Resistance training: a fountain of youth!

Let's face it. From the moment we're born our bodies begin to age. However, for most of us healthy folks the reality of aging doesn't have to mean a major decline in the quality of our lives. Why? Read on my curious aging friends. The clock is ticking...

You may be familiar with the expression "use it or lose it." Well, this couldn't be more true when it comes to aging and the decline of muscle. In case you're thinking that this only applies to really old people, think again. According to Dr. Mark Peterson from the University of Michigan Physical Activity and Exercise Intervention Research Laboratory,

"normally, adults who are sedentary beyond age 50 can expect muscle loss of up to 0.4 pounds a year. That only worsens as people age. But even earlier in adulthood - the thirties, forties and fifties - you can begin to see declines, if you don't engage in any strengthening activities."

 Other research shows that,

"after age 40, people typically lose 8 percent or more of their muscle mass each decade, a process that accelerates significantly after age 70. Less muscle mass generally means less strength, mobility and among the elderly, independence. It also has been linked with premature mortality." (1)

I'd venture to say that most of us want our "golden" years to be, well, golden.  In other words, it would be ideal if quality and quantity of life marched along at the same pace.  However, for many people, an increase in quantity of life comes with a relatively rapid decline in quality of life.

Until fairly recently, muscle atrophy was thought to be a natural part of aging and that this decline was inevitable and, more importantly, irreversible. However, research has repeatedly shown the opposite to be true! In one 2007 ground breaking study of resistance exercise and how it reverses aging in human skeletal muscle done by S. Melov, et. al. it was demonstrated that muscle decline is reversible with weight training and the changes occur at the gene level! This is exciting because it proves that performing resistance training really does offer us a fountain of youth so to speak.

What does all this mean for us in a practical sense? Call me Captain Obvious, but I'll state it none the less - first and foremost, we have to perform resistance training! Some of you might be saying, okay, already, I've got the message. Resistance training is important, but what should I be doing in my resistance training program?  Good question!

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop given by Mark Roozen, who was the strength coach for the Cleveland Browns.  The information he presented focused on the importance of training movements patterns, before focusing on individual muscle strength. You might be wondering what constitutes a movement pattern. Humans have 7 primary movement patterns that we learn and refine over the course of our lives. These are:

1. Gait - walking, running, sprinting
2. Squatting
3. Lunging
4. Pulling
5. Pushing
6. Pressing
7. Twisting

Now, it may surprise you as it did me to learn that even elite athletes like the pro football players Mark works with may have to return to the basics.  Mastery of these movement patterns is critical to the prevention of injury, and to the ability to train to full potential.  This applies to all of us - from weekend warriors to elite athletes and everywhere in between.

Training movement patterns is a more efficient way to train the body than isolation training because it mimics the way our bodies perform in our activities of daily living.  Ultimately this is what healthy aging is all about - training our bodies to be efficient in performing activities of daily living.

So how do we incorporate these movement patterns into our resistance training workouts? Consider the following:

• Movement planes and the axes in which movements take place 

  

  Image from http://kintasticscleanandjerkproject.weebly.com/uploads/1/7/1/4/17146288/7514150_orig.jpg

• incorporate the 7 movement patterns
• Ex: Squats, Lunges, Cleans, Deadlifts, Bench and Military Presses 
• If you're over age 50 and/or previously sedentary consider starting a resistance training program that uses your body weight. For example you can start with simple squats like chair squats and lunges (knees permitting), etc. NOTE: exercises may be challenging for those new to resistance training. Start slow and with the basics. This means performing stationary exercises in one plane and then progressing to movements that incorporate more weight and multi-planes.  Always consult your physician before beginning any exercise program.

The next post will go into more specifics about particular functional resistance training exercises. For now suffice to say, just start training because the evidence is clear. Resistance training really can be the fountain of youth! Adding functional resistance training exercises is an excellent way to increase the strength, agility and stability needed to perform activities of daily living and to maintain or improve our quality of life as we age.

Still not convinced? Check out this excellent article by Dr. Wayne Wescott found here, which details the many health benefits gained through resistance training.

