Why Older People Should Do Weight

Training?


If you think you are getting old, you better read it. If you think
age is just a number, I would recommend you to read (just in
case).
What is the problem?

It has been pretty much established that there is a 1!" decline
in your muscle mass beginning in your fourth decade. #his loss
of muscle with aging was such an important $nding that they
e%en came up with a pet name for this phenomenon & they
called it 'sarcopenia(.
So why is muscle loss a problem with age?

#he loss of muscle with age has been associated with a number
of health problems)

Functional independence: *ost of your daytoday
acti%ities are dependent on your physical strength. Ironically,
strength is e+actly what you lose as you get older. ,our strength
and power are directly proportional to the muscle mass you
carry. -o the less muscle you ha%e, the less you mo%e around (or
function) without others help.
.alls would come under this category too. .alls in the elderly
results in a sharp decline in functional independence and o%erall
/uality of life. 0gain remind us of the signi$cance of maintaining
your strength and muscle with age.
Bone density: #his one is pretty clear. ,our bone strength
and density is highly depended on your muscle mass (and
strength).

Obesity: *uscle mass is said to be the largest contributor to
your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn
doing nothing). 1ow I partly see why people $nd it harder to stay
lean or keep the weight o2 as they get older.

Critical llness: 3oss of muscle mass is a major problem for
people su2ering from critical illness like cancer, traumatic injury,
burns and so on. #here seems to be more than a doubling of
protein needs in these folks. 0nd folks with limited reser%es of
muscle seem to respond pretty poorly to these stresses (e%en to
the e+tent to a2ect sur%i%al).


So how do increase my muscle
mass?

4ood /uestion. #he best and the
simplest way to increase muscle mass
is by weight training.
What are the other bene$ts of weight
training?

#here are other bene$ts of resistance training which are less
talked about)

Diabetes: Impro%ement in insulin sensiti%ity was always
belie%ed to be only e2ecti%ely possible through endurance
e+ercise. 1ow, number of studies has shown impro%ements in
blood glucose control with weight training. In fact, a recent head
to head comparison of weight training and endurance training
showed weight training to be more e2ecti%e in impro%ing glucose
control than endurance e+ercise. 0lso, impro%ements in blood
lipid pro$le were only seen in the strength training group which
made the researchers to conclude weight training to be an
important inter%ention for diabetes.

Blood Pressure: 5ecent studies ha%e clearly shown weight
training to be e2ecti%e in lowering blood pressure. #here is some
debate about the increase in arterial sti2ness (could be bad) with
resistance training, but the research is not really conclusi%e.
6epression and -leep disorders) Weight training has been
shown to alle%iate depression symptoms and impro%ed sleep.
7oth of these problems are pretty rele%ant to elderly.

Sub!ma"imal #ndurance: #he increase in subma+imal
endurance is generally a sought out bene$t of walking, jogging
and running. Weight training has also shown to impro%e sub
ma+imal endurance to a similar e+tent, if not more. #here ha%e
been some concerns o%er weight training attenuating endurance
training adaptations. 7ut this has been dispro%en by /uite a few
studies which showed no loss of endurance adaptations when
strength training is combined with endurance training.

Conclusion

8onsidering the potential bene$ts of weight training in impro%ing
function, reducing chronic diseases, increasing strength and
muscle mass, and e%en impro%ing endurance capacity, weight
training could be better than aerobic e+ercise, particularly for the
elderly.

0nyway, to make a long story short, weight training is good for
you, and is now shown to be e%en better if you are older.