It’s never too late to start lifting weights - and now there are more signs it can provide enduring health benefits for older people. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found that regularly lifting weights for a year in your mid-60s can preserve the strength of your leg muscles for years to come. Here are the key findings: Retirement-age people who underwent a 12-month weight-lifting training regimen had noticeably stronger leg muscles three years after finishing the programme than those who did more moderate strengthening exercises or none at all, the study found.
The weight-lifting training group visited a commercial gym three times a week for a year and repeatedly lifted what was considered a heavy load: 70% to 85% of the maximum weight a person can physically lift at one time. Although the supervised programme lasted only a year, scientists followed up three years later. Individuals in the “heavy” weight-lifting cohort were the only participants to have maintained, on average, the leg strength they had before they began the training programme.
Notably, leg strength is a critical indicator of wider health and mobility among older people. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that weight lifting can help older people stave off frailty and stay healthy as they age. “Leg strength is really important,” Mads Bloch-Ibenfeldt, a medical researcher at the University of Copenhagen who co-wrote the study, said in an interview this we.
