Pushups and situps can add years to your life
Strength training as important for health as aerobics
By Everkinetic (http://everkinetic.com/) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
A new study has confirmed what many fitness fanatics may have already expected. Building muscle mass is as healthy as aerobic activity. An individual can develop their muscles starting with the most simple of exercises such as pushups and situps. The key to strength training is progression and to see progress either in terms of the total amount of repetitions you can do (volume) or the amount of weight you can do in the same amount of repetitions (strength).
Volume training in a lot of ways is safer than strength training because to go the maximum weight can cause a dangerous spike in blood pressure which can cause issues in people who have undiagnosed heart conditions. Going the maximum weight can also damage joints, tendons, etc, which in older people can have a life long effect on mobility. So for safety it can make sense to at least start slow by doing light to moderate weight with higher reps. The first couple of weeks maybe you can only do 5 pushups and 5 situps, then a week later maybe it's 10 each, then in a couple weeks maybe it's 20, then 30, then I think you get the picture.
As long as you are making steady progress you are building muscle.
References
- University of Sydney. (2017, November 1). Strength exercise as vital as aerobic new research finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 6, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101102846.htm
I love doing push-ups, I never ever go to a gym. I just do random strength exercises through the day like push-ups squats deadlifts chin-ups and more. It's never a workout and I just do 1 set every so often takes a few seconds. I even do random sprints outside when I feel energetic. Ppl do think I'm odd lol but I'm in great shape at 35
Glad to see this research. I have been doing push ups every day for years and I know it helps me too.
This is so useful. Before someone might have a problem with the internal organs without knowing. Slow and steady is better.
The result will still reveal with time
Spend years of your life trying to live longer
Resistance training takes a very little amount of time, especially in contrast with what most of us spend doing other things. It's great to learn to enjoy the process as well! Do workouts that you actually enjoy doing.
I feel like diet and exercise itself can help you live longner
Nice post never been into gym weights. do my yoga to keep me supple but recently have started situp and press up as i notice my core is not what it used to be :)
I really wish that older people payed more attention to the health benefits of resistance training. I think more could be done to promote it. When setup properly it can be extremely beneficial to those of all ages and is absolutely safe when performed right. I would argue that it is MORE important to quality of life because of the muscle loss prevention, which often times is directly correlated with weakness in the elderly.