Twice a Week to a Stronger You! Resistance Training is Crucial for Older Adults |
In our culture older people are often depicted as frail. It's not uncommon to hear comments about how people shouldn't do certain activities or exercises because of their age - it's not "safe".
People seem to be resigned to the idea that they will lose strength, flexibility and athleticism as they age. They just accept it as though it's an inevitable part of aging. The truth is, although aging is inevitable, frailty is preventable.
There are many factors that contribute to changes in strength, flexibility and athleticism as we age. Many of these are controllable lifestyle factors.
Many adults lose the ability to do things like getting on and off the floor, running and jumping because they stop doing them. Our bodies adapt to what we do (and don’t do!) so one of the best things we can do to keep physical strength and confidence is to keep moving.
Staying active as you age is not only important for function, it supports bone health, heart health, cognitive function, mental health, and prevents falls.
Resistance training plays a particularly crucial role for bone health, falls prevention, and maintaining function & independence.
Why is Exercise Important for Older Adults?
Exercise is important for all age groups in order to maintain optimal health and wellness.
During childhood and adolescence exercise helps build bone density, develop motor skills, and contributes to brain development and learning.
In adulthood, exercise promotes health across our various systems and combats age related physiological changes that occur as a result of the natural aging process including loss of muscle mass and bone density.
Across the life span aerobic exercise like running, cycling and swimming keep our hearts and cardiovascular systems healthy and working efficiently.
Peak bone mass (maximum bone size & strength) is reached in early adulthood and then typically starts to decline in both men and women after the age of 30. Loss of bone density increases the risk for fractures and can lead to osteoporosis.
The musculoskeletal system is also impacted. Loss of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength and power has been seen to start around the age of 60.
These natural age related changes can lead to significant negative impacts on an individual's function, ability to perform their activities of daily living (walking, dressing, showering, cooking, cleaning, etc.) & increase their risk of falls and fractures.
At this point you may be asking yourself - if we're going to lose bone mass and muscle mass as we age, what's the point of exercise?
Consider this analogy - think of your muscle mass and bone density like bank accounts.
If you start with 10 dollars in your account and lose 1 dollar per year, in 10 years your account will be empty.
If you start out with 100 dollars in your account, and lose 1 dollar per year, it will take much longer to empty the account. Starting with more money in your account also means that the same yearly loss of 1 dollar is less impactful, because you've got more of a buffer.
It's the same with bone density and muscle mass.
Exercising through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood helps to build up our accounts (bone density, muscle mass). The greater our bone density and muscle mass are when the age related decline starts, the less impactful the decline is.
Continuing to exercise through middle age and beyond helps to mitigate the age related losses by putting small depostis back in our accounts. It won't match the age related decline perfectly, but it will make the decline less impactful.
Consistent exercise participation, particularly resistance training, is key in helping older adults maintain functional capabilities and independence while preventing falls, reducing the risk of osteoporosis and combating frailty.
What is Resistance Training?
Resistance training is considered to be any physical activity or exercise that focuses on increasing muscle strength, mass & endurance.
This can include things such as upper & lower body exercises using resistance bands, body weight, weights or weight machines to target varying muscle groups.
Some common resistance training exercises include squats, lunges, push ups and bicep curls.
A key component of effective resistance training is progressive overload. To get stronger we need to gradually increase the challenge (load, weight, resistance) the muscles are given. This gradual increase forces them to adapt and get stronger.
A great guideline to help you know if you're using enough weight (resistance, load) for your resistance training is to guage how the last 3 repetitions in your set feel.
Your muscles should feel some fatigue at the end of your set - you should be glad to put the weight down, but still be able to do the exercise with good technique.
If at the end of your set you feel like you could do 100 more reps, you need to increase your weights.
Resistance training shouldn't feel like a walk in the park. It should feel like a challenge.
Aerobic exercise like walking/running, swimming & cycling are not considered resistance training - they are important, but differ from resistance exercises and provide different benefits.
Aerobic exercise targets the cardiorespiratory system (heart and lungs!) contributing to improved muscular endurance and disease prevention (heart disease/diabetes) but doesn’t provide the same benefits to bone health, muscular strength and falls prevention that resistance training does.
