The results are in: weight lifting is medicine
If you lean towards mostly cardio workouts, it is time to give strength training a try!
You may have heard about the many health benefits of lifting weights (aka, strength or resistance training). Yes, you are probably thinking, I already know weight training can help people build lean muscle mass and bone density, lose weight, and improve metabolic function. But some new research still might surprise you!
Did you know “getting swole” reduces the risk of cognitive decline and erectile dysfunction? It’s true! How about the fact that lifting heavy things increases testosterone levels in both men and women (a good thing in both cases!)? And did you know that resistance training helps reduce the symptoms of mild to moderate depression, while improving cognitive performance, self-esteem, and confidence? All true!
Resistance training can also assist in:
The prevention and management of type 2 diabetes
Improving insulin sensitivity
Enhancing cardiovascular health by reducing resting blood pressure
Decreasing LDL “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides
Increasing HDL “good” cholesterol
Increasing bone mineral density
Reducing low back pain and easing discomfort associated with arthritis
Reversing specific age-related changes in muscle
Resistance training is medicine. At Rise Precision Medicine, we recommend resistance training for everyone, regardless of age or health status. Of course, our specific training recommendations vary A LOT based on the patient’s age and goals!
Experts, including Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, author of the new book Forever Strong, refer to muscle as the organ of longevity because of its impact on increasing healthspan. One of the most harmful effects of aging is the steady loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. This process is what eventually leads to falls, mental and physical frailty, and spending the final years of life in a chair or a bed! Muscle mass decreases by approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. This is why resistance training paired with appropriate protein intake is critical!
Resistance training does not need to be hard, complicated, or intimidating. You can start with simple body weight exercises such as push-ups, air squats and everyone’s favorite, burpees! Or, you could always just go the old fashioned route and lift weights 4-5 days per week with focus on hitting pull exercises (curls, rows, lat pull downs, etc.), push exercises (bench press, military press, triceps extensions, etc.), and legs (squats, deadlifts, hamstring curls, etc.). Be sure to warm up, stretch and roll out your muscles, and make sure you are using good form and reasonable weights so that you can avoid injury. Allow each muscle group at least 1-2 days off to allow them to recover before working them again.
A fun way to put together a workout with bodyweight exercises is the deck of cards workout (verywellfit). Take a deck of cards and assign an exercise to each suit. For example, hearts = pull-ups, spades = push-ups, clubs = dips, diamonds = air squats and jokers = burpees. We usually modify the exercises to make them challenging but doable. Examples would be using a resistance band or two to assist pull-ups and dips, or doing push-ups with your knees on the ground. Go through the deck and use the number on the cards as the number of reps you perform for each exercise, for example, 6 of hearts = 6 pull-ups.
Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13, Ace = 14, Joker = 15. Give yourself a minute rest between cards and try starting with 10 cards. Work your way up to it and you may be going through the full deck sooner or later!
Here are some other options of body weight exercises:
Full-body: jumping jacks, thrusters, burpees, kettlebell swings, medicine ball slam
Lower-body: lunges, bridges, box step-ups, jump squats, goblet squat
Upper-body: bent-over rows, shoulder press, chin-ups, TRX horizontal row, TRX triceps extension
Core: Sit-ups, hanging leg raises, V-ups, plank, TRX atomic push-ups
Cardio: Jumping jacks, high knees, mountain climbers, burpees, jumping lunges
You can scale down the workout by not doing the face cards or doing half the deck. Scale up by wearing a weight vest or doubling the number of reps on the card.
Have fun and get strong!
