Even if you have never worked out before, it’s never too late to start. There’s a lot of benefits from all types of training, strength, endurance, flexibility and balance, regardless of your age. In fact, strength training for aging bodies is extremely important and can help prevent not only muscle loss, but also loss of bone density. That makes bones porous and fragile, which also makes fractures more likely.
Strength training can help reduce the pain of osteoarthritis.
Resistance training—strength training—provides more benefits than just building muscles. It actually can help reduce joint pain. By keeping the muscles around the joints strong, it helps protect and support the joints, bringing more relief from pain. It aids in lubricating the joints and controls the swelling and pain that can occur. You might think that strength training would make the joints more painful, but quite the opposite is true. Not exercising actually increases the stiffness and pain from arthritis.
No matter what your age, you’ll get health benefits from strength training.
Strength training can help with weight loss, burning calories, while building muscles that boosts metabolism. It can help bring relief from back pain and like all types of exercise, help lift depression and burn off the hormones of stress. It improves glucose levels, decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Studies show that strength training not only prevents sarcopenia—the wasting of muscle tissue after the age of the late 30s—it can prevent further damage from osteoporosis as well as some medications and may even reverse bone loss.
If you want to live your healthiest, you need to exercise on a regular basis.
You don’t have to get frail as you age. One study showed that when volunteers aged 61-80 who included strength training in their workout showed a reduction in their physical age of an average of five years and added 2.4 pounds of muscle tissue. It helped seniors improve their balance, reduced physical limitations, improved cognitive functioning and even reduces urinary incontinence in women by as much as 50%.
- Strength training should be done two to three times a week. If you want the maximum benefits from strength training, you need to do it consistently. You shouldn’t do it two days in a row, since it doesn’t give your muscles time to repair damaged tissue.
- If you want a better night’s sleep, start a program of exercise, which includes strength training. It can help you sleep sounder, which makes seniors more alert and improves mental functioning.
- Progressive resistance training—strength training that consistently increases the level of difficulty—has been shown to make a significant difference for seniors for activities of daily living, such as bathing, eating and transferring from a chair.
- You don’t have to wait until you’re a senior to start building muscles and protecting your health. You can start now with one of the programs we offer with Travel Trim.