Resistance workout

Stability and strength training helps to maintain youthfulness and a robust and well-performing body. It also makes you look better.

Complete this habit by performing resistance workouts 4 times per week.

Here you will find a 4-day resistance training program aimed at two out of four exercise pillars - stability (mobility, flexibility, balance) and strength (including maintaining muscle mass).

Stability

Stability is a combination of different factors, such as strength and firmness, that let our body safely transmit force to the outside world (e.g., picking up something heavy from the ground, pulling or pushing, etc.). It is a necessary condition for the safe development of the rest of the three pillars - strength, aerobic, and anaerobic performance.

Strength

Maintaining muscle mass is pivotal for overall well-being and ensuring a comfortable quality of life as we age. Consequently, it's essential to prioritize physical activities that involve muscle engagement for force generation.

Footwear

Looking from the perspective of balance and stability, it’s also essential to exercise barefoot or with appropriate shoes. This way, you can improve the communication between your brain and your feet and achieve better precision of movement. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Additional tips

• You may ask whether or not you should train fasted or fed, and there is no correct answer to that. You may find that your best sports results were achieved while fasting or that you don’t like the feeling of hunger when exercising. If you are the latter, have your meal soon after the workout, and also consider having meals rich in carbohydrates the night before the training. 

• Ensure insufficient ingestion of fluids and electrolytes to support the function of your brain and kidneys. Dehydration and loss of electrolytes may disrupt the operation of your neurons, which may lead to various health conditions, including headaches, dizziness, and lack of coordination.

Impact

Muscle mass

We tend to lose muscle mass, strength, and power with age. A process of age-related muscle loss is called Sarcopenia. It can begin as early as age 35 and progresses at a rate of 1-2 percent a year for the typical person. Once you reach 60, it can accelerate to 3 percent a year. 

Weak muscles eventually result in difficulty walking, cleaning, shopping, and even dressing, thus increasing dependence on others. 

Youthfulness

Resistance training also helps to maintain youthful hormone balance and the ability to walk well and stay upright. Exercising back and lower body muscles can noticeably boost testosterone levels.

Senescent cells

Exercise is one of the best ways to get rid of senescent cells (older, damaged cells that have lost their ability to divide and function correctly). One study found that after 12 weeks of progressive strength and endurance training, the number of senescent cells in the participants was dramatically lower.

Englund, D. A., Sakamoto, A. E., Fritsche, C. M., Heeren, A. A., Zhang, X., Kotajarvi, B. R., Lecy, D. R., Yousefzadeh, M. J., Schafer, M. J., White, T. A., Atkinson, E. J., & LeBrasseur, N. K. (2021). Exercise reduces circulating biomarkers of cellular senescence in humans. Aging cell, 20(7), e13415. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13415

Liu-Ambrose, T., Nagamatsu, L. S., Graf, P., Beattie, B. L., Ashe, M. C., & Handy, T. C. (2010). Resistance training and executive functions: a 12-month randomized controlled trial. Archives of internal medicine, 170(2), 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.494

Shailendra, P., Baldock, K. L., Li, L. S. K., Bennie, J. A., & Boyle, T. (2022). Resistance Training and Mortality Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American journal of preventive medicine, 63(2), 277–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2022.03.020