Regular physical activity promotes general good health, reduces the risk of developing many diseases, and helps you live a longer and healthier life. For many of us, "exercise" means walking, jogging, treadmill work, or other activities that get the heart pumping.
But often overlooked is the value of strength-building exercises. Once you reach your 50's and beyond, strength (or resistance) training is critical to preserving the ability to perform the most ordinary activities of daily living — and to maintaining an active and independent lifestyle. The average 30-year-old will lose about a quarter of his or her muscle strength by age 70 and half of it by age 90. Just doing aerobic exercise is not adequate. Unless you are doing strength training, you will become weaker and less functional.
What is strength training?
Strength training encompasses any of the following:
Free weights, such as barbells and dumbbells
Ankle cuffs and vests containing different amounts of weight
Resistance (elastic) bands of varying length and tension that you flex using your arms and legs
Exercises that use your body weight to create resistance against gravity.
How much do you need?
A beginner's strength-building workout takes as little as 20 minutes. The key is developing a well-rounded program, performing the exercises with good form, and being consistent. You will experience noticeable gains in strength within four to eight weeks.
Getting started
Buying your own equipment is one option. Health clubs offer the most equipment choices. Books and videos can help you learn some basic moves and start developing a routine. Many senior centers and adult education programs offer strength training classes, as well.
However you start, go slow so you don't injure yourself.
Muscular strength doesn’t just increase lifespan. Having strong, healthy muscles enhances health span. Health span is optimal longevity, which means living long with an even greater interest in living well.
10 Ways Strong, Healthy Muscles Optimize Longevity:
1) Resistance training enhances muscle strength, power, endurance, quality, and mass.
The health consequences of maintaining (and increasing) muscle strength, power, and mass over the years will help protect you from physical disability, falling, and even death. Of course, they’re intricately tied to physical performance and functional capacity.
2) Resistance training helps reduce body fat and visceral (belly) fat.
Even though lifting weights may not lead to “weight loss” on the scale, it can radically change the shape of your body—how you look and feel and how your clothes fit—as it helps you reduce body fat while increasing lean muscle. Most importantly, resistance training helps decrease belly fat, which is associated with metabolic syndrome and increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
3) Resistance training helps maintain (or even increase) resting metabolic rate and prevent age-associated fat gain. An age-related decline in metabolic rate—which coincides with an age-related decline in muscle—plays a significant role in age-related fat gain, which contributes to reductions in quality of life and health span.
4) Resistance training helps reduce fasting insulin levels, improve insulin sensitivity, and reduce the insulin response to carbohydrates. Muscle is the primary site where the body uses and stores glucose (carbohydrate). Muscle contraction increases glucose uptake and improves insulin sensitivity, which help promote glycemic balance and control.
5) Resistance training can help increase HDL, reduce triglycerides, and improve blood pressure. Low HDL, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure (along with elevated waist circumference and fasting blood glucose) contribute to an elevated risk for metabolic syndrome. Muscle strength has been inversely associated with metabolic syndrome, and there is some evidence that resistance training may improve HDL, triglycerides, and blood pressure.
6) Resistance training can increase bone mineral density (BMD).
Long-term studies have shown lifting weights can significantly increase bone mass in men and women of all ages. BMD is a tremendous concern, especially among women, as folks get older because it is intricately tied to osteoporosis and the risk for broken bones.
7) Resistance training can help boost mood.
The benefits of resistance training go beyond strong, healthy muscles. In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis involving 33 clinical trials including 1,877 participants, researchers found resistance training significantly reduced depressive symptoms among adults.
8) Resistance training can improve cognitive function. Lifting weights promotes a healthy brain and emerging research is demonstrating that resistance training can improve cognitive function and quality of life.
9) Resistance training can protect against injuries. Strength training reduces the risk of injuries by nearly 70%. In other words, regularly lifting weights reduces the incidence of injury to less than 1/3.
10) Resistance training can improve quality of life. While quality of life can have a unique meaning to each individual, it generally is a function of one’s ability to do what is enjoyed and required to remain independent. Resistance training is essential to maintaining the muscle strength and endurance to perform various activities of daily living and remaining physically independent for a healthy, happy quality of life.
Discuss your new exercise plan with your doctor and explain the level of workout you expect to achieve. Mild to moderate muscle soreness between workouts is normal, but back off if it persists more than a few days.
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