Resistance Training Reverses Aging

This is a pretty amazing study! Canadian researchers at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario showed that resistance training by healthy seniors (in this case over age 65) can reverse aging in the muscle tissue. Notice the study didn’t say slow down or stop, but actually reverse! (You can read the complete study on this site: www.PlosOne.org)

The researchers recruited 25 healthy seniors and had them perform a weight lifting program of two hours a week over a six week period. They benchmarked tissue samples before and after the program, and compared them to a similar analysis of healthy men and women in their 20′s. Before the weight training, the older adults were 59% weaker than their younger counterparts. Upon completion of the program, the seniors had improved by nearly 50%, and now were in deficit to the younger group by only 38%. After only six months of resistance training, the report showed a “reversal of most of the genes affected by age”.

Why should you care? If you are over 40, like me, you don’t have to give in to the challenges normally associated with aging. The muscle wasting associated with growing older is a major factor in deterioration of our health. Joint pain, slower metabolism, loss of motor function – just to name a few.

The take home point of this study is that age is not an excuse for poor health – not when doing a moderate amount of weight bearing exercise can actually reverse many of these age related symptoms. Don’t know where to start? Contact me and we can discuss the optimal way to get you on the right track. There is no better time than now!