(1) Source: Reynolds, Gretchen. “Aging Well Through Exercise,” The New York Times.

Work out smarter not harder

When you think of working out do images of grunting, straining, vein bulging hard work come to mind? Isn't fitness training all about working this hard? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say not necessarily. Now, before you slack off, or completely bale out of  your next workout, I'm clarifying that the working smarter not harder concept of fitness training doesn't mean doing either.

So, what does training smarter mean? Well, for one, it means beginning with the design of an exercise program that takes you and your goals into consideration. This may seem obvious. Unfortunately this step is often neglected. Without goals how do you know where to begin, change direction or end a phase and move into the next?  This is where SMART goal setting comes in.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant and Timely. When it comes to goal setting this is the gold standard.  If you're considering taking a stab at designing your own fitness program, I encourage you NOT to skip the goal setting step.  This is because when it comes to success, all too often failing to plan means planning to fail. After all, how do we know where we are going if we don't know where we are or where we've been? Hopefully I haven't overstated the importance of the goal setting step to training smarter.  If you're ready to take a stab at it, way to go! You can find a SMART goal worksheet here.

Another aspect of training smarter has to to with working at a level that is suitable to your skill, experience and abilities. Deciding to try the latest, greatest workout routine torn out of a magazine or taken from the internet usually isn't the smartest way to work out. Whether your a novice or an elite exerciser, it's absolutely critical to success to workout at an appropriate level. If you're wondering what your level is, you're not alone.  That's why many people seek the expertise of a trainer. Wisdom about fitness training is constantly evolving. Old school thinking about strength training is the no pain, no gain mentality. Current understanding is train, don't strain. This perspective is being underscored by some emerging research.

Recently, a study conducted by researchers at McMaster University found that study participants were able to build muscle size (hypertrophy) by training in a way that was previously not associated with this result. You can view the published paper here. It can be a little surprising, but exciting as well, to learn that conventional wisdom may be changing in light of new scientific discovery.  That's exactly what the McMaster study has done. It has shed light on a potentially new way of thinking about resistance training. Thankfully discovery happens frequently in the health industry. Otherwise we might still be using those vibrating belt machines for weight loss like the women in the photo above.

One way that fitness trainers determine the ideal amount of training weight to be lifted is by predicting a client's one rep (short for repetition) max.  This is where the client is asked to lift an average amount of weight until they can't perform any more repetitions of the exercise. In other words, until they reach the point of fatigue.  Then the trainer can calculate or refer to a table to estimate the percentage of one rep max. If you're interested, you can find a chart here. Conventional wisdom regarding resistance training has been that to build muscle it is necessary to lift approximately 85% of one rep max for 4-8 reps (American College of Sports Medicine's 2002 guidelines).  This is some pretty heavy lifting and results in the ability to perform less repetitions.

So, what does all this have to do with the McMaster University study? Well, their research results surprisingly suggest that using significantly lighter weights, those that were 30% of one rep max, while performing a higher number of repetitions (known as low-load, high volume training), was actually more effective at building muscle than the traditional high-load, low volume resistance training method. Their study findings are equivalent to the world turning upside down, at least the fitness world. Okay, I exaggerate, but only a little.

Why are these study findings important? For one, the ability to build muscle with this type of training protocol has the potential to reach a wider population. In particular, the low-load, high volume training will become practical for "people with compromised skeletal muscle mass, such as the elderly, patients with cancer, or those who are recovering from trauma, surgery or even stroke" (McMaster Univ.). As we move into the second decade of the new millennium, it's exciting to see scientific research underscoring a training protocol that is suitable for a larger, more diverse group of people.  It will be interesting to see where this paradigm shift in resistance training leads. After all, this is a small initial study in this area of research. In the meantime, I'm still going to train smarter not harder. Now let's go pump some, er, lighter iron? 

Sources
American College of Sports Medicine - http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_ACSM&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=1273
Centers for Disease Control - http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/motivation/define.html
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html
McMaster University - http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=6908