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lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well. that's why, especially for

lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well. that's why, especially for the elderly, full-body exercise like walking, yoga, and tai chi are usually better, because it maintains relative balance implicitly without having to manage that explicitly. the only caveat is that it's really important (even more with age) to also work out your heart, blood vessels, lungs, and abdomen, so you need something that ups the intensity for at least 15-30 minutes 3× a week: running, biking, tennis, etc. for older folks, swimming is really great since it's low impact. we generally all need both types of exercise (full body and more intense) to maintain fitness throughout our lives. some activities can fulfill both needs at the same time (i still play basketball for this very reason).

polishdude20 4y ago
"lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well." source?
- feet 4y ago
  Naturalmoms.com
nradov 4y ago
There's nothing wrong with walking, tai chi, and yoga but they're insufficient to build and maintain muscle mass for the elderly (or really even younger people). They need some resistance training as well. Muscle isolation exercises can cause imbalances if you don't know what you're doing which is why most people are better off doing compound functional movements. The other issue is that digestive systems become less effective at extracting protein as we age. So many elderly people ought to increase their protein intake to prevent muscle atrophy.
- clairity 4y ago
  right, i should have led earlier with (1) exercise your body (musculoskeletal) and (2) exercise your heart (cardiopulmonary), which is easier to digest and remember, as both are required for good physical fitness (you get digestive, lymphatic, endocrine, and other systemic benefits for free with this too). the combination of these two goals should naturally lead to exercise with enough resistiveness for whole-body fitness (like basketball) without having to focus on each system separately[0], as you do with weight training, which primarily focuses on muscle mass. compound athletic movements naturally approximate what we do with our bodies daily anyway, which is what makes it intrinsically more holistic. you're right that walking by itself is probably inadequate[1] for musculoskeletal fitness, but 60+% of americans would benefit from walking daily. add swimming/cycling a few times a week and you're done! the bigger point might be that good fitness doesn't require heavy equipment (ha) or a gym. [0]: note that pain is a natural feedback mechanism that tells you where the imbalances are, to stretch, exercise, and/or rest more in that area. [1]: it depends on what type of walking, yoga, or tai chi you're doing; for instance, competitive walking can be enough for some folks.
- hinkley 4y ago
  > but they're insufficient to build and maintain muscle mass for the elderly How much tai chi have you done? Yoga? I'd invite you to do a couple classes of either and see how much they do or don't kick your ass. Have you ever done static holds on the chin-up bar? Tai chi is static holds for 45+ minutes out of an hour and a half. My calves are bigger than when I was a cyclist, and my hams are granite. The first time I ever tried a plank, I held for 90 seconds. No gym, no situps, no crunches, just tai chi 90 minutes a week, plus walks and gardening.
  - Daishiman 4y ago
    Having dated a very competent yoga professor and knowing many very decent yogis, there's definitely a bunch of strength to it but even with my poor genetics and half-assed weight training I was definitely stronger and had an easier time doing yoga than they did lifting, by a substantial margin.
bamboozled 4y ago
lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well. Sounds like total cruft to me sorry. How would a full body exercise like a barbell squat do all of this ?
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  Barbell squats work some muscles more than others. If you do a lot more squats than opposing exercise, you will create imbalanced muscle strength over time. Of course if you run a careful program, you can make sure to work opposing muscle groups equally and avoid this. But the fact is that a lot of people who lift weights don’t run careful programs. Another factor is the elasticity of your muscles. If you don’t up your stretching efforts as you up your lifting, you risk trading range of movement for strength. Again—totally manageable but that doesn’t mean everyone does it.
  - Daishiman 4y ago
    What would be the natural, opposing movement of a barbell squat? Doing force in the inverse? That's a completely unnatural movement pattern. Standing up and carrying weight is about the most common denominator in human movement.
    - iroddis 4y ago
      If you break down the muscles involved, it’s not bad. Squats are quad, glute, and back dominant, so you would balance with exercises focused on hamstrings, hip flexors, and abs. Also, tons of stretching.
      - bamboozled 4y ago
        If executed properly, is a deep squat itself not a form of stretching?
      - Daishiman 4y ago
        A well executed squat uses hamstrings and abs a ton, unless you believe you don't need to have completely tight abs when squatting 1.5x your bodyweight.

