Everyone knows that regular cardio exercise is highly beneficial, and lowers your risk of mortality.
What most people don’t realize is that strength training offers similar benefits.
Regularly doing both cardio exercise and strength training will lower your mortality risk even more than just cardio exercise.
Unfortunately, far fewer people do regular strength training compared to those who do some cardio exercise.
That same article I linked to above indicates that less than half the number of people who do cardio exercise are engaged in regular strength training.
I would venture to guess that even fewer do both.
Strength training offers some benefits that cardio exercise do not.
Shorter ICU stays
One benefit I want to focus on here is that people with greater muscle mass are able to recover more quickly from issues that land them in the ICU.
This video on Youtube produced by Dr. Doug McGuff cites research indicating that skeletal muscle mass is a predictor of ventilator-free days, ICU free days and mortality in elderly ICU patients.
He also cites another study that indicates predictability of ICU survival based upon the amount of skeletal muscle mass an individual has at the time of admission.
The next study he cited indicates that the amount of skeletal muscle mass you have is a predictor of your functionality AFTER you leave the ICU.
Similar to the predictability of the outcome of your ICU visit based on the degree of muscle mass, the same indicator predicts whether you will be discharged to a nursing home or similar continuing care facility, or back home.
The last study he cites is that it is NEVER too late to start!
Patients who begin doing some exercise while IN THE ICU have a better chance of surviving the ICU visit than those who do not.
Why you need to train for strength after 50
World’s oldest female bodybuilder, Ernestine Shepherd
This is the one thing I’ve been preaching for the last 18 months…
If you are over 50, and you’ve either never done any strength training, or it’s been a few years, you need to start…now.
To the left is one of my heroes, Ernestine Shepherd of Baltimore. She is currently 87 years old, and every Tuesday leads a group on a four mile walk through Baltimore.
But, back to why you need to start strength training now…
There are several reasons, but the two most important are sarcopenia and osteoporosis.
As we age we lose muscle mass, and this begins to accelerate after we hit 70.
Our bones can also become more brittle as well.
As a result, if we’ve done no strength training, it is very likely we will lose much of our mobility if we live past 80.
However, the process can definitely be reversed. You can get strong and build muscle after 50, 60 and even 70 years old.
I’ve been serious about my own training for several years now, but I had to do a good bit of research about proper programming.
The end result is that I’ve developed a program I believe can help anyone over 50.
Check it out here… Exercise Prescriptions.
Now, get to work!
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