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To Delay Death, Lift Weights
- graeme 6y agoFor the purposes of meeting the aerobic training goal, is walking considered moderate exercise? I’ve never liked jogging, but I do strength training, about an hour of walking most days, and occasional sprints.
- kqr 6y agoI think initially, yes, but you might rather quickly be walking into diminishing returns. The idea is to get your heart rate up and force your body to build more efficient ways to create/consume energy. If you are in good shape, walking might not do this unless you're thinking of long-ass multi hour walks. But there are other aerobic forms of training than running!
- maxheadrum 6y agoIt depends on your heart rate during the exercise. I walk a lot. You can increase heart rate while walking by walking uphill or walking with weights, such as water jugg in a backpack.
- jduejfkd 6y agoGot myself an elliptical machine second hand for $50. Great for getting your heart rate up without a lot of impact on the spine. The heart rate formula for good cardio is 90% of 220 minus your age. I can hit that easily on the machine. I highly recommend it.
- themodelplumber 6y agoLast I checked, the aerobic range is a quantified goal so you should be able to alter your circumstances to hit the range while walking. Personally I've been walking for weight loss and exercise since 2013 and a lot of it easily qualifies as aerobic, just depending on the incline, pace, weight carried, and other factors.
- graeme 6y agoMakes sense, thanks. Looks like I hit the 50% if max HT goal, but not by much. So either I should walk faster (hard in heat) or do more on the exercise bike I have.
- patricklouys 6y agoAerobic training is all about the heart rate. You have to get it up to around 120 or higher (and keep it there for a while) to have a training effect. Unless you are REALLY unfit, walking is probably not enough. You can also run/walk in intervals as long as you keep the heart rate up. If you want to get fit, a heart rate monitor is a great investment (something like a polar h10 can pair with your smartphone).
- cheald 6y agoI've seen studies confirming the inverse relationship between strength and all cause mortality numerous times. It seems pretty well established by now. Personally, I started lifting several years ago, and it's been the greatest change in my health in my life. I lost a lot of weight, my resting heart rate is way down, everyday tasks are easier. I move better, and I just feel better overall. Plus, it's a wonderful discipline for building determination and grit. I am certain that most people's lives would be significantly improved by the addition of a strength training program.
- 627467 6y agoHow did you start? Any recommended regime?
- dehrmann 6y agoWhat are your goals?
- peritpatrio 6y agoHere’s pretty good starting point for building overall strength: https://stronglifts.com/5x5/ https://stronglifts.com/5x5/
- xeromal 6y agoYou beat me by 1 minute! 5x5 is an excellent starter program. I've lifted for about 10 years and while I'm more in the advanced and intermediate lifting programs, 5x5 is my goto when I have a long hiatus in lifting. I'm definitely doing it once the COVID lockdowns are over.
- AnonHP 6y agoSeems like this requires both physical space and equipment. Being stuck at home right now, what would be good enough alternatives for the exercises other than squats (perhaps with smaller dumbbells or with body weight)?
- 6y ago
- maurys 6y agoEspecially with most of us shut at home, I've found kettlebell to be excellent as medium for strength and conditioning. The focus on the posterior chain helped resolve a lot of back issues I had from sitting at a desk all day. I could feel my posture improving in a week or so. Unfortunately it does have a bit of learning curve to it, but it's still something I recommend friends try as an effective quick workout.
- lottin 6y agoFor strength training, you want exercises that can be performed with increasingly heavier weights (e.g. barbell exercises). This is how you get stronger. If you always lift the same weight you won't get stronger.
- xeromal 6y agoKettlebells go all the way up to 5 poods bro
- monsieurbanana 6y agoThat's straight away misinformation. Your body doesn't know how many plates your lifting, all it cares about is intensity and time under tension. There's a few ways to increase that without increasing weight: - more time under tension (duh), in other words same movements but slower - harder exercice variations Now to mention that kettlebells can go pretty high in weight. And a last point: what is your goal? Kettlebells will never allow you to compete in bodybuilding, but if what you want is to have a better quality of life and aesthetics? The answer is much less cut and dry. Kettlebells have some really great functional exercices. If you can do a turkish get-up with a 50kg kettlebell you're strong enough.