polishdude20 4y ago

"lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well." source?

feet 4y ago
Naturalmoms.com

nradov 4y ago

There's nothing wrong with walking, tai chi, and yoga but they're insufficient to build and maintain muscle mass for the elderly (or really even younger people). They need some resistance training as well. Muscle isolation exercises can cause imbalances if you don't know what you're doing which is why most people are better off doing compound functional movements. The other issue is that digestive systems become less effective at extracting protein as we age. So many elderly people ought to increase their protein intake to prevent muscle atrophy.

clairity 4y ago
right, i should have led earlier with (1) exercise your body (musculoskeletal) and (2) exercise your heart (cardiopulmonary), which is easier to digest and remember, as both are required for good physical fitness (you get digestive, lymphatic, endocrine, and other systemic benefits for free with this too). the combination of these two goals should naturally lead to exercise with enough resistiveness for whole-body fitness (like basketball) without having to focus on each system separately[0], as you do with weight training, which primarily focuses on muscle mass. compound athletic movements naturally approximate what we do with our bodies daily anyway, which is what makes it intrinsically more holistic. you're right that walking by itself is probably inadequate[1] for musculoskeletal fitness, but 60+% of americans would benefit from walking daily. add swimming/cycling a few times a week and you're done! the bigger point might be that good fitness doesn't require heavy equipment (ha) or a gym. [0]: note that pain is a natural feedback mechanism that tells you where the imbalances are, to stretch, exercise, and/or rest more in that area. [1]: it depends on what type of walking, yoga, or tai chi you're doing; for instance, competitive walking can be enough for some folks.
hinkley 4y ago
> but they're insufficient to build and maintain muscle mass for the elderly How much tai chi have you done? Yoga? I'd invite you to do a couple classes of either and see how much they do or don't kick your ass. Have you ever done static holds on the chin-up bar? Tai chi is static holds for 45+ minutes out of an hour and a half. My calves are bigger than when I was a cyclist, and my hams are granite. The first time I ever tried a plank, I held for 90 seconds. No gym, no situps, no crunches, just tai chi 90 minutes a week, plus walks and gardening.
- Daishiman 4y ago
  Having dated a very competent yoga professor and knowing many very decent yogis, there's definitely a bunch of strength to it but even with my poor genetics and half-assed weight training I was definitely stronger and had an easier time doing yoga than they did lifting, by a substantial margin.

bamboozled 4y ago

lifting weights can distort the natural balance of muscles and ligaments around the body and can create strain-/break-points as well. Sounds like total cruft to me sorry. How would a full body exercise like a barbell squat do all of this ?

snowwrestler 4y ago
Barbell squats work some muscles more than others. If you do a lot more squats than opposing exercise, you will create imbalanced muscle strength over time. Of course if you run a careful program, you can make sure to work opposing muscle groups equally and avoid this. But the fact is that a lot of people who lift weights don’t run careful programs. Another factor is the elasticity of your muscles. If you don’t up your stretching efforts as you up your lifting, you risk trading range of movement for strength. Again—totally manageable but that doesn’t mean everyone does it.
- Daishiman 4y ago
  What would be the natural, opposing movement of a barbell squat? Doing force in the inverse? That's a completely unnatural movement pattern. Standing up and carrying weight is about the most common denominator in human movement.
  - iroddis 4y ago
    If you break down the muscles involved, it’s not bad. Squats are quad, glute, and back dominant, so you would balance with exercises focused on hamstrings, hip flexors, and abs. Also, tons of stretching.
    - bamboozled 4y ago
      If executed properly, is a deep squat itself not a form of stretching?
    - Daishiman 4y ago
      A well executed squat uses hamstrings and abs a ton, unless you believe you don't need to have completely tight abs when squatting 1.5x your bodyweight.