If you’re always on the lookout for simple and effective ways to add a few years to your life, I have good news…
Living a longer, healthier life could be as easy as working at making your body stronger. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Columbia University found that older adults who strength trained at least twice a week were 46 percent less likely to die from all causes.
Older adults who strength trained were also 41 percent less likely to die from a cardiac event and 19 percent less likely to die from cancer.
Researchers analyzed data from the 1997-2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) looking specifically at the mortality rates of people who strength trained. The survey included 30,000 adults age 65 or older, only nine percent of whom strength trained regularly.
Now a lot of research is available to support the health benefits of exercise, including research that shows that exercise prevents early death, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers.
But this is the first research to show that strength training can lengthen your life. In fact, people who strength trained outlived other people who did just about every other exercise under the sun but strength training. So there is definitely something special about boosting your strength…
And there’s no better time to start than right now — especially if you want to live well into your 90s or, better yet, achieve centenarian status. It’s super easy too…
To get started, forget about those expensive gym memberships. You don’t need their heavy weights and special machines — nor do you need to buy any fancy equipment to strength train at home.
That’s because there’s more to strength training than just free weights, dumbbells and resistance machines. Exercises that use your body weight for resistance count as strength training too, including some really popular ones like push-ups, pull-ups and leg squats. Even certain yoga poses count as strength training.
Or you can invest in some resistance bands. You can get them for relatively cheap (between $10 and $30 for a set), and they open up a whole new world of weight-free strength training to you. Strength training with resistance bands also has added benefits, like improving balance and targeting muscles that you miss with weights. Check out this video for a few exercises to get started. You’ll be surprised how much strength you can actually build with a simple strip of rubber.
Editor’s note: Seniors are increasing their longevity AND their health by balancing their master hormone. As it turns out, your body’s master hormone is a metabolic mediator that can boost your health, help you avoid disease and slow aging — all the way down to your DNA. Too good to be true? Click here to read about the blue zones cropping up all over the world — and the 100 year-olds that have discovered the real fountain of youth.
Sources:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/ps-sth042016.php
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670
