It's Never Too Late. Weightlifting After 50.
Here at Troy Barbell, we are no health experts but merely advocates of health and fitness, and better yet advocates of weightlifting being that we are a free weight manufacturer. Weightlifting is beneficial at any age providing benefits like less belly fat, which can decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer but more specifically weightlifting after fifty could alter your life. I know the word alter may have a negative connotation traditionally but in this case it could not be more positive. In this blog article, we are going to breakdown the benefits of lifting weights after the age of fifty and give you tips on how to incorporate weight resistance training into your everyday life.
Building Strength
For most people lifting weights, the goal is to gain strength along with larger muscles for aesthetic purposes. If you are over the age of fifty, you might have some of these same goals in mind but you are more than likely looking for the actual physical health benefits of lifting. At the age of fifty, you might start experiencing a decrease in muscle mass and physical strength and endurance. Adding a short lifting regimen in your daily routine could help in this area tremendously. In no way do you want to be strenuous in your lifting which could possibly lead to injury. To prevent injury you would lift lighter weight at a higher capacity. Lifting at a lighter weight with higher repetitions increases endurance with less strain each rep. In turn, you are still building muscle with less risk of injury due to less strain. For example, doing five pound dumbbell curls for twenty repetitions.
Increasing Bone Density & Muscle Mass
After the age of fifty, bone density starts to decrease in some men but more commonly in women who are at a higher risk of developing Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens the bones. Although Osteoporosis has no cure, there are ways to stop it in its tracks by protecting and strengthening the bones. Studies suggest that weight training and particularly resistance training can increase bone size and muscle mass. Furthermore, unlike bone density, muscle mass affects men and women, in most cases, similarly decreasing by 5-8% every ten years after the age of fifty. Increasing muscle mass is another benefit of implementing weightlifting as we get older. Building muscle mass is more difficult after fifty as some might assume but it is in no way impossible. Participating in lower impact exercises like, walking and cycling, can be a low-risk high-reward way to work out and increase muscle mass. One way to add extra resistance to your walking or cycling is by incorporating dumbbells throughout the exercise to add extra weight and resistance.
Sleep
As we get older, sleeping becomes more and more difficult, physical exercise can help with sleep in many ways. Exercise helps you sleep longer and it improves the kind of sleep you are getting. In turn of you getting high quality sleep, you will be more active and have more energy throughout the day.
Implementing physical activity into our daily routines as soon as possible is ultimately going to make for a longer, happier, and healthier life but the ultimate message we hope you take from this is that it is never too late to become a healthier version of yourself and ultimately improve your quality of life.
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