According to a study of over 8700 men between the ages of 20 and 82 (reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ: 2008: 337:a349) greater body strength decreased your risks of dieing early.
At the beginning of the study, which lasted over 18 years, everyone was measured for upper and lower body strength and for their performance on a treadmill. The results showed (taking age into account) that the weakest men died earlier. It did not matter what their family history was. It did not matter what their lifestyle habits were. It did not matter what medical conditions they had. It simply mattered how strong they were.
This followed even in those that had good cardiovascular fitness. Being stronger and having good cardio was better than having weak muscles and good cardio.
In a separate study it was found that falls in the elderly were overwhelmingly caused by lack of strength. This is especially in those that have weak core strength.
The good news is that anyone, no matter what their age or level of fitness can improve their strength.
Your body is a wonderful machine. Start treating it nice and it will respond - no matter how abusive or neglectful you have been towards it.
A study of participants ages 60 to 86 years old showed that simple weight training exercises (done 3 times per week for 12 weeks) increased muscle strength by 29%.
Okay, so you might be figuring that doing some strength training will be beneficial to you. But, what if the exercises you do hurt?
Maybe you are very much overweight and your joints hurt. Or maybe you haven't exercised in years. Usually it is the knee and hip joints that bother people the most.
It is sort of a Catch-22. Everyone loses some cartilage in the joints as they age. Overweight people lose this cartilage faster. That plus the extra weight usually causes pain if you try to do too much.
As with anything, start building your strength gradually. Don't jump in and do 100 squats and then run sprints. That is guaranteed to shock your system and your body will react angrily. Start by doing some simple leg strengthening exercises - especially for your knees. Enjoy a 10 minute walk. Build up from there. If ten minutes is too much, then start with 36 seconds and then rest. Do it again. Keep building up with these 36 second exercise walks. You can do these throughout the day or all at once depending on your schedule. Start adding a few more exercises. You could start doing some squats. Don't worry, I am not asking you to put 405 pounds on your back and start squatting. Just sit down on a kitchen chair and stand up. Do this for 36 seconds at a time. If you can't do 36 seconds do as many as you can and build up to the 36 seconds.
Why 36 seconds you might be wondering. There are several reasons for that and too much to go into in this article. Feel free to check out my blog and newsletter for the reasons behind this.
In the meantime, keep building your body strength and enjoy a longer and stronger life.
Thanks,
Mike Val
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