“There are studies on men in their 70s who’d been lifting weight for 15 to 20 years and their muscles looked identical to that of 20-year-old men in terms of size and strength,”according to Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh, a geriatrician at the University of Sydney.
The Megaformer at Studio Physique provides a safe, low-impact workout to get your daily dose of strength training. Here are the top five anti-aging benefits of strength training .
The body naturally loses muscle mass as you enter into your thirties. And while this doesn’t seem fair, it’s the cold hard truth. Resistance based training actually reverses this process by introducing new protein synthesizing cells into the body. After six months of twice weekly strength exercise training, the biochemical, physiological and genetic signature of older muscle is “turned back” nearly 15 or 20 years. (source: New York Times)
Arthritis and Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis, OH my! The decreased mobility and pain these conditions cause can put you at risk of falling. But, strength training works to decrease skeletal deficiencies caused by aging by lubricating the joints and and increasing muscle mass around those joints.
As we age, hormones such as testosterone gradually decrease. These are the hormones that are responsible for supplying us with energy and boosting our metabolism. Studies have shown that after just a few short weeks of strength training, free testosterone in the blood stream is significantly increased. Who doesn’t love a little more natural energy!
If we were comparing cardio based workouts with resistance training, clients who participated in the latter had less of an age-related occurrence of belly-fat. Strength training also helps stop the appearance of droopy skin by increasing muscle tone in ways which cardio alone can’t do.
Strength based training helps protect the brain from the natural cognitive decline related to aging. “Where previously we had seen positive associations between aerobic activity, particularly walking, and cognitive health, these latest studies show that resistance training is emerging as particularly valuable for older adults,” said Dr. William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, in a statement. (source: Healthland.time.com)
The bottom line is, strength training is no longer just for body builders. The Megaformer as Studio Physique provides a full body workout. It is safe for people of all ages; from the young, to the young at heart 😉