People often assume that strength training should be left to people in their 20s and 30s. But the truth is people of all ages can benefit from working their muscles and building their strength, including seniors! Whether you’re suffering from age-related muscle loss, trying to maintain your health and independence as you get older, or just looking for an overall healthier lifestyle, there are many good reasons why seniors should be strength training! And this article is here to convince you why you should try it!
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The Basics Of Strength Training
Strength training is a worthwhile pursuit for anyone looking to enhance their overall physical fitness. Strength training is about improving physical performance by testing and pushing your body’s limits to increase muscle strength and endurance over time. It involves not only lifting weights but also bodyweight exercises like calisthenics, as well as using the momentum of weighted objects or even the thrust of your muscles against resistance bands.
While there are many forms of strength training available to the novice exerciser, it’s essential to consider what you intend to achieve from such a program and ensure that it fits within your current lifestyle parameters before beginning or investing in costly equipment. However, with thoughtful planning and proper form, strength training can be an extremely valuable part of your life and maybe the missing link in achieving total physical health.
Reasons Seniors Should Be Strength Training
While it may not seem like it, there are many reasons why maintaining muscle and building strength is something you should continue doing throughout your life. For those over 55, strength training can be particularly important. Consider the following:
Prevent Muscle Loss
Strength training is invaluable for seniors to remain strong and active as they age. As you age, your muscles naturally lose mass and strength due to decreased physical activity and other health factors, including medications. But incorporating a routine of strength-focused exercises can help seniors combat the muscle loss associated with aging, allowing them to stay healthy and independent well into their later years.
Muscle loss can be slowed or even reversed depending on the specific exercise or routine, potentially preventing long-term health complications.
Build Bone Density
As you work up a sweat, your bones are constantly stressed, which causes them to strengthen. Like your muscles, your bones lose density over time, a condition known as osteoporosis. And while this can be combated with proper nutrition and annual checkups, strength training is another great way to build bone density and strengthen your entire skeletal system.
With increased weight, the stress on your bones becomes even more intense, allowing you to build bone density much faster than with regular exercise alone, which can be huge for seniors in particular, as bone loss is one of the biggest contributors to many age-related health conditions.
Enhance Coordination
Strength training can also be an excellent tool for seniors to enhance their coordination. Muscular strength and balance loss become more prominent as people age, and coordination can be compromised. Strength training helps strengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments to improve balance.
At the same time, working out with weights and resistance bands can help improve your hand-eye coordination, which is particularly helpful for seniors who may be taking medications that affect their coordination or who might suffer from dementia and other similar degenerative diseases.
