Live Longer Live Better with Strength Training
For every hour you exercise, you will live three hours longer. Strength training exercises are one of the best ways to stay fit and healthy as you age. Strength training is also known as weight training or resistance training. These include lifting free weights, using machine weights, elastic resistance bands, or even the weight of your body by doing lunges, squats, push-ups, and chin-ups.
Let's discuss how strength training Is essential for health. Here are a few benefits to consider:
Prevents Muscle Loss
Muscle is our largest metabolically active organ. As you age, body fat increases and muscle decreases. This process begins earlier than you might think: Research shows that muscle mass decreases approximately 3 to 8 percent per decade after age 30. The rate of loss accelerates even more after age 60. And worse, muscle loss was found to be associated with a significantly higher risk of death in a meta-analysis published in 2022. The muscle loss contributes to achy joints, increased risk of injury, and the "middle-age spread" we all dread.
Moreover, the older we get, the faster muscle mass disappears. That means simple tasks like getting out of a chair and climbing stairs can eventually become more difficult. Although muscle loss is an inevitable part of aging, strength training blunts the effects of this natural process. It is the secret sauce for maintaining and building muscle as you age. In a 2021 meta-analysis of studies that included over 500 adults ages 65 to 82, strength training improved muscular strength and performance. Strength training has even been shown to significantly increase strength in adults over 80, according to a 2020 meta-analysis—proving that it's never too late to start.
Helps Build More Muscles
Strength training can help you build muscle, strengthen your endurance, speed, and reaction time, and make everyday activities easier. That's critical as you age because it can help prevent falls. Strength training offers benefits you can't get with aerobic (cardio) exercises. Strong muscles will keep you fit for all you need to do — and for all you love to do.
Supercharges Your Metabolism
Metabolism is the process by which the body changes food and drink into energy. During this process, calories in food and drinks mix with oxygen to make the energy the body needs. Even at rest, our body needs energy for all it does- breathing, pumping blood, keeping hormone levels balanced, and growing and repairing cells. The number of calories our body at rest uses to do these things is known as basal metabolic rate. Muscle mass is the main factor in basal metabolic rate.
Although cardio gets much attention regarding weight loss, strength training plays a significant role in burning calories and improving body composition (the ratio of lean muscle to fat mass). Strength training is the equivalent of turning up the thermostat. Building muscle helps your body burn more calories. It is called the afterburn or post-exercise thermogenesis. When you strength train, you build lean muscle tissue, which is more metabolically active than fat. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. When you increase your muscle mass, you also increase your metabolism, which means you burn more calories throughout the day. So, in addition to burning more calories while at rest, you'll also naturally boost your metabolism through strength training.
Promotes Healthy Bones and joints, Pain-Free Movement, and Balance
Muscles are the foundation for all your body's movement, balance, and coordination. Suppose you enjoy walking, yard work, golf, pickleball, or hiking. In that case, you'll want to maintain muscle to prevent joint pain that could stop you from participating in your favorite activities. It is common for back or knee pain patients to find relief from building strength. This can help you maintain independence as you age.
Muscle is one of the best investments in longevity. Strength training is beneficial for both injury prevention and rehabilitation. It increases the number and diameter of collagen fibrils in your tendons. Strong tendons are helpful to prevent injury because they connect your muscles to your bones, providing support and flexibility. Specifically, strengthening muscles around a joint — like the knee or hip — can increase its stability and reduce pain, even helping to relieve chronic conditions such as arthritis. However, it's essential to maintain proper form when you strength train; otherwise, you can increase your injury risk. Doing strength training regularly makes everything else easier, like carrying groceries, housework, gardening, or strolling.
Improves Cardiovascular Fitness
Strength training may enhance cardiovascular health by reducing resting blood pressure, decreasing low-density lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, and increasing high-density lipoprotein (good) cholesterol. These significant cardiovascular benefits can improve your long-term health.
A 2017 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that women who engaged in weightlifting had a 17% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those who didn't lift weights.
