Stronger bones and that

Age related decline is a major concern for ageing populations and one aspect that has worried mankind for centuries are the conditions Sarcopenia and Dynapenia which are muscle wastage and weakness. These conditions have been assumed to be a natural aspect of getting older and that there was little one could do about it. But, there is something you can do about it. You can lift weights. There is new evidence all the time that progressive RT is responsible for significantly limiting the effects of this age-related strength decline (1,2). Simply training the full body, to incorporate all the major muscle groups, for 30-60 minutes 2-3 times per week is adequate. Think about that for a second, 2 or 3 short gym sessions per week could change the life of an elderly person.

Further, bone mineral degenerative disorders like Osteoporosis are shown to be improved through weight bearing exercise. Now, aerobic exercise, running in particular, which provides an impact stimulus are shown to be effective, but no other form of exercise seems to be as effective for increasing bone density as lifting weights (3).

It stands to reason that if you are fit and active your body will be stronger but using progressive resistance training will 100% protect against age related decline. Even if you have never done it before and are now at that age where you have retired, have more time on your hands but aren’t in the best physical condition. Get yourself to a good quality personal trainer, coach or strength centre and start lifting weights, you’ll get a lot more out of your advancing years and you’ll be eternally grateful when you can keep up with your grandkids while your peers hobble around with their Zimmer frames.

Diabetes? Diabeaten!

Type ii diabetes is often termed ‘adult onset diabetes’ because it is brought about by poor lifestyle choices. A person who leads a largely sedentary lifestyle, eats a poorly balanced diet, both in terms of nutritional density and caloric balance, and who leads a high stress lifestyle may develop T2D. Diabetes is a metabolic illness where the muscle mitochondria lose efficiency.

Mitochondria are the tiny cells in the muscle which create muscle contractions, you can think of them like the mini cells on a solar panel. If the smaller panels, or cells, start to fail eventually the entire solar panel fails and consequently so does any appliance getting it’s energy from that source. So, using that analogy you can see how important mitochondria are to the healthy physiology of a human body and why mitochondrial dysfunction can lead to chronic illness.

A 2017 review of data (4) showed that resistance training led to positive changes in lean mass, mitochondrial adaptation and insulin sensitivity which could be an effective defence against the disease. Endurance or aerobic exercise are also useful, but the researchers showed that there may be an inverse relationship between aerobic exercise and Metformin use that doesn’t appear to occur with resistance training.

In other words, if you are metabolically unwell, getting yourself stronger and leaner will help make you metabolically healthier and, in conjunction with a well-managed energy restricted diet and stress management protocols, you may even be able to completely reverse the condition.

Fat loss

We all know that if you need to lose weight you need to do LOADS of cardio right? Walk more, get running, buy a celebrity workout DVD and do a bunch of HIIT training, right? Nah! I'm sorry to break it to you but Joe Wicks is wrong.

I mean, yes, cardiovascular exercise is very good for you,. But, something that everyone who wants to lose body fat should be doing (which makes perfect sense when you think about it) is attempting to increase the amount of lean mass they have, or at least ameliorate the rate of lean mass loss during a Calorie deficit. More muscle means better metabolic health means easier fat loss.

Want some proof?

A recent review (5) examined at a vast number of studies looking at the effects of resistance training on obese youths. Unsurprisingly it showed that inclusion of RT led to increases in lean mass, reductions in body fat percentage but little change in body mass index. But of course it didn’t! If you want to lose fat you need to be in an energy deficit and that is where diet comes in, controlling the Calories in part of CiCo, but the mere fact that these children lost SOME fat while increasing skeletal muscle is a major positive.

Sure, aerobic exercise will burn more Calories and assist body fat reduction more directly, but RT indirectly assists fat mass reduction by inducing an increase in metabolic rate due to increased lean mass (6). But, it also appears that resistance training helps to reduce visceral fat as well (7). Visceral fat is the fatty deposits that form around your organs. High visceral fat levels are more predictive of serious health outcomes even than subcutaneous body fat.

Feel the pain?

When I used to teach group exercise I often used to shout out the usual dumb fitness clichés like “no pain no gain” of “pain is weakness leaving the body”. I never really agreed with these, but they used to amuse me. Fast forward to 2018 and one of my main areas of consideration is corrective exercise, especially for lower back pain. So, the question is, will lifting weights make your back worse?

Of course, I have already researched this as part of my Back Pain Solution online program. Would you be surprised (given the tone of this blog) that resistance training is actually really good for back pain? One of the reasons some people get back pain is a combination of laxity in the lower back and muscular weakness. Essentially being able to create core stiffness to stabilise the lower back is important. But, aside from doing targeted core exercises to achieve this (see this blog) is there any real benefit to lifting weights if you have a ‘bad’ back? I mean, won’t it hurt?

Recent research into the mechanisms of chronic pain show us now that a large aspect of it is psychological. This is known as pain catastrophising. A 2014 study took two groups of obese mature (60+) individuals with chronic back pain and split them into two intervention groups. One group did a generic lower back stretch routine while the other group were prescribed a total body resistance training program using typical gym machines (8). After 12-weeks the resistance trained group reported significant reductions in perceived pain, pain catastrophizing and self-reported disability scores. Far better than the control group who only reported a reduction of pain while walking.

