Strength Training for Old Age
Many older people are put off by the idea of lifting weights as they think it’s just for young people. They don’t realise the positive impact it will have on their health as they enter old age.
Lifting weights isn’t just about young people, bodybuilding, or lifting huge weights. Strength training has lots of benefits for older people such as improving your balance, mobility, glucose control, bone density, help improve back pain, improving strength and increasing muscle mass. Strength training will improve your quality of life, and helps you stay independent for longer. when you're older. We need muscle strength to help us move as we want and go about all our daily tasks, whether it’s walking to the shops or getting up from a chair – in other words, being able to look after ourselves.
Muscle Mass
After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% muscle per decade. Most men will lose about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes. This causes simple physical tasks that they took for granted when they were younger such as, squatting, standing up, putting things overhead, carrying shopping bags, and playing with the grandkids to become problems for older people. Not being strong enough is often the reason people lose the ability to do these tasks and be mobile. Normally this happens because of inactivity. This isn’t a natural part of getting older that you can’t do anything about. Lifting weights will help maintain, or increase your strength, muscle mass and greatly improve your quality of life.
Bone Mass
Lifting weight helps keep your bones healthy. From about age 30, the density of bones begins to diminish. As a result, bones become more fragile and are more likely to break. Bone loss can lead to low bone density and eventually osteoporosis. This can lead to bone fractures, even with minimal trauma. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become weak and fragile.
While it affects men, it is especially a problem for women as the loss of bone density speeds up in women after menopause making osteoporosis common among older women. Broken bones can lead to a downward spiral of disability and loss of independence.
Strength training maximises the amount of bone you'll have and will slow down the loss of bone density as you age, and so reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
Balance and Coordination
Strength training will improve your balance and coordination. This is vital as you get older as it will reduce the risk of you falling which is a serious health risk. Falls can have serious consequences in older people, even causing permanent disability.
I have a 74 year old client who started training with me as he was unable to squat down, pick things up off the floor, he had poor posture and as he was struggling to walk far, had to give up golf. This was caused by being inactive and which resulted in a lack of strength and muscle mass.
Now his posture has improved, he can pick up a kettlebell off the floor, do trap bar deadlifts and squat off a low box. All things he couldn't do before. Most importantly, it has made everyday tasks much easier.
Lifting weights isn’t just about young people, bodybuilding, or lifting huge weights. Strength training has lots of benefits for older people such as improving your balance, mobility, glucose control, bone density, help improve back pain, improving strength and increasing muscle mass. Strength training will improve your quality of life, and helps you stay independent for longer. when you're older. We need muscle strength to help us move as we want and go about all our daily tasks, whether it’s walking to the shops or getting up from a chair – in other words, being able to look after ourselves.
Muscle Mass
After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% muscle per decade. Most men will lose about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes. This causes simple physical tasks that they took for granted when they were younger such as, squatting, standing up, putting things overhead, carrying shopping bags, and playing with the grandkids to become problems for older people. Not being strong enough is often the reason people lose the ability to do these tasks and be mobile. Normally this happens because of inactivity. This isn’t a natural part of getting older that you can’t do anything about. Lifting weights will help maintain, or increase your strength, muscle mass and greatly improve your quality of life.
Bone Mass
Lifting weight helps keep your bones healthy. From about age 30, the density of bones begins to diminish. As a result, bones become more fragile and are more likely to break. Bone loss can lead to low bone density and eventually osteoporosis. This can lead to bone fractures, even with minimal trauma. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become weak and fragile.
While it affects men, it is especially a problem for women as the loss of bone density speeds up in women after menopause making osteoporosis common among older women. Broken bones can lead to a downward spiral of disability and loss of independence.
Strength training maximises the amount of bone you'll have and will slow down the loss of bone density as you age, and so reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
Balance and Coordination
Strength training will improve your balance and coordination. This is vital as you get older as it will reduce the risk of you falling which is a serious health risk. Falls can have serious consequences in older people, even causing permanent disability.
I have a 74 year old client who started training with me as he was unable to squat down, pick things up off the floor, he had poor posture and as he was struggling to walk far, had to give up golf. This was caused by being inactive and which resulted in a lack of strength and muscle mass.
Now his posture has improved, he can pick up a kettlebell off the floor, do trap bar deadlifts and squat off a low box. All things he couldn't do before. Most importantly, it has made everyday tasks much easier.
Strength training for old age
You can benefit from strength training at any age. While strength training is very safe for older people if you pick suitable exercises, use good form and appropriate weight, you can hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing. If you're not experienced when it comes to training, it is a good idea to get help from someone who has experience helping older people progress and improve their quality of life.
If you’re unsure how to start, get in touch with me for 1-2-1 personal training. I’ll create a routine that’s tailored for your needs and will show you how, and what you need to do.
If you’re unsure how to start, get in touch with me for 1-2-1 personal training. I’ll create a routine that’s tailored for your needs and will show you how, and what you need to do.