We need aerobic exercise AND resistance exercise for our overall health! Doing only one type of exercise leaves lots of potential health benefits on the table.
So, How Much Resistance Training do Older Adults Really Need?
That's what we all really want to know isn't it?
How much exercise do we need to do to get the health benefits?
That's what Radaelli et al, (2024) set out to find out in their recent systematic review.
They examined randomized controlled trials and categorized the studies into low volume, medium volume and high volume resistance training in mainly physically healthy adults. Volume reffered to the total number of exercise sets performed throughout the week.
It has been commonly thought that high volume resistance training is the most beneficial for this age group, but the Radaelli et al., (2024) systematic review presents a different approach.
Their research found that low volume resistance training produced the best improvements in terms of physical function outcome measures including the 6 minute walk test (functional capacity), the timed up & go (risk of falls), lean body mass and muscle hypertrophy. These effects were showcased to have significant positive impacts for participants both in the short and long term.
It's worth noting that all resistance training programs included in the study showed improvements in muscle strength regardless of volume.
This research suggests that older adults may benefit from incorporating low volume resistance training in order to improve daily functional capacity, reduce the risk of falls and gain muscle mass.
What does this mean for you?
It means that if you are an older adult you should be including resistance training in your week, but you don't need to spend hours in the gym to get the health benefits!
The previously mentioned study suggests that older adults will benefit from:
- Two resistance training sessions per week
- Including two sets per exercise of 8-10 reps
- Performing 8 different resistance training exercises
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) has developed specific 24 hour movement guidelines based on the minimums needed to see health benefits.
The CSEP guidelines for those aged 65+ recommend:
- 150 mins per week of moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activities ( for ex: 21 mins per day, 38 mins 4x/week)
- Resistance training using major muscle groups at least 2x/week
- Include physical activities that challenge balance
- Several hours of light physical activities
- Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep with consistent bed and wake up times (rest is an important part of strengthening!)
- No more than 3 hours of recreational screen time
- Breaking up long periods of sitting as often as possible
Exercise is something that needs to be incorporated long term, so engaging in a sustainable program is important.
These guidelines give a goal to work towards, but they may not be where you start.
If you're not currently exercising you may need to start with fewer exercises or a shorter time frame. As you get stronger and your stamina improves you can add in more and progress towards the benchmarks.
Any step towards meeting the guidelines is a positive step forward!
If you're already meeting the standards then great!
Make sure you continue to build strength by gradually increasing the weights (resistance) you use, and exploring different exercises that challenge the major muscle groups.
How Can Physiotherapy Help?
It can be hard to know where to start. We hear all the time from people that they don't know which exercises to do, or how to do them properly. They worry about hurting themselves and so they just avoid exericse or stick to the same exercises using the same resistance.
The good news is - you don't have to know what to do or where to start. Our team is here to help you!
Our Physiotherapists and Kinesiologist are knowledgeable in human movement, anatomy, and physiology. They are perfectly suited to help you develop an exercise program that meets guidelines and supports your individual needs.
They will meet you where you're at and coach you on effective exercise form and technique. They will help you progress and build stamina in a gradual and sustainable way.
What else is great about working with our team?
You can choose a level of accountability that best supports you. Some clients like to get set up with a program and then work away independently at their home or gym. Others prefer to come into the clinic more frequently for guided and supervised exercise.
Resistance training is a key component of aging well. Including two strength training sessions a week helps maintain function, independence and decreases the risk of falls. We know that resistance training also helps to maintain bone density, which decreases with age.
So what are you waiting for? It's never too early or too late to start improving your health!
If you have questions about how our team can help you, call us to book in a FREE 15 minute consultation. And if you're ready to get started, click here to book your first appointment.
Resources:
Radaelli, R., Rech, A., Molinari, T., Markarian, A. M., Petropoulou, M., Granacher, U., Hortobágyi, T., & Lopez, P. (2024). Effects of Resistance Training Volume on Physical Function, Lean Body Mass and Lower-Body Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of 151 Randomised Trials. Sports Medicine (Auckland). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02123-z
https://csepguidelines.ca/resources/glossary/