- lottin 6y agoDoing many repetitions with light weights will elicit a different physiological adaptation than doing few repetitions with heavy weights. In particular, your body will become better at lifting light weights for many reps, but you won't get necessarily stronger. If your goal is to get stronger, you want to train by lifting increasingly heavier weights (progressive overload). Any other training strategy, is less efficient, for the purpose of getting stronger, or simply ineffective.
- kqr 6y agoI have yet to read the methods used, but my low prior leaves me somewhat skeptical even after reading this article. The vast body of pre-existing material indicates "aerobic exercise" is the primary driver of health, with strength training obviously delivering some aerobic exercise too, but not nearly as much as some other forms of exercise. The way these studies are described in the article, it sounds like they might have mislabeled a bunch of confounders as signal. (E.g. people who regularly get aerobic exercise -- especially as they are older -- have greater muscle mass and are less likely to die. Heck, just that people exercise at all in any capacity is a signal of health, which lowers risk of death.) Edit: That said, I believe some level of strength training is critical to avoid injury or overstressing particular muscles, even when your interest is primarily aerobic exercise.
- dingaling 6y ago"Strength training in a gym and doing bodyweight exercises seemed to confer roughly equivalent benefits. " So no, bro, you don't have to lift. Just buy a yoga mat and start doing press-ups / sit-ups / dips etc That what we were told in the military back in the noughties and it makes sense; wherever you are in the world you can still do your daily sets. No need for weights and bars; a bath towel on the floor of a hotel room suffices.
- xeromal 6y agoIDK about you, but bodyweight exercises are much more boring that lifting iron.
- lvturner 6y agoAgreed, for whatever reason I get bored to tears doing most bodyweight exercises. Strangely even adding something as simple as a resistance band to the exercise makes it more enjoyable. I wonder if there is any sort of reason for this phenomenon - I doubt we we are alone!
- xeromal 6y agoYeah, I really tried, especially during this lockdown, but it was just too demoralizing.
- metrokoi 6y agoI believe it is that you are focusing more on one set of muscles with resistance bands or iron which makes it easier to enter into the "flow" state. Bodyweight exercises involve so many different groups of muscles that it is hard to deeply focus on form and enter "flow". For example the moment I maintain my core perfectly straight on a pushup, my ankles may move out of alignment.
- WalterBright 6y agoMake sure it's rusty black iron, not chrome plated or plastic filled with sand.
- deleted 6y ago
- ummonk 6y agoI do believe exercise and strength is helpful for long term health, but these studies obviously don't control for the fact that people with poor health / health conditions are both more likely to die in the future and less likely to exercise / develop strength in the present...
- tus88 6y agoCorrelation is not causation. People who work out tend to practice a range of healthy habits.
- triceratops 6y agoI've found that developing a workout habit is a gateway to other healthy habits. You tend have less stress and sleep better, which improves workout performance thereby creating a virtuous cycle. The drive to improve workout performance leads you to make changes to your diet and watch other health indicators more closely. It's all connected.
- aluminussoma 6y agoGet started with any exercise is difficult! Soon after I commence, I find exercise-induced injuries that force me to rest until the pain goes away. A younger me would ignore the pain bit now I'm not so invincible anymore. More exercise also necessitates more sleep, which can be hard to do when there isn't enough of time.
- cheald 6y agoYou might be starting too aggressively. A successful program is going to start you lighter than you're capable of and progress you over time. Ego and eagerness get you injured quickly, and ultimately work against your goals.
