Gyms, basements, and spare bedrooms across the country have weights that are clanking. Millions of people over 50 are doing push-ups, lunges and squats.
If you are one of these dedicated individuals, you have already experienced the benefits of strength training, and you want to keep doing it for as long as possible. We have advice from three experts to help you do that.
You are doing your body a world of good if you consider weightlifting a sport, a tool for enhancing your other athletic endeavors, or just part of a well-rounded health regimen.
sarcopenia is the degradation of muscle mass and function that begins in our 30s and speeds up after 50, and strength training is the most effective weapon against it.
Strength training helps maintain healthy bone density and is linked with fewer falls and fractures. Strength training has been shown to have a protective effect against the risk of dementia.
Dave Durell, the 63-year-old co-owner of Rock Solid Fitness, said that the over-50 age group benefits from strength training the most.
Sharon Salomon, of Phoenix, only started lifting weights in her 60s. She is the oldest female powerlifter in her home state.
Salomon said in an interview that he doesn't care if he never is as strong as someone who is 50. I am the only person in my age group who has never had a knee, back, or hip surgery.
She is strong. Two years ago she did a 105-pound bench press, a 155-pound squat, and a 225-pound dead lift.
Consistency is a big part of Salomon's success. She meets with her trainer every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when she isn't in the middle of a world-wide Pandemic.
Lifting consistently is key to avoiding injury according to Joseph F. Signorile, professor of sport sciences at the University of Miami.
The good thing about muscle tissue is that you toughen it as you train. He said that the risk of injury goes down for someone who has consistently weight trained.
Salomon took more than a year off of lifting due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. She said she had to start from zero when she resumed training.
Signorile recommends anyone who hasn't trained in awhile to do so.
Signorile said that you have to start with a period of tissue adaptation. You will be taking months off as opposed to a few weeks to gradually rebuild.
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Durell said that exercise selection is an important safety consideration for people over 50.
He said that certain barbell exercises should be swapped out for others. If you want to do front squats, use a leg press machine. Dumbbells are better than a heavy barbell bench press.
If you haven't been doing them, don't start, and he advised caution with movements like kipping pull-ups, box jumps and Olympic-type lifts.
The showy muscles on the front of the body tend to be over-developed according to Durell.
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Salomon has two other pieces of advice.
I wake up in the morning and things are the same as everyone else. She said that the body is 77 years old. I know when to say no because I am in touch with my body.
Salomon explained that if she isn't feeling it in the middle of a set, she will tell her trainer to stop.
She said that getting hurt means six months of not doing anything.
I'm 66, single with no family, and am afraid of becoming incapacitated with no one to handle my affairs, who should I turn to?
Salomon is proof that people over 50 shouldn't be afraid to lift weights. We need to be smart about it by training consistently, choosing safe exercises and knowing when to say no.
Brown is a fitness professional and writer with hundreds of bylines in print and online. She is a regular contributor to NextAvenue and the Active Network and the author of Reboot Your Body: Unlocking the Genetic Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss. You can follow her on social media:
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