What are you afraid of more? Lifting heavy things, or an early death? Yes, it’s a crude preference assessment, but strength should be viewed as a variable that enhances your performance! In the words of Mark Bell, “Strength is never a weakness.”
Fantastic new research indicates that no matter much you exercise (moderate-vigorous physical activity MVPA levels), when you lift weights, your risk for all-cause mortality decreases (Gorzelitz et al., 2022). We all know about the importance of step counts and exercise minutes, but resistance training is equally important!
Gorzelitz et al. (2022) surveyed 70+ year-olds on their exercise and strength-training habits. They asked two questions:
Question 1: How much do you strength train?
- less than once per month,
- 1-3x per month,
- 1-2x per week,
- 3-6x per week,
- 7x or more per week
Question 2: How much moderate exercise do you get weekly?
- less than 15min,
- 16–19min,
- 20–29min,
- 30–39min, or
- 40min or more
What did the authors find?
A few things:
Some level of moderate exercise reduces all-cause mortality (early death)
Any level of weightlifting frequency reduced all-cause mortality as well!
The Takeaway
If you are lifting weights, please continue doing so in a way that you maintain form and appropriate intensity. If you are not, or have no other means of resistance training, it may be time to get started.
If you are looking for inspiration, check out Dr. Catherine Walter. She started weight training at 65!
Sometimes weights are scary, but so is getting old. But getting old, losing the ability for general, functional strength is even scarier!!!
Lifting weights is beneficial, you might even call it medicine!
Keep moving! And keep lifting!
….see you in the weight room!
REFERENCE
Gorzelitz J, Trabert B, Katki HA, et alIndependent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening TrialBritish Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 27 September 2022. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2021-105315