And the results aren't limited to women. A 2018 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that lifting weights for as little as less than an hour a week may reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 40% to 70%.
Boosts Your Energy
Moving more can indeed help give you more energy through several mechanisms. Changes occur at the cellular level when you exercise, which spurs your body to produce more mitochondria inside your muscle cells. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells because they create fuel from glucose obtained from the food you eat and oxygen you breathe. Having more mitochondria increases your body's energy supply. Exercising also boosts oxygen circulation inside your body. This increase in oxygen supports the mitochondria's energy production. It allows your body to function better and use its energy more efficiently. Plus, your body gets a boost from an exercise-induced increase in hormone levels that makes you feel more energized. There's no need to slow down as you get older when you have the strength and power to keep up with life. Strength training gives the ability to live an active lifestyle. It's not just about aesthetics. It's about being able to enjoy a new chapter in your life.
Combats Hormonal Changes in Women
Due to the hormonal shifts of menopause, women face unique challenges in maintaining muscle and body composition as they age. Around menopause, there is usually a discernable change, unlike men, who experience a more gradual, linear decline in muscle mass over the years. Strength training can be used as an external stress to counteract these changes to create the adaptations once triggered by these hormones. Strength training signals the nervous system to create and recruit more muscle fibers. The stress of strength training also leads to changes that preserve bone mineral density, a significant factor in preventing the progression of osteoporosis.
Sleep Better
Strength training helps you sleep better and longer than cardio exercises.
Improves Lifespan
A recent meta-analysis found that people who do muscle-strengthening workouts are less likely to die prematurely than those who don't, adding to previous evidence that strength training has long-term health benefits. The study found that 30 to 60 minutes a week of strength training may be enough. Those who worked out for this duration had a 10% to 20% lower risk of dying during the study period from all causes and from cancer and heart disease specifically, compared to those who did no strength training. The benefits plateaued after one hour and decreased after two hours.
Improves Mental Health
Strength training improves cognition and keeps the brain working by staving off neurological disease. A 2020 study suggests that intensive strength training over six months benefits parts of the brain involved in memory.
A 2018 study found that strength training significantly reduced depression among adults — regardless of health status and even if they didn't get much stronger. Separate research from 2021 found that strength training also reduced anxiety and depression, improved sleep and self-esteem, and staved off fatigue, among other benefits.
Evidence supports that strength training can improve brain blood flow and neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience) through areas of the brain associated with executive function and memory in older adults. Executive function enables us to plan, focus attention, remember, and juggle multiple tasks.
Improve Diabetes
Strength training improves glucose metabolism, which can reduce the risk of diabetes. It boosts the number of proteins that take glucose out of the blood and transport it into the muscle, giving the muscles more energy and lowering overall blood-glucose levels. Strength training may assist in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes by decreasing visceral fat and making the body more sensitive to insulin.
Bottomline
Strength training should be an essential part of an overall fitness program. Get set for exercises that reward your time and effort for a long time. Invest in yourself. Self-care is not selfish. Enjoy the joy and security that ongoing muscle strength and power provide. It is never too late to start. Today is a great day to begin your strength training. Unveil the power within.
Caution
If you have a chronic condition, or you're older than age 40, and you haven't been active recently, check with your doctor before beginning a strength training or aerobic fitness program.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637912/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22777332/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161704/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6279907/
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/13/755
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29800984/
https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827610368771
About Us
Dr. Poonam Singh, MD, and Dr. Amar Singh, MD, are board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Obesity Medicine. They specialize in preventing, treating, and reversing chronic diseases using an evidence-based holistic approach. They are specifically interested in weight management, hormone re-balancing, and longevity. The American College of Physicians has recognized them as Fellows, FACP, for their excellence and contributions to medicine and the broader community. They enjoy teaching, volunteering, and advocating for their patients. Their mission is to share simple, effective, proven strategies leading to meaningful, sustainable, and long-lasting well-being.