Strength training can reduce the risk of death by 41%
Adding strength training (muscle-strengthening exercises) to aerobic exercise has been shown to lower the risk of death.
A research team at the University of Iowa in the US analyzed and followed a survey of about 150,000 middle-aged and elderly men and women. The study found that aerobic exercise lowered the risk of death from any cause by 32%, and strength training, such as weightlifting, was associated with a 9% lower risk of death. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, running, swimming, and cycling.
The research team analyzed data from questionnaires completed by 154,897 men and women aged 55 to 74 years in the 1993 screening tests for prostate cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer (colorectal cancer), and ovarian cancer at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The researchers couldn’t really figure out what type of weightlifting a significant percentage of the participants later did and how many times per week. The team supplemented this with a follow-up survey in 2006 and followed the participants for 10 years. The analysis also focused on the risk of death among participants who performed weightlifting, a strength training exercise, in the last 12 months. The results showed that those who did strength training in the last year had a 41% reduction in all causes of death.
Jessica Gozelitz, assistant professor of health and human physiology at the University of Iowa, the lead author of the study, said, “It is very suggestive that the risk of death is lowest in people who do aerobic exercise and strength training together.” According to the guidelines for physical activity in the United States, 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week should be evenly distributed per week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if you can talk while exercising but can’t sing, it’s moderate-intensity exercise, and if you can’t speak a few words before inhaling, it’s vigorous-intensity exercise. Experts recommend doing both moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity exercise on a regular basis. It is recommended to do strength training at least twice a week.
Christopher Cooper, a physiologist at the University of California School of Medicine, said, “When you do muscle-strengthening exercises, you need to give your muscles plenty of time to recover.” Weightlifting can significantly reduce the risk of death in older people by significantly reducing the risk of falls or injuries. This is why experts emphasize that the various muscles of the body, such as legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms, should be moved whenever possible.
Besides weightlifting, there are many good strength exercises. As strength exercises suitable for older people, exercises that can be done without equipment such as push-ups, squats, sit-ups, pull-ups, and planks are considered. The squat is a lower body exercise in which you sit and stand until your thighs are level with your knees. The plank is a bare-handed exercise that seems to be a combination of the ‘deep stretched’ and ‘side by side’ postures. Planks can be as effective as weightlifting, especially if done correctly and regularly, and can be done at home or in the park without having to use the gym.
The results of this study (Independent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial) are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. and was introduced by the British health media ‘Medical News Today’.