We all pretty much understand the importance of exercise in our lives – and even continuing it right through in our later years as we get older.

People in their late forties or fifties (or even older) would more often than not know that they need to participate in regular aerobic exercise such as walking or jogging or swimming to help strengthen their lungs and heart, to maintain their health and vitality and even tone their bodies.

But many ignore strength training (or resistance training) activity as something reserved only for the ‘younger crowd’. There may be certain reasons for this:

– There certainly can be a difference in motivation between an older trainee and a younger one. The younger athlete can set higher goals for himself and chase after them without much fear or hesitation. The older person though has a better understanding of his body’s limitations, and therefore has more realistic expectations and goals.

– As we grow older we also lose flexibility, mainly due to disuse of a number of muscles, so being able to execute resistance training type exercises either with weights or body weight training could be difficult.

– Another reason is time. Usually because of family and work obligations, older men do not have as much time to devote to physical exercise.

There could many other reasons, however the facts are simply that resistance or strength training is the only type of exercise that actually substantially slows – and even reverses – the physical consequences of aging – decline in muscle mass, bone density and strength.

There is Good Reason to follow a Strength Training Programme

So much so in fact that the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM -acsm.org) has now published fitness guidelines specifically for those over 50. The advice is quoted as: “perform such exercises 2 to 3 times a week to condition all of the major muscle groups — arms, legs, shoulders, and trunk. The goal is to lift a weight that’s heavy enough to achieve 10 to 15 repetitions per session before the muscles become fatigued”

There are good reasons for this. Resistance training (either with free weights or machines, or your own body weight, or exercise bands or even in water) offers far more of a challenge to muscles than cardiovascular training with fewer movements. The muscle tissues are ‘torn’ and have to re-heal themselves with new tissue, thus making them stronger. Therefore muscle atrophy is halted, and even reversed if strength training exercises are carried out regularly enough.

Of course aerobic activity and strength training are both important for health, so the ACSM recommends that able adults do both on a regular basis. They say: “20 to 60 minutes of aerobic activity is advised 3 to 5 days a week and weight training should be done for 20 to 30 minutes 2 to 3 times a week. The guidelines also suggest that people perform stretching exercises – which increase the range of motion – or amount of movement, of joints – a minimum of 2 to 3 times a week”