You can’t buy longevity in a pill, a serum or a supplement. What really helps you live longer and better is what you do every day: sleeping well, eating nutritional meals and working out.
Every kind of exercise is good exercise, but if longevity is your goal, it’s time to pick up the dumbbells and start hitting your squats. Strengthening your legs is one of the best ways to keep yourself kicking (pun intended).
“Having strong legs and hips does more than help us walk and move around,” saysHeidi Prather, DO, attending physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery and the founder and medical director of the HSS Lifestyle Medicine Program. Muscles also control the body’s energy use, she explains, and send out chemical signals that help slow down aging, reduce chronic inflammation, and keep your cells’ mitochondria (our cellular energy factories) working well.Studies have found that having strong muscles significantly decreases the higher risk of disease and early death that’s linked to chronic inflammation.
Of course, you want your arms and trunk
Of course, you want your arms and trunk to be strong as you get older, but it’s worth giving extra attention to your hips and legs, “since these muscles are strongly linked to how well we age,” Prather tells Flow Space. TheWomen’s Health and Aging Study II found that even a moderate drop in strength in the muscles that flex your hip was linked to a higher risk of dying — nearly four times higher. “The researchers also found that women whose hip strength dropped faster each year had a higher risk of dying,” adds Prather. That was true regardless of how strong the women were at the start, how much bodily inflammation they had and how many long-term illnesses they experienced. Anotherstudy of over 2,500 adults aged 70 to 79 found that having a small thigh circumference (below 60 centimeters, or 23.5 inches) was associated with about a 50 percent higher risk of premature death.
Then, consider that womenlose bone density as we age and especiallyafter menopause — something that strength training directly counteracts. Stronger muscles put more tension on the bones, which stimulates greater bone cell turnover. “Strength training is one of the best things older women can do to stay healthy, independent and live longer,” Prather says. Midlife women should aim to do strengthening exercises at least two or three days a week, hitting all your major muscle groups (chest, back, shoulders/arms, core, legs) while, again, paying extra attention to your hips and legs.
Here’s are Prather’s top tips for strength-training and fitness in midlife:
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Do exercises that mimic everyday movements.Think: sit-to-stand from a chair, step-ups onto a stair, squats and lunges. These help to “build the strength you need to get up, climb, and carry things,” Prather explains. To strengthen the crucial muscles around your hips, she recommends side leg raises, glute bridges and marching in place.
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Make your workouts harder over time. “When an exercise starts to feel easy, add a little weight, more repetitions, or a more challenging version,” Prather says. This will help you avoid a strength “plateau,” because “muscles grow stronger only when they are asked to do a bit more than they are used to.”
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Move with speed, not just strength. Women lose muscle quickly as we age (3 to 8% per decade starting in your 30s, accelerating to 5 to 10% per decade after menopause), but you lose your speed even faster, Prather says. “Once an exercise feels comfortable, try doing the lifting part a little faster,” she advises, “such as standing up from a chair quickly and then sitting down slowly and with control.”
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Improve your balance.Hip fractures arelinked to higher mortality, so staying on your feet becomes essential as you get older. Reduce your risk of falling by standing on one foot (hold onto a counter at first if you need), walking heel to toe or practicing tai chi.
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Eat plenty of protein. To grow your muscles and get stronger, protein is mandatory. Make sure you have a protein, leafy greens or soy; for animal
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Start slow. Talk to your doctor or a physical therapist before starting a workout program, especially if you’re new to exercise or have any health concerns. You can also work with a trainer who can assess where you’re at physically and help you start safely and with good form.
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Don’t forget cardio. A recentstudy found that while resistance training was associated with a lower risk of mortality, doing resistance training and aerobic workouts decreased the risk of death even more. Prather sums it up: “Combining strength training with aerobic activity is key for health and longevity.”
Longevity comes down to a few simple lifestyle pillars, and strength training is one that can’t be skipped. If you want to live longer and healthier, keep lunging, squatting and hitting those weights — it’ll keep you stronger, steadier and more energized for all the years to come.
