My new book, Deep Fitness: The Mindful, Science-Based Strength-Training Method to Transform Your Well-Being in 30 Minutes a Week, coauthored with Philip Shepherd, is coming out on October 12, 2021. The following is an adapted excerpt from the book. If you want to learn more, pre-order now!
By the age of 65, falls become the most common cause of injury and the number one cause of traumatic death. Luckily, strength training can help.
Here's how it works: If you start to lose balance, you might catch yourself if you can move a leg quickly enough in the direction of the fall, and if that leg can support your toppling weight. Both the speed of the leg and the support it provides are dependent on its strength.
In one study, subjects between 65 and 85 did regular sessions for 12 weeks that involved leg curl and leg extension exercises with increasingly heavier weights. At the end of three months, testing showed that both “the lower limb strength and balance of the individuals had significantly improved.”
A related advantage of strength training is that it decreases the chance of injury, if you do happen to fall. Injury to the body occurs when the external forces on a structure exceed its internal integrity. That internal integrity will get stronger as the muscles supporting it get stronger.
This effect was vividly demonstrated for one of our clients, Marta, who became a regular at New Element Training when she was in her 40s. She had previously been through two surgeries for lower back problems, but she kept up the training, feeling herself getting stronger. Then one day while going down the stairs, she slipped and fell—and, of course, given her history of back problems and hospital stays, was hit with a horrible dread about what damage she might have sustained. When she stood up, to her surprise, she was absolutely fine. A week later, she slipped on some ice and fell again—and again stood up injury-free. There was no doubt in her mind that strength training had saved her.
Another common worry we have as we age is cognitive decline, prevalent among older individuals. In fact, nearly 50% of people over the age of 70 will show Alzheimer’s disease pathology. The good news, though, is that “genetics and exercise habits contribute roughly equally to the risk of eventually developing dementia.” Whatever your genetics, you have complete choice over one-half of that equation.
Research suggests that people who improve their muscle strength show significant improvements in cognition. In one study, 100 adults with mild cognitive impairment—a condition that increases the risk of dementia—did strength training two to three days per week for six months. Not only did the training significantly improve overall cognitive function, but testing showed that those improvements had been maintained even 18 months after the training ended.
Whether you’re focused on preserving a healthy body or a healthy mind, building and maintaining muscle is a powerful pathway to lifelong health.