“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Upwards of 52% of all New Year’s resolutions made in both the U.S. and the U.K. are related to establishing a regular exercise routine, an intention that is one of the top five most popular resolutions over the past twenty years. But our desire to be fit is stronger than our follow-through; year after year statistics show that within the first week, one in four people quit exercising, and only about 9% will be working out regularly at the end of the year.
Most people are quite aware of the benefits of exercise, but many struggle to make it a habit. The CDC estimates that only about 23% of the adult population exercises regularly. And the choice of exercise for those who do exercise skews toward aerobic activities rather than strength training—only 24.2% of people who exercise regularly engage in a mix of cardio and strength training. And this percentage falls off as people age as by the time people are 65 or older aerobic exercise drops, but strength training falls precipitously with only 15% lifting any type of weight at all. For the dwindling number of exercisers in their sixties and older, strength training takes a back seat to walking, cycling, and swimming.
As hard as it is for people to start exercising regularly--even when it is as simple as a 30-minute walk three times per week--it is even harder to start a regular weight training program. Cardio is easy—lace up your shoes and head out for a brisk walk—while working with weights is fussy, requiring equipment, knowing which exercises to do for different muscles, and proper technique. The internet can offer some assistance, but there is no way to know if what you are watching is safe or appropriate for your body. Plus, weightlifting is poorly understood by many and is typically associated with gym culture. Lifting weights invokes images of rooms full of confusing looking equipment and body builders with freakishly large muscles. Since the motivation to start exercising for many is to lose weight, the idea of doing an exercise that will make your body bigger seems counterintuitive. It is hard enough to start moving; working with weights adds an unwanted layer of complexity and difficulty to the work of establishing a healthy habit.
Plenty of research over the past decade argues that we ignore strength training at our own peril. Once thought of as an activity exclusively for bodybuilders and athletes, we now know that regular strength training offers the same benefits that are associated with aerobic exercise, such as weight loss, better insulin control, and improved heart health. Done properly, strength training is one of the best ways to reduce our overall risk of musculoskeletal injury. Contrary to popular belief, it is very hard for most people to “bulk up”. Rather than make us bigger, regular strength training can make us leaner, improving our cardio by helping us move faster, with less pain, and better coordination. Importantly, strengthening our muscles offers an additional benefit that cardio lacks by helping to combat the aches and pains as well as the eventual frailty commonly associated with the later decades of life. Research is showing that it can be quite effective at improving and even reversing some of the chronic conditions associated with old age, namely osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and cognitive decline.
There are many myths surrounding the aging process, but one of the most notorious is that with age comes declining strength, frailty, and the risk of falling, which together establishes a condition referred to in the medical community as sarcopenia. There is evidence that sarcopenia starts during the sixth decade of life, characterized by a progressive loss of skeletal muscle and strength that gradually erodes a person’s quality of life and ability to live independently. One study found that the percentage of women unable to lift just ten pounds goes from 40% for those 55 to 64 years old to as high as 65% in those 75 to 84 years old. Although changes in hormone levels have a mild to moderate impact on strength levels, there is no evidence that sarcopenia is an inevitable part of the aging process and is thought to be largely preventable. Studies of elderly hunter-gatherers living in the Amazon and mountains of Mexico, as well as seniors who engage in regular activities that involve lifting, carrying, pulling, and pushing heavy loads show no significant declines in strength, even into the 8th and 9th decades of life. Aging does not suddenly “turn off” the muscle’s capacity to get stronger; numerous studies have shown that targeted weight training programs can reverse muscle wasting in the later decades of life, even in those who never did a bicep curl or a squat throughout their entire lifetime.
Some infirmity is inescapable as we enter the later decades of our lives, but there is evidence that the musculoskeletal conditions that start to appear in our middle decades are a reflection of our lifestyle—they point to how we have lived our days rather than the number of days we have lived. During the early years of adulthood, our bodies can maintain a certain level of muscle mass, even if we don’t follow any regular strength training regimen. But things start to change as we enter our forties, when hormone levels start to shift, and the obligations of work and family make exercise harder to fit in to our daily routines. And for most people, when they do find time, cardio activities like walking, running a marathon, swimming, or playing a sport such as tennis, pickleball, or golf are generally seen as more attractive than lifting weights.
