Preserve your muscle mass with resistance training

There’s pretty incontrovertible evidence that says if you want to live a healthy, happy and long life, exercise is essential.

But whilst many people solely focus their efforts on cardio-based exercises like running and brisk walking, which are of course beneficial for heart health and disease prevention, many neglect the potential impact of resistance training on overall health and longevity, particularly as you move into later life.

Recent research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that ‘resistance training, muscle contraction against external weight, potently increases muscle strength and mass (hypertrophy), improves physical performance, provides a myriad of metabolic-health benefits and combats chronic disease risk.’

Conversely, a lack of muscular strength has been linked with disability, disease, and all-cause mortality. 

The average 30-year-old will lose one quarter of their muscle mass by age 70, and half of it by age 90. Less muscle means greater weakness and less mobility, both of which may increase your risk of falls and fractures.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Studies show you can slow down and delay sarcopenia (age-related progressive muscle mass loss and strength) by years, or even decades, and maintain the regenerative property of your muscle fibres, by focussing on strength training twice a week.

So, strength training becomes even more important in later life as stronger muscles help you to climb stairs, continue gardening, pick up your grandchildren with ease, play tennis and simply enjoy life in a pain-free way. And yes, getting stronger can even help alleviate aches and pains.

Regular resistance training sessions (ideally twice a week) will therefore not only increase your overall strength, but allow you to do everyday activities with much more vigour and ease.

And there are so many other important benefits:

·        Memory improvement

·        Improves quality sleep

·        Feeling younger and slimmer

·        Increased metabolism

·        Increased muscle mass

·        Keeps illnesses at bay

So, you might have avoided strength training until now, or assumed it was for body builders, but you can’t ignore the evidence. Resistance training is vital for your health and it’s never too late to start. You don’t need massive dumbbells, just pick up some light weights (e.g. 1-3 kg dumbbells) and get squatting, lunging, pressing and curling, and you’ll quickly see and feel the difference.

Listen to the latest podcast by ZOE Science and Nutrition: Resistance training: how to stay strong as you age, for even further evidence that we should all be lifting weights.

I'm on a mission to help as many of you as possible on your health and strength quest. So join me every Monday and Friday for a challenging 20-minute online Pilates weights class, which should give you the nudge you need in the right direction.

Start and end your week strong and I’m sure you’ll feel better for it.