Strength training: how to add years to your life

Smelly gyms, body-beautiful women, and men with bulging biceps pacing around scary looking equipment. It’s no surprise that first impressions of strength training are less than appealing. Indeed, of the different fitness modalities I offer, it is the one that meets with most resistance (pardon the pun!). But we ignore it at our peril. It has a direct influence on our length and quality of life. What’s more, recent research uncovers a whole new dimension to strength training, too powerful to pass up.

Body strength: the facts

• How strong we are has a direct influence on how long we will live.
• Muscle loss is an inherent part of the ageing process.
• Unless active steps are taken to maintain muscle then, without exception, strength will continue to be lost. The ability to live independently ultimately will be impacted.
• Strength training can help directly protect against conditions such as diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
• Muscle is metabolically active. The more we have the higher our basal metabolic rate (BMR), the amount of calories the body burns simply to complete its basic daily functions.
• It IS possible to build muscle in older adults.

Strength training and cognitive health

All the above are now well-documented. However, exciting new research has uncovered the link between strength training and cognitive health. In fact, it is thought that it could be even more powerful than brain games such as crosswords, which after a number of years, rely on the same neurological pathways. Strength training, by contrast, can be used to open up new ones so maintaining a healthy brain, and helping to protect against dementia and late-onset Alzheimers.

The science

Muscle tissue is one of the most complex tissues in the body. Nerves that supply muscles are known as motor neurons. They originate in the spinal cord and split into various branches as they reach the muscle, each attaching to an individual muscle cell. Each branch of the motor neuron and all the muscle fibres linked to it, are known as a motor unit.

When the motor neuron receives the signal to fire up, every fibre in that individual motor unit contracts. And, it is only ever possible to contract at 100% there is no halfway house. This is known as the all or nothing response. No more force can be generated from that one unit. The only way to do so is to recruit more motor units. The heavier the job, the more motor units will be needed. Hence, the neurological demand of strength training.

It is the brain’s job to estimate how many motor units it thinks will be required in order to meet the demands being asked of it. This is nicely illustrated if you have ever gone to pick something up which you think is going to be heavy and isn’t. It usually shoots up in the air or sends you off balance. The brain got it wrong and fired up too many motor units. Equally, if you ask it to pick up something which is heavier than expected, you may at first be unable to lift it until more motor units have been brought in to assist.

Like anything, if you don’t use it you lose it. If you limit the demand on the muscles to your usual every day tasks, you will only ever use the same lower level motor units. This leaves a whole network of motor neurons that are never having to activate. Without stimulation, after a while they will stop functioning effectively. By working on our strength, we can keep the neurological pathways open, and the brain, healthy.

How?

The good news is that the weight needed to provoke a response, is relative to each individual’s strength at the outset. This is not about trying to lift weight that is way beyond what you are currently able to manage and potentially hurting yourself in the process. You simply need to make sure that you feel challenged. Indeed, even using one’s own body weight in exercises such as press ups or squats can be sufficient in the first instance.

As you get stronger, you will need to gradually increase the level of difficulty so that the body is continually encouraged to adapt.

And so finally…

The evidence for including strength training in your weekly routine is overwhelming. It can quite literally add years to your life. There’s lots of ways to do it so you can reap the benefits. No gyms required!

 

Bonus section: exercises to try

If you haven’t worked on strength before, here’s three exercises to try. If you want a little more guidance, take a look at our timetable, and come and join us online or in person!

1. The squat

Start with feet hip width apart, tummy lightly drawn in, shoulders down and chest open.

Bend the knees and send the bottom to the back as if you are sitting down on a chair, keeping the weight in the heels as you do so (see photo).

Knees should stay back from your toes and remain the same distance apart throughout.

Go down as far as is comfortable but no lower than 90 degrees at the knees, before pushing the heels into the floor and squeezing the bottom to return to the start.

Repetitions: 10-12, building up to two sets with a short break in between. Once you have perfected the technique you can add weights if you wish.

2. The lunge

Take a big step forward, keeping the feet hip width apart so the pelvis stays level. Back heel comes off the floor as you do.

Drop down, bending at both knees making sure that the front knee stays back from the toes. (NB Lunges should be an up and down movement and not a forward and back one as this loads the knee).

Aim for a 90 degree angle at both knees but only go as far as is comfortable for you especially if you have knee/hip/ankle problems.

Push through the front heel and squeeze the bottom to come back to the start, taking care not to lock the knee.

Repetitions: 10-12 each leg and build up to two sets with a break in between. Add weights once you feel comfortable to increase the level of difficulty.

3. Box press

Get on to hands and knees with your hands should be directly under your shoulders, but a little wider than chest width apart. Your knees are in line with your hips, back flat and tummy lightly drawn in.

Keeping the weight forward, bend the elbows, sending them out to the side and taking care not to drop the weight backwards. It should stay over your hands throughout.

Keep the head and neck aligned as you bend.

Push through the heel of the hand to come back to the start, without locking the elbows.

Work up to 2 sets of 12. As you get stronger you can progress on to a 3/4 press up with the knees positioned further back and the body in a straight line. Then there’s always the full press up!