Mind Blown! 🤯 It's As Valuable As Being Strong!

Until recently, cardiovascular exercise has been the default when people talk about exercising.

We now know that strength has the greater influence on our health span and lifespan.

The link between muscle strength and health span is so strong that researchers introduced the concept of “strength span,” saying that strength "contributes to improved health outcomes and added years of life.“

This year, the American Heart Association identified strength as a major factor in the battle against chronic cardiovascular diseases.

Strength training defeats certain cancers, diabetes, and all-cause mortality.

There's clear evidence that strength training should be a lifelong habit.

Childhood

​Weak children typically become weaker adults. Strong children seem to have momentum for increasing their strength.

(That doesn’t bode well for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are less fit and weaker than Boomers were as kids!)

Kids (and adults) typically find strength training more enjoyable than cardiovascular exercise. It's easy to see progress and feeling strong increases self-esteem and confidence.

It's not too late if you missed the strength training boat in your youth. I didn't start until I was in my 30s.

Adulthood

A Cooper Clinic study found that participants in the upper third of muscular strength had a substantially lower risk for all-cause and cancer death compared to the participants in the lower third.

Being strong and muscular past 60 is typically the result of decades of strength training before hitting 60. So....

👉 Is the magic in strength or strength training? 👈

This blew my mind! The process is as valuable as the result!

One study review concluded: “... physical strength or the processes of developing strength is intrinsically linked to healthy aging.”

Case in point: cardiovascular disease. Strength training reduces inflammation, improves lipid profiles, and enhances the function of our blood vessels.

Improvements are only seen when “… the ST is structured in a progressive manner, with volume or intensity being increased over the course of the intervention period.”

Which is to say that it takes hard work. 😉

Consistently pushing yourself decreases vascular stiffness. That’s why strong young men have more pliable arteries than their weaker peers.

Strength training improves markers of insulin resistance and glucose tolerance, which keeps diabetes at bay.

All muscle fibers aren't the same....

Your muscle fibers are either slow-twitch type-1 fibers, fast-twitch type-2 fibers, and some that can be converted from fast to slow.

Type-1 fibers power endurance activities, like jogging, cycling, or swimming.

Type-2 fibers are recruited for strength exercise.

Relying only on endurance exercise converts those convertible fibers, leaving you even less able to react quickly if you start to fall, grab a child about to run into the street, or jump out of the way of an oncoming car.

​Compared to life-long endurance exercisers, life-long strength exercisers' strength and force production were

• comparable to untrained people 40 years younger

• significantly better than endurance-trained athletes

• substantially better than in old controls

That ability to create force is why people who do strength training seem more youthful and are more likely to remain independent and functional.

If you're working with little pink weights or just punching your ticket on a weight machine, get busy so your strength span can fuel your health span and maybe your lifespan!