Balance Point - Weight Training is a Potent Anti-Aging Intervention

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As a physiotherapist one of the most common things I see with adult patients is weakness.  As people age they lose muscle mass, and often end up weak and unstable around their joints leading to injury.  I started to focus on this problem years ago, and now I dedicate most of my clinical time to helping clients become stronger, functionally fitter, and injury and pain free.  I have become a huge advocate for getting people into the gym, and getting weights in their hands.  My patients don’t just improve, they become pain free, and look and feel younger too.  Weight training (when properly prescribed by an exercise professional) is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your health, and the article below shows that the current research is backing up what I have seen clinically for years.

Exercising at a high intensity, and in particular doing resistance training has been shown to be the best way to improve your health and body fitness, and in turn to look and feel younger.  Weight training has a positive effect upon the cardiovascular system (heart, blood vessels and lungs) and your body’s metabolism, ramping up the calories you burn at rest.

New research supports weight training as one of the 4 most important actions for a healthy body, along with nutrition, activity and good sleep habits.

While there is no doubt that activities such as jogging, biking, swimming and walking have many health benefits, weight bearing resistance exercise may trump them all - especially for adults over 30 years of age.

Weight training really is the anti aging cure all!

Once seen as the arena of muscle men types, or sportsmen, weight training has become very main stream for both men and women, and is often prescribed to adults as a way of delaying the aging process.  

While people associate weight training with muscle building, some of the greatest benefits actually occur in our heart and cardio vascular system.

Long term resistance training has been shown to cause a significant reduction in resting heart rate, due to increased pumping force.  Quite simply, your heart is a muscle, and bouts of weight training actually work to increase the strength of the heart, meaning it is able to pump more blood around your body with each beat. A lower resting heart rate is an accurate sign of improved fitness.

The benefits also extend to lowering blood pressure, and improving lipid profiles (lowering cholesterol) in those individuals who keep up regular resistance training.  All of these factors reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

Boiled down weight training is a way to safe guard your heart and entire cardio vascular system against degeneration.  This is massive news!

Furthermore resistance trained individuals have improved glucose tolerance, and insulin sensitivity, meaning they are less likely to suffer from diabetes.  Increasing the amount of muscle mass you have versus body fat, means your body is more resistant to developing diabetes.

Most people begin to lose muscle mass once they reach 30; it is one of the key signs of aging.  A decrease in lean muscle mass often comes with an associated increase in body fat, and therefore a loss of exercise function – have you tried to climb a steep hill lately, not as easy as 10 years ago is it?

Even if the scales are not going up this change is happening, and if they are creeping up then you can bet it isn’t lean muscle that you are adding to your frame.

Weight training can arrest this deterioration.  By training your muscles with a few compound resistance movements (like squats or press ups) you can build your strength, muscle mass and function.  I want to make it clear that you are looking to add only a few kilos of muscle, and reciprocally drop about the same amount of body fat.  

The result is that you weigh roughly the same but you have dropped a dress size, or a few inches on your trousers.

Further more with stronger muscles, your bones are stressed with greater forces, meaning the risk of osteoporosis decreases.  You will be amazed how just strengthening postural muscles helps people walk taller, and look so much younger.

Weight training is not all about lifting very heavy loads above your head like an Olympic athlete.  Often there are very safe exercises that can be done in the sanctuary of your own home that utilize your own body weight.  The key thing is to increase the forces upon your muscles.

Some basic movements will train the larger muscles of your body quickly.  Weight training really is a time efficient panacea.

The research is in, and weight training is a potent anti-aging intervention.  If you aren’t doing any resistance exercise at present then keep checking back here as we will teach you exactly what to do to maximize the effectiveness of your program and your time.

Countless trials show that resistance training will enhance full body fitness regardless of age, or gender.  It is beneficial for all populations – that means you!

About Ryan Hewitt

Ryan Hewitt is the founder of Balance Point – a multi disciplinary health and fitness company based in Auckland.

His background is in physiotherapy, although he has moved sideways into the fitness industry, and now uses a combination of exercise and activity to treat many of his patients.

Ryan is the Auckland Regional Representative on the Personal Trainers Council, and the Wellness Representative on the North Shore Community Health Voice.

His company sees a wide variety of clients from very healthy and fit athletes through to people recovering from serious injuries or surgery.

Ryan was recently recognized as the creator of the Active Choice Exercise (ACE) program which helps to improve the quality of life of disabled young people through a structured nutrition and exercise program.  The program won the Overall award at the Waitemata District Health Board Excellence Awards, as well as the People’s Choice award.

Ryan enjoys helping clients add more exercise and activity to their lives to resolve long term health issues.

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