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STORY:MATT HEINTZELMAN, TITAN TACTICAL FITNESS

what if I told you that several of the top causes of death in senior populations in the United States were preventable with a regular weightlifting routine? When we think of lifting weights, it’s easy for our minds to envision the large, burly physiques of body builders – both men and women – and think to ourselves, “Yeah that’s not really for me.” And I get that. One of the number one concerns I deal with on a regular basis is whether lifting weights will cause an individual to get larger, more burly, and therefore work against what that individual is trying to achieve. And while that is something that can occur, it only happens with strict, militant discipline to weightlifting for long durations… not to mention the astronomic amount of work that needs to occur in the kitchen.

The truth is that most of us don’t have the time or patience to put on that kind of muscle… and that’s okay! That’s not on the goal list for most of us. So if that’s not the goal, why lift weights at all? As it turns out, there are a MASSIVE amount of scientifically-backed reasons why nearly EVERYONE should participate in a regular (and simple!) weightlifting routine. This is particularly true with senior populations.

BenefitsofWeightlifting

As age increases, muscle mass and strength decreases. From age 50, muscle mass begins to decrease by 1-2% annually. In your 50s, muscle strength starts to fall by 1.5% and from age 60 and older it begins to decrease by 3% annually.

It is estimated that 5-13% of elderly people in the age range of 60-70 years old and 11-50% for those aged 80 or above suffer from sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). This issue can lead to an increase in frailty and a significant increase in the risk of falls and promote the onset of other health issues.

One primary benefit of weightlifting in older adults is to fight this age-related muscle loss. Weightlifting has been shown to create significant improvements in muscle mass and muscle quality; increasing general strength as well as maximal strength; and improving overall physical endurance, including muscular endurance, aerobic conditioning, walking speed, and VO2 Max (a measurement of maximum oxygen consumption levels).

When you perform weightlifting exercises, the tension on your muscle fibers results in growth signals that lead to increased strength. Resistance exercise also increases the actions of growth-promoting hormones. These signals combine to cause muscle cells to grow and repair themselves, both by making new proteins and by turning on special muscle stem cells called “satellite cells,” which reinforce existing muscle.

Thanks to these processes, weight training and resistance exercise is the most direct way to slow, prevent, and reverse the loss of overall muscle mass and function due to aging, as well as any health issues related to muscle loss.

IncreaseMuscle,DecreaseBodyFat

Another great benefit of weight training and increasing muscle mass comes in the form of lower levels of overall body fat. On the surface, there are some obvious pieces to this. If you’re weightlifting, you’re burning more calories. When we burn more calories, we can lose weight (assuming we aren’t consuming more than we are burning).

But let’s take a deeper look… Did you know that in a thirty-minute weightlifting session, you could actually burn MORE calories than a thirty-minute session of any cardio-based activity? To understand this, we actually need to look beyond just the thirty-minute session.

While most of us burn more calories performing any cardio-based activity during those thirty minutes – I still cringe every time I start a run – we actually burn more calories over the next 36-48 hours because of a weightlifting session. When we lift weights, our bodies go through a more rigorous recovery process to rebuild our muscles… and that requires CALORIES! So even after your weightlifting session is over, your body is STILL burning more calories for you. How cool is that?!

And if we take it a step further, long term weightlifting will lead to an overall increase in rates of metabolism. One study demonstrated an increase in metabolic rate by 7% and a decrease in fat weight of 4 lbs over 10 weeks of training. So not only will you be losing weight and gaining muscle, but weightlifting will also increase the level of calories your body is burning on its own while you’re active AND resting.

StrengthandIndependence

In a country where we celebrate Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, we really should emphasize weight-training in older adults because it offers exactly that. Consistent weight-training routines give folks a higher level of independence and more control with their own bodies. These improvements are seen in: -- Higher improvements in static and dynamic balance -- Improved neuromuscular functioning and control -- Greater levels of mobility and flexibility -- Improved capability of walking, with an

improvement in stride length and speed -- Greater ability to perform everyday activities of daily life

Falling in Love with Weightlifting

All of these aspects combine together to prevent one major issue within older populations: falls. Whether you have not had a serious fall yet or you already have a history of falls, there still seems to be a lingering fear of falls. This fear can hold elderly and older adults with limited functional capabilities back from doing the simplest activities or tasks. Thankfully, weightlifting has been shown to reduce the fear of falling whether the participant has had a history of falls or not and has shown a decrease in overall number of falls due to the vast benefits listed earlier: increased balance, motor control, mobility, and general strength.

StillNotSold?

Just in case you still aren’t sold on the benefits of weightlifting, allow me to drive home its importance by looking at other areas in which overall quality of life is improved.

Higher Sleep Quality

Lack of sleep is a serious issue and health concern. Proper sleep is crucial for improving mental, physical, and emotional health no matter what age you are. Despite our culture placing emphasis and ego on “needing less sleep,” it turns out that sleep quality and quantity is something we all need more of. I could do an entire article just on the benefits of sleep in several different populations. I highly recommend a book titled Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD. Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and has headed up a lot of recent research related to sleep studies. It’s a fantastic read about how much more power (in every aspect of the word) that we can gain by getting better sleep.

