Resistance training for older adults: let’s make life a little easier as you age
The internet and social media are filled with pictures and videos of young people lifting weights, flexing their hard-earned muscles, or doing amazing stunts with their body. What they do is amazing and like every sport, involves a lot of hard work. But for how long in life is resistance training or weight lifting sustainable?
Turns out, for a long, long time!
There are accounts of people lifting heavy weights well into their seventies and eighties. While most of them start early, or in their thirties or forties, there are people who even start at 60, 70 or beyond!
And why not? Research has shown that a 60 year old starting weight training can have similar benefits as a 30 year old doing the same thing in terms of muscle growth, and healthier neuromuscular connections. James F. Fries in his paper titled Aging, Natural Death, and the compression of Morbidity says “The age-related decrement in maximal performance (for marathon runners) is only one percent per year. Variation between different persons of the same age is far greater than the variation due to age; age is a relatively unimportant variable, and training in marathon running is clearly more important than age.”
Age is a relatively unimportant variable, and training in marathon running is clearly more important than age.
James F. Fries
The story about my “oldest client”:
Let me digress here a bit and tell you about my own experience in training a wonderful person from this population.
I was once approached by a 67 year old woman who asked me to help her get fitter and stronger. At that time, she had back pain, severe arthritis on both knees, and had never done strength training in her entire life.
In the first few sessions, I focussed on building her glute and core strength, and showed her how these amazing muscles could help her do a lot of her daily activities, from walking to climbing stairs, to balancing, and preventing falls. It was my first experience training someone in that age group and to my surprise, the results were amazing! I remember how she could not hold an elbow plank for 5 seconds on her first week. Within a month, she could hold it for 30 seconds!
And the most satisfying moment was when one day she told me, “I can now climb up the stairs without any pain, and without holding on to the railing! I squeeze my butt instead!”
That is what we need with this age group- help them live a more active life by making their daily activities easier.
Benefits of resistance training for older adults:
The change is slow, but it’s definitely coming! Older adults have now started to realise the benefits of resistance training like bodyweight training or weightlifting, and are increasingly signing up for gyms. So what are these benefits that older adults are experiencing? Read on!
I. Counteract age-related neuromuscular impairments. I think this is the greatest gift we can give ourselves or our loved ones. As we age, our cognitive abilities start to decline. Dementia is on the rise among older adults, and the number of people with dementia in India is expected to triple to 11 million by 2050, says a recent report.
Aging is associated with decrease in brain volume and cognition. As we age, the functions of our pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampus of the brain can be impacted, leading to loss of memory. Regular exercises have been found to increase brain volume and improve blood flow to the brain, which can help prevent memory loss, potentially decreasing a big risk factor for Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.
II. Improve muscular fitness and bone health: Our body starts to lose muscles as early as the age of thirty! There are numerous studies that show that muscle loss and weakness is correlated to a shorter lifespan. What is the only way for muscles to grow and get stronger? Challenge them! Of course, our bodies will definitely start to break down as we age, but regular resistance training can slow down that process as muscles respond to resistance training by getting stronger! Strong muscles help us become more independent and significantly reduces the risk of falls. Also, older adults who lift weights are shown to have higher bone density, which reduces the risks of fractures!
III. Compress morbidity time and increase active life expectancy: The term morbidity literally means “being unhealthy”. Compression of morbidity is a term that means reducing the length of time a person spends sick or disabled. Working out regularly can significantly help improve the physical, physiological, and psychological health of everyone, old or young! Exercise is like this magical drug which takes care of a large part of your problems like lack of mobility or chronic pain. It also releases endorphins which makes a person feel happier. It makes your strong, independent and improves your resilience to injuries. Add to that the benefits of an energetic and inspiring social circle, these factors can greatly influence a person’s quality of life and increase their active life expectancy.
As I often say, if exercise was a pill, everybody would take it. Its benefits are huge and it can literally save our lives. Unfortunately though, exercise is something that nobody else can do for us. But we would have to take responsibility here and do the hard things till they become easy!
How to train the older population
If you are a trainer, then this is for you. When training older adults, we must keep a few things in mind to ensure a safe and beneficial environment for everybody involved.
It is vital to first ask all the questions regarding any current physical or physiological problem that they may be going though. These may pose certain limitations that we have to remember while suggesting exercises for them.
If they have never done any strength training in their life, chances of injuries are more. Make sure you start with the basics of basics! Also, clearly communicate your instructions in simple words.
Change the workout to suit any obstacles that may come up- have spare yoga mats, cushions of different sizes, soft yoga blocks, etc. To prevent any falls, use the wall or a post to balance while doing any single leg or standing activity.
Focus on lower body first! Losing muscles in the lower limbs can compromise activities of daily living, leading to loss of independence, and increase risk of injury from falls. Older adults who move less or cannot move, also have a higher risk for morbidity.
Include skills to improve muscle coordination and memory. This could be memory exercises like recounting a set of objects, cognitive exercises like spelling a word backwards, or doing a combination of 3-4 exercises involving movements in various planes to improve coordination.
As they get stronger, include workouts for the upper body and arms, as these muscles are equally important to ease their activities of daily living like taking a shower, watering the plants, cooking etc.
Keep the workouts fun and moderately challenging, encourage conversations, and always try to create a bright and sunny environment! Wearing brightly coloured clothes and a big smile helps!
For the longest time, resistance training has been considered dangerous for people over the age of fifty. Now, through inspiring stories of many master athletes as well as science-backed research, we can confidently say that this couldn’t be further away from the truth.
You should not stop working out because you grew old. But you will grow old if you stopped working out!
