pressing. So you do want to start light there. Step number four: start with just a few partial reps of one of these exercises. Don't do all three, and then on another day, try out a full set with a limited range of motion. Then on another day, increase your range of motion. Then on another day, do two full sets with full range of motion, and so on.

Do not tackle a bunch of barbell exercises all at one time. Let your body adjust to working with the barbell and movement patterns over time. Here's something that I've said, and they take it very literally, or they get inspired and they jump in too quickly. Please don't make the mistake of picking up an Olympic barbell and going into beast mode on day one because you think you're strong enough or you're fit enough or you worked with one in college. If you have not been working with a barbell for six months or longer, do not do this.

Strength training with a barbell doesn't cause injuries, but terrible technique does. Research has shown that strength training and the risk of injuries is actually quite low, statistically. That being said, what I've learned over the past 30 years working with people in the gym is that strength training with good technique will make you bulletproof, but strength training with poor technique is going to lead to joint issues.

Are you ready to run out and get yourself a brand-new barbell? If you want to see the ones that I use and recommend for my clients, you can click the link in the show notes. After 30 years in business, I am absolutely convinced that every woman of every age can learn how to strength train safely and effectively and get the kind of muscle tone and definition that you want. I hope you enjoyed this episode—I certainly did! Stay tuned for another brand-new episode on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong, my friend. Stay you.