- novas0x2a 6y agoWhat sort of timescale do you mean by "soon"? When you start doing a new exercise regime, it's really common to experience DOMS[1] for the first few weeks. It really feels like the end of the world (personal experience) but it's not actually an indication of real injury and it's generally safe to push through it if you can (and doing so can actually alleviate the pain, at least temporarily). Distinguishing between DOMS (where it's safe to push through) and real injury (where you definitely should not) comes with a bit of practice, and honestly, compared with the few times I've hurt myself for real... DOMS felt worse. Except when I slipped while holding weight and broke my toe. Strongly recommend against that :) If you're experiencing exercise-induced injuries immediately during a workout (and if you have a budget for this), it might be good to talk to someone about what you're trying to do. Some gym plans include a bit of consultation time with a staff trainer, and they can probably help you work around whatever the problem is, sometimes simple adjustments can help (particularly anything involving preexisting shoulder damage, most of the commonly-recommended shoulder exercises have substitutes that are less risky for already-damaged shoulders). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness
- reinkaos 6y agoYou are probably not exercising property. You either have poor execution, use too much weight, use exercises that don't agree if your body mechanics or a combination of the three. Feeling sore in the muscles is normal, feeling joint pain is not. It's true you need more rest/sleep but I found you can work around it if you don't care too about putting on muscle and thus work out less frequently and with less intensity, just for the health benefits.
- AnonHP 6y agoI recall (vaguely) reading long ago that lifting weights shortens muscles and also reduces flexibility. Do people who lift weights or do rigorous strength training also complement it with yoga or other stretching exercises?
- woutr_be 6y agoAs someone who's serious about lifting weights (at least 5 times a week), I can tell you that I almost have zero flexibility these days, my lack of stretching is also causing all types of pain. I sometimes have issues walking because some muscles are too tight. Doing yoga and certain stretches definitely helps, but it needs to compliment your training. I tend to do 15 minutes of stretches in the morning, and then 15-20 minutes of yoga in the evening before going to bed, that has seriously improved my life. (As in, I don't have muscle pain when doing regular activities)
- com2kid 6y agoMy 5 day a week lifting program had upwords of 20 minutes of stretching，10 before and 10 after. I try to do 30 minutes of yoga a day on top of that. If I'm already working out, why not stretch as well?
- woutr_be 6y agoI've been doing it more and more before exercise, especially when doing heavy squats and deadlifts. I also gradually increase my weights so that I'm warmed up by the time I'm doing any heavy stuff. But those 15 minutes in the morning also help me wake up, and I kinda enjoy just stretching and not thinking about anything.
- com2kid 6y agoA good routine will have stretching before and after. Higher level yoga practitioners can also be very strong. Static positions can be incredibly difficult to hold and a great way to build strength! (Yoga is not hypertrophic, but it can build good endurance)
- 6y ago
- thatoldfool 6y agoKettlebells. Search youtube for "Enter the Kettlebell" with Pavel Tsatsouline; easiest, best way to start, is with the "Simple and Sinister" program, which is just kettlebell swings and Turkish getups.
- sradman 6y agoThe FNIH Sarcopenia Project [1] and the paper Associations of Muscle Mass and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults [2] are about assessing age related decline. Neither are about how strength and cardiovascular training impacts mortality; the focus of the OP. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/ [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/
- nojvek 6y agoI’ve been doing 100 pushups a day, 6 days/week (1 rest day on Sunday) for about 3 months now. Before I used to get back aches and had an awful form. Now I feel great. After having a kid, it has been hard to find time to go to the gym. Two sets of pushups, one in morning, and one in evening is easy to get in. Takes 5 mins and you feel pumped. Also been having more sex. So that’s been a great for health too.
- slazaro 6y agoBe careful about doing too much pushing without pulling, though. The bodyweightfitness subreddit is full of people asking about doing a high number of pushups daily and people always warn about imbalances, shoulder impingement, etc.
- totetsu 6y agoStephen Jepson comes to mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0
- totetsu 6y agoWhere I live the average age of farmers is over 65. Some people complain about the inefficiency of small scale farming carried out by many older individuals, and want to stop trade protections, and subsidies etc, and replace everything with robots and drones. A study like this shows one dimension of how much value there is in letting these people carry one working and not becoming a burden on health budgets.
- ykevinator 6y agoThere are 3 scientific links to longevity - blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. That's it. All are solveable with pills, some are helped with exercise. This is a nonsense claim.
- JeremyNT 6y agoNote that this isn't highlighting any new information, the article itself was from 2017 and was itself referring to earlier studies. (Not to discount the overall thesis which is basically "muscle mass good," but if you're relatively up to date on this sort of thing there's nothing novel in this article for you).