How many times have we heard people say I'm too old for that. Or that's for younger people not for people my age. Where did these ideas come from and more important are they true?
Can a person actually reach an age level where they have no benefit to a resistance training program?
The researchers at Harvard University Medical School put this theory to a test. Selecting a group of residents, aged 85-90, who lived in a nursing-home, the subjects where to participate in a high resistance training program.
The study lasted 2 months and the residents trained 3 times a week during the test period.
At the end of the study the residents were tested and all had increased in both strength and muscle mass. The largest improvements where in leg and arm strength which increased in some individuals up to 48%.
This study helps to confirm the benefits of resistance training at all ages. That it is never to late to benefit from a good resistance training program.
But the tests also showed the need a commitment from the user to achieve long term benefits.
The test facilitaters followed up by testing the participants again four weeks after ending their resistance training program. In four weeks of sedentary lifestyle the exercise participants had lost 40% of the strength they had gained.
The lesson is simple it's never to late to improve your lifestyle through resistance training. But in order to be the most effective it has to be a commitment rather than something you just do occassionally.
For a look at the benefits of weight lifting, even into your senior years, one has to look no further than the great career of JackLaLanne.
Jack LaLanne (b. François Henri LaLanne, September 26, 1914) is an American fitness, exercise and nutritional expert, celebrity, lecturer, and motivational speaker. LaLanne has been referred to as "the godfather of fitness." LaLanne gained worldwide renown for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as his prodigious feats of strength.
At age 93, he continues to work out every morning for two hours. He spends one and a half hours in the weight room, and half an hour swimming or walking. LaLanne and his wife Elaine (80) live in Morro Bay, California.
