The exercise more important than walking – especially if you’re older
Walking is brilliant. It’s accessible, affordable and enjoyable, plus it comes with many health benefits, which is why it forms the backbone of most government exercise guidance.
But it is strength that underpins all movement. If you don’t have the strength to get out of your chair and put one foot in front of the other, what good is being told to walk more?
This was the key takeaway from recent research led by Dr Michael LaMonte and his team at the University at Buffalo, which shows the immense value of building skeletal muscle with strength training. It found that, in more than 5,000 women aged 63 to 99, greater strength levels were strongly linked to a lower risk of death from any cause.
Maintaining muscle should be seen as a savvy investment. Muscle allows you to stand, move and remain independent, all while offering further perks that extend far beyond physical function. It powers our breath, regulates blood sugar levels, emits anti-inflammatory myokines and constantly chats with other bodily systems to keep things running smoothly. In short, muscle is the medical marvel you already own.
Here is how to maintain your body’s largest, and in some ways smartest, organ for decades to come.
Why strength training matters
There is a wealth of research on the merits of aerobic exercise, such as walking, running, swimming and cycling. This is a major reason why it dominates government physical activity guidelines. There is far less research into strength training, and much of the data available centres around young, fit men.
By looking at the impacts of strength training in previously understudied demographics, such as women aged 60 and above, studies like this one from the University at Buffalo could change future exercise recommendations for the better.
“When women go through menopause and lose their body’s own secretion of oestrogen, the loss of skeletal muscle mass increases rapidly,” says Dr LaMonte. “We typically see a change in their body composition, where they start losing muscle and holding fat in the belly area, particularly. That’s not healthy.”
Both men and women also tend to become less active as they grow older, which can contribute to sarcopenia – the age-related loss of strength and muscle. Both menopause and sarcopenia are inflammatory processes, Dr LaMonte says.
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This shift impacts fitness. “Muscle strength is fundamental for getting the body from point A to point B, especially when you’re working against gravity.” But it also throws off chemical signalling between skeletal muscle and other systems in the body, such as the heart.
“Fat tissue tends to secrete chemicals called cytokines that are pro-inflammatory,” Dr LaMonte explains. “There’s quite a bit of evidence to show that, when skeletal muscle contracts, it secretes counterbalancing cytokines that are anti-inflammatory.
“This was discovered by a scientist named Bente Pedersen in the 2000s. She published a compelling series of papers showing that these cytokines, which she called myokines, had regulatory functions outside the muscle itself.”
Exactly how skeletal muscle interacts with other crucial systems in our body is unclear, Dr LaMonte says. But it is constantly in deep discussions with them, and it is looking to help out where it can. For this reason, if you can keep your muscles strong and healthy, they can be a powerful force for good.
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3 simple ways to gauge your strength
Dr LaMonte’s research used a series of simple tests to assess the strength levels of 5,472 women aged 63 and above:
- Grip strength: a dynamometer was used to assess grip strength, with people asked to hold their upper arm at their side, elbow bent at a right angle, then squeeze the machine as hard as possible. This is an indication of upper-body strength.
- Sit-to-stand: people were timed to see how quickly they could stand up from a chair, then sit back down again five times with their arms across their chest. This is an indication of lower body strength.
- Gait speed: a timer was used to see how long it took subjects to walk 2.5m.
Women with greater grip strength – a good signifier of overall strength levels – and faster sit-to-stand times had a “significantly lower death risk over an eight-year follow-up”, the study discovered.
“Gait speed is another one of the most potent predictors of mortality,” Dr LaMonte adds.
“I’d like to see the health care profession embrace functional health as much as they do the things they can prescribe drugs for – because you can’t prescribe a drug for this. It's a behaviour, and I think that’s why it probably doesn’t get the same kind of attention. Nobody makes money from this, but people do die from it.”
Dr LaMonte also suggests another bonus test anyone can use as a sign they need to work on their strength levels:
- The pickle jar test – this is a proxy for any everyday task. If you notice it starts to feel more difficult, this is a good indication that your fitness has decreased, and it would be beneficial to gain strength and muscle through exercise.
“When you can’t open the pickle jar any more, don’t just assume they’re making the jars harder to open,” Dr LaMonte says. “That’s a good indicator that you might be at a phase of life where your strength levels have changed unknowingly.
“The same applies when you go to pick up a grandchild or climb the stairs, and you find you’re huffing and puffing – it could simply be that you’re getting more out of shape, or in the worst case scenario, it could be indicative of disease.
“Be mindful of your body. It’s going to tell you where you’re at, and we don’t want an injury to be that indicator.”
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How to start strength training at any age
The human body is a representation of the life it has lived, informed by genetics and altered by myriad interventions along the way. A robust life, filled with challenging physical tasks, often builds a robust body. As a result, someone who has always been active will likely find it easier to remain more active as they age.
“I wouldn’t want to convey a message that age becomes a constraint for people doing what they enjoy,” says Dr LaMonte. “I know people in their late, late years who still enjoy going to gyms and lifting weights. It’s effective for their strength goals, and the social aspect keeps them healthy in other ways.”
However, if you are new to strength training and exercise generally, you need to start more conservatively. As with any new skill, there is an obligatory learning curve that allows your mind and body to adapt to the fresh stimulus without being overwhelmed.
“You can use simple bodyweight exercises like press-ups against a wall or sit-to-stands – US adults in their 70s and 80s spend around nine-and-a-half hours each day sitting down, so you could break this up by doing a few sit-to-stands every hour, or each time there is an advert if you are watching television,” Dr LaMonte says.
“Resistance bands are another good option, or even using soup cans or books as a form of resistance provides stimulus to skeletal muscles.”
The common denominator behind these exercises is the act of overcoming resistance. That resistance needs to be slightly challenging, relative to your individual strength levels, to trigger an increase in muscle and strength levels. By consistently doing a task that requires you to be stronger, you are telling your body you want it to adapt to handle it better. If the task feels easy, the body has no reason to make any changes.
“If someone finds that lifting a soup can or book [for example, pressing it overhead 10 times] challenges them, that’s probably the level they should be working at, and they should not be trying to do more,” says Dr LaMonte. As you grow stronger, you can then gradually progress to slightly heavier items to continue to increase your strength levels.
“Older adults in particular should consult with their health care provider about the safety of beginning muscle-strengthening exercises,” Dr LaMonte adds.
In short, building and maintaining strength is important at any age. And if you do fall below this study’s 63-99 demographic, any strength and muscle you can develop now will likely serve you well for the rest of your life.
“We want to live as long as we can healthily, and I think resistance exercises are a part of that,” Dr LaMonte concludes. “When we can no longer get out of the chair and move around, we are in trouble.”
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