With sleep being such a critical part of living higher quality lives, it’s important that we get more of it! How? You guessed it, with weightlifting.

A single session of weightlifting improves sleep latency (time to fall asleep) and sleep consolidation (the brain’s ability to store learned skills and memories). Additionally, there was a study that showed training with light walking reduces the severity of obstructive sleep apnea which can improve sleep quality and reduce disruptions in normal sleep patterns.

Thanks to weightlifting and improved sleep, individuals can see fewer age-related issues with memory, learning, cognitive functioning, and overall health.

Increased Cognitive Functioning and Improved Mental Well-being Do you ever feel like you’re getting more forgetful

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with age? Do you lose your train of thought sometimes, even mid-conversation? Well you better make sure you don’t forget to lift those weights!! In several studies, individuals with prior memory compromise or mild cognitive impairment saw improvements in memory and overall cognitive functioning. What about those who didn’t have prior issues? Older adults who are cognitively healthy also saw an improvement in memory from weight training. And in case you were wondering, weight training is just as beneficial as aerobic-based training in improving levels of confusion. But when it comes to improving cognitive functioning as a whole, moderate- and high-intensity resistance training delivers, and does so significantly better than aerobic-based training. Maintaining healthy cognitive functioning allows an older individual to live a more independent AND engaged life.

Let’s not skip over a quick mental health talk, either. In a time where depression, anxiety, and other issues with mental health are at an all-time high, a major focus should be on improving mental well-being. In addition to those increases in cognitive abilities, weightlifting has also been shown to reduce over 50% of depression-related symptoms in several populations, including those who are wheelchair-bound or suffer from dementia.

Even a daily light training regimen has a positive impact on self-perception of your physical well-being and overall self-esteem. Strength training also has a positive impact on lowering levels of anxiety and overall tension. In fact, reducing the amount of sedentary activity and increasing the amount and intensity of physical training showed a significant increase in scores across the board on mental health composite assessments.

Improve Bone Health

Did you know that lifting weights, either by itself or in conjunction with impact-loading activities, is considered the most osteogenic (bone-producing) activity? That’s right, lifting weights doesn’t just build stronger skeletal muscle… it actually makes the skeleton itself stronger and more resistant to fractures. Weightlifting has been shown to reduce the pain for those afflicted with osteoarthritis and has also shown an improvement in overall function.

Weightlifting is even prescribed for the prevention of diseases like osteoporosis due to its ability to stimulate bone growth and improve bone mineral density. This keeps individuals from becoming frail and reduces the chances of injury due to falls or other accidents.

the Bottom Line

In short, weightlifting has a direct result in limiting mortality risks in older adults and provides a plethora of health benefits to help you live longer and improve the overall quality of your life. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) found that adults 65 and older who performed strength training exercises twice a week had a 46% lower odd of all-cause mortality. The proof is in the data, folks.

Some of the top causes of death in populations 65+ are Heart Disease, Cancers, Stroke, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Accidents & Falls, and Pneumonia & Influenza. Add Covid-19 into the mix, and things really get dicey. Can weightlifting universally reduce the risk of all of these diseases? Numbers never lie: • Researchers at Iowa State University found that lifting weights less than an hour per week can reduce your risk for heartattackorstroke by as much as 40 to 70 percent. • A research team at the University of Sydney was assembled to find out which form of exercise is the most effective at preventing cancer. After studying 80,000 adults, the team concluded that strength training is more effective at prolonging life. The study successfully factored in a myriad of health variables, such as age, health status and lifestyle. Even when accounting for these factors, the study found that strength training twice a week reduced the likelihood of dying from cancer by 31%. • “For the first time, an intervention - lifting weights - has been able to slow and even halt degeneration, over a long period, in brain areas particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.” A study performed by a team at the University of Sydney related to Alzheimer’s disease in cognitively impaired individuals found that individuals in the control group (that did not perform any strength training regimen) saw the hippocampal subregions in the brain shrink by 3-4 percent over the 18-month study, while those undergoing strength training regimens saw only 1-2 percent reductions, and in some areas, none at all. • Moderate strength training and an increase in overall muscle mass were shown to reduce a person's risk of developing type2diabetesby 32 percent, per a study published in the journal Mayo Clinic

Proceedings. • A study, led by the University of Bristol and published in GeroScience, analyzed several studies with over one million participants in total. They found that people who exercise regularly have a lower risk of developing pneumonia or having a pneumoniarelated death occur compared to those who were the least active and/or not physically active. • A new study from the Mayo Clinic Proceedings has shown that an individual is 3.88 times more likely to be hospitalized due to Covid-19 when they are in the bottom quartile of fitness levels.

Convinced that a weightlifting routine may be just what you need? We’d recommend that you first consult your doctor. Then, consult a certified personal trainer to get you started with a safe and appropriate regimen. If you’re interested in learning more about the studies and statistics that were used in this article, please contact me at Matt@TitanTacticalFitness.com.