Heavy Resistance Training Near Retirement Age Helps Maintain Vital Leg Strength For Years (ScienceBlog.com)

Posted: Jun 19, 2024 in In the News

This article originally appeared in the ScienceBlog.com on June 19, 2024.

 

Heavy Resistance Training Near Retirement Age Helps Maintain Vital Leg Strength For Years

By the British Medical Journal

Engaging in a year of heavy resistance training around the time of retirement can help preserve crucial leg strength for years to come, according to the follow-up results of a clinical trial published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. This is important because the loss of leg muscle strength is considered a strong predictor of death in older individuals.

As people age, their skeletal muscle mass and function naturally decline, which can eventually affect their mobility and independence. Resistance training, which involves using weights, body weight, or resistance bands, can help counteract this loss, but most research has only looked at its effects over relatively short periods of 6-9 months.

The researchers followed up with participants from the LIve active Successful Ageing (LISA) study, a large randomised controlled trial that showed strength can be maintained for 12 months after a year of heavy resistance training.

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