Another study looked at younger active individuals using free weight exercises based around squats and deadlifts (higher intensity loading upwards of 75% of 1 rep max) and saw reported reductions in both pain and disability of 72% and 76% respectively (9).

So, the answer here is, no lifting weight isn’t bad for your back, it’s almost certainly good for your back. Technique and quality of movement are important though, and there will be some cases where spinal loading could increase pain, so just be mindful of such things and if you are uncertain, get yourself assessed by a pain specialist.

Resistance training makes you happy

So, I’ve covered weight loss, metabolic health and back pain, what about mental health? Guess what? It turns out that resistance training is pretty good for reducing depression and anxiety in sufferers too.

A recent paper looked at a large sample group (1,870 people) and showed that resistance training had a significant effect on reducing depressive moods, regardless of health outcomes (10). It also appears that lifting weights reduces feelings of anxiety both in sufferers and non-sufferers (11). So yes, it does appear that lifting weights makes you happier.

We know that exercise increases the secretion of brain serotonin levels which actually lasts for a while after exercise (12). So, it stands to reason that exercise will make you feel temporarily better. Further to that there is a progressive aspect to weight training that brings with it a sense of meaning and achievement. Not to mention the fact that getting jacked makes you both look good and feel better about yourself. No wonder the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine conducted a large clinical review of evidence to give practitioners guidelines on prescribing exercise as a clinical intervention for mental health sufferers (13).

TL;DNR

Lift weights it’s really good for you. It makes it easier to lose body fat, to get stronger, to protect your bones from fractures and age-related degeneration, it makes you look better, feel better and can even change your experience of chronic pain.

What kind of kind of rep ranges should you be aiming for? That depends on your goals. Remember, the number of reps should relate to the load on the bar, so a strength range of 1-6 reps should be at around 90-100% of your one rep max, while a hypertrophy range of 8-12 would be around 70-85%. Here's an example template of what a linear strength program might look like:

Yes, EVERYONE should be doing some form of resistance training and if you aren’t already doing it you should start as soon as possible. Get yourself a trainer or coach or join a strength and conditioning centre or CrossFit box and get lifting.

Alternatively you could pledge your support to TM Fitness on Patreon and join the Athlete tier to get exclusive exercise content each month.

Coach Troy

References:

1. Law TD, Clark LA, Clark BC. Resistance Exercise to Prevent and Manage Sarcopenia and Dynapenia. Annual review of gerontology & geriatrics. 2016;36(1):205-228. doi:10.1891/0198-8794.36.205.
2. Resistance training and sarcopenia. Monaldi Arch Chest Dis. 2016 Jun 22;84(1-2):738. doi: 10.4081/monaldi.2015.738.
3. The effects of progressive resistance training on bone density: a review. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1999 Jan;31(1):25-30.
4. Pesta, D., Goncalves, R., Madiraju, A., Strasser, B. and Sparks, L. (2017). Resistance training to improve type 2 diabetes: working toward a prescription for the future. Nutrition & Metabolism, 14(1).
5. Collins H, Fawkner S, Booth JN, Duncan A. The effect of resistance training interventions on weight status in youth: a meta-analysis. Sports Medicine - Open. 2018;4:41. doi:10.1186/s40798-018-0154-z.
6. Willis LH, Slentz CA, Bateman LA, et al. Effects of aerobic and/or resistance training on body mass and fat mass in overweight or obese adults. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2012;113(12):1831-1837. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01370.2011.
7. Strasser, B., Arvandi, M., & Siebert, U. (2012). Resistance training, visceral obesity and inflammatory response: a review of the evidence. Obesity Reviews, 13(7), 578–591. doi:10.1111/j.1467-789x.2012.00988.
8. VINCENT, H., GEORGE, S., SEAY, A., VINCENT, K. and HURLEY, R. (2014). Resistance Exercise, Disability, and Pain Catastrophizing in Obese Adults with Back Pain. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(9), pp.1693-1701.
9. Welch N, Moran K, Antony J, et al The effects of a free-weight-based resistance training intervention on pain, squat biomechanics and MRI-defined lumbar fat infiltration and functional cross-sectional area in those with chronic low back BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2015;1:e000050. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2015-000050
10. Gordon BR, McDowell CP, Hallgren M, Meyer JD, Lyons M, Herring MP. Association of Efficacy of Resistance Exercise Training With Depressive SymptomsMeta-analysis and Meta-regression Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018;75(6):566–576. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.0572
11. The Effects of Resistance Exercise Training on Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Sports Med. 2017 Dec;47(12):2521-2532. doi: 10.1007/s40279-017-0769-0.
12. Young SN. How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience : JPN. 2007;32(6):394-399.
13. Ranjbar E, Memari AH, Hafizi S, Shayestehfar M, Mirfazeli FS, Eshghi MA. Depression and Exercise: A Clinical Review and Management Guideline. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015;6(2):e24055. doi:10.5812/asjsm.6(2)2015.24055.