Heavy resistance training around retirement preserves vital leg strength years later, shows study (3+ more years)

Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine ^ | June 18, 2024 | Mads Bloch-Ibenfeldt et al

[ConservativeMind]

Heavy resistance exercise for one year provided strength benefits for at least three years after it was stopped.

[ConservativeMind]

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[scott says]

You and me
We gotta sweat and strain
Body all aching
And it’s wracked with pain
Tote that barge
Lift that bale
Get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I get’s weary
Yes I’ am sick of trying
I’m tired of living and I’m
Feared of dying
But that ol’ man river
Keeps rolling along

[metmom]

So what qualifies as *heavy* resistance training and *moderate*?

It’s good to know of the benefits, but useless without knowing what to do to achieve it.

[SauronOfMordor]

Heavy generally means the most weight YOU can lift for a set of 8-12 repetitions using proper form. What’s heavy for. 65 year old woman is not going to be heavy for a 20 year old man.

[metmom]

Thanks. That’s helpful.

[Chicory]

So, Sauron, would the goal of heavy be to increase weight and the goal of moderate to increase reps? And can one alternate heavy and moderate so as to do each three times a week (if one were able to work his or her way up to that) or would they work against each other?

[SauronOfMordor]

I’m not an instructor, I just work out some.

When I lift, my goal is to avoid injury (which at my age would take a long time to heal). So I’m very cautious about increasing weight.

When I can do 3 sets of 10 reps without seeming to overstrain myself, I may increase weight slightly next time.

[SauronOfMordor]

There’s lots of YouTube videos on how to do exercises using proper form

[Bigg Red]

Would something like this workout qualify? It’s less than 15 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLBTU18pAY0

[Jane Long]

So what qualifies as *heavy* resistance training and *moderate*?

It's good to know of the benefits, but useless without knowing what to do to achieve it.

---

FTA .... (I know, I know :) ...

Resistance training, which can involve weights, body weight, or resistance bands, can help to counteract this loss, but most of the published research has involved relatively short periods of time (6-9 months) to monitor its effects.

[Jane Long]

I alternate cardio (fast walking or bike riding) with resistance (bands or weights) training ... seems to be a good mix, for me.

[SauronOfMordor]

This article may answer some questions.

Again, older people need to be cautious

https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/how-long-should-you-rest-between-sets.html#:~:text=To%20increase%20strength%20and%20power,30%2D90%20seconds%20between%20sets.

[metmom]

Thanks.

I have no intention of overdoing it.

I find when I do very hard physical work, I often don’t feel good for the rest of the day.

But something is far better than nothing.

[tflabo]

Fine line between enjoying some exercise vs having it feel too much like work. For me the objective is to exercise consistently and moderately. The body ultimately winds up in the cemetery or crematorium.

[MikeHu]

Sounds like another famously bogus “study” in which they’re just making up facts.

How many 70 year olds are walking 5 miles daily — in addition to working out with heavy weights daily?

Pure fiction.

It sounds like these 20 year old YouTubers advising people that if they walk on their hands for 100 yards each day, they’ll never grow old. Yes, most will break their necks before then.

Give us some real world information and not these “photoshopped” studies in far away places — known to only these “researchers.”

Keep it real and it might be more believable.

[Varsity Flight]

📌

[Mariner]

I do 5-6 sets of 10 reps before increasing weight.

That gets your heart going too.

[Chicory]

Thank you so much! Yours seems like a good way to go about it — individualized yet still progressing!

[ckilmer]

I started the heavy upper body work at age 71. I had to discontinue most of it because of injuries to the shoulders. But I still climb a lot of stairs, walk and do the various exercise machines at the gym. I fast a couple times a week and do saunas and cold showers. I also get plenty of sleep. I’m laying in bed for 9-10 a night. don’t know how much of that is actually productive sleep as I get up regularly to go to the bathroom. I’ve lost 30 pounds.

I would love to keep up my current routine for decades. Don’t know if that will happen.