The chronic pains many start to experience with aging, such as low back pain, shoulder injuries, hot spots, or knee problems are typically the product of a long history of muscle imbalances. Unless there is an acute injury, the aches and pains experienced as we age today took time to develop. The nagging “runner’s knee” that pops up at age 50 while training for a marathon has been brewing for many years, the result of weak hip and leg muscles put under the repetitive strain of a high volume of marathon training. The low back pain that starts to nag a 45-year-old mother has been developing since her daughter was delivered via C-section 10 years ago. Weak abdominal muscles, scar tissue, and the sedentary lifestyle of a working mom with a young daughter leads to poorly activated postural muscles and leads to back strain. Muscles can only be strong when they have a clear line of communication with the brain; a long history of muscle imbalances scrambles the messaging. Years of inflexible muscles, a poorly healed injury, or a lack of muscle strength all lead to chronically misaligned movement patterns that eventually cause wear and tear, injury, and chronic pain. Studies show that regular strength training helps to rewire these lines of communication, allowing information to flow freely and rapidly between the muscles and the brain. Rather than put us at risk of injury (as many people wrongly believe), strength training creates balance and symmetry that reduces the disabilities that show up in the middle and later decades of life.
Although genes, environment, and nutrition play a role, having strong, active muscles decreases our susceptibility to musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoporosis and arthritis. Sarcopenia tends to co-exist with osteoporosis and arthritis; studies find that the health of our muscles mirrors the health of our bones and joints. The science is not yet clear on exactly what type of strength training builds bones, but there is plenty of evidence that strong muscles reduce the risk of falls and fractures. And whereas arthritic joints benefit from any type of movement that increases blood flow to the joint, strengthening the muscles that support a compromised joint has been shown to improve its stability and function, as well as reduce pain. Some studies have found that those with moderate to severe arthritis who do regular strength training report reduced incidences of joint pain and swelling compared to those who show muscle wasting. Strong muscles aren’t a magic cure for osteoporosis or arthritis, but they make our bodies more responsive and resilient, reducing our likelihood of falling, and making it easier to live life even in the presence of a potentially debilitating chronic condition.
Emerging evidence suggests that strength training plays a role in delaying or possibly preventing the onset of cognitive decline, although the mechanism is not yet understood. There is some evidence that it is related to the different movement patterns involved in strength training exercises. Compared to cardio activities that use repetitive movement patterns, strength training exercises move the body in different directions, with a variety of equipment, and require memory and attention to execute the exercise properly. Performing novel movement patterns, a big part of regular strength training, has been shown to slow the cognitive changes associated with Parkinson’s and is showing promise as an intervention for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Even with all these benefits, it is still challenging to start a strength training program, especially if you have arthritis, are experiencing pain from a chronic injury, or have osteopenia or osteoporosis. Unlike walking, which can be done outside, with friends, or listening to your favorite music, lifting weights can be overwhelming and bewildering. It is much more technical, involving a wide range of exercises and equipment that can drain the enjoyment out of exercising. Plus, the risk of injury looms large; by the time in life that many people start strength training, they have tightness, scar tissue, and dysfunction that makes exercise and equipment selection, as well as form, even more critical.
Outside of hiring a personal trainer or taking a class, you can get general weightlifting instruction from a few credible sources online. One place to start is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has links to exercise videos produced by health education departments at various universities. The instructors aren’t awe-inspiring, nor are their productions slickly produced, but they do offer safe instruction that can get anyone started. Harvard University offers online weight training courses for a reasonable fee, and respected health and fitness websites such as Healthline provide free guidance. Of course, there are an overwhelming number of weight training apps, but be sure to find one that is credible and better known, such as Nike.
Even if you do not have exercise equipment at home, one of the simplest ways to get started is by using your own body weight as a source of resistance. Bodyweight exercises are a good starting point as they open the lines of communication between the brain and the muscles and safely work within a joint’s range of motion, all while stimulating the major muscles in the body. Best of all, the movements are uncomplicated, easy to learn, and can be done anywhere. Plus, the commitment to strength training need not be overwhelming to be effective; the CDC recommends strengthening all the major muscles two or three times per week.
The lessons of strength training are reflective of what we know to be true throughout our lives—we need just enough pressure and resistance to get stronger. Avoiding strength training because it is “boring” or “confusing” will pave the path to more painful and debilitating conditions down the road. There is no evidence that our later decades need to be a time of pain and disability. Whereas we can’t undo the missteps of our past, we can start where we are, and do what is needed to get stronger and bring our body into better balance. As we move through this month of new beginnings, I invite you to stop and ask: what might change for you if you were stronger?
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