Strength Training is Just as Effective for 85-year-olds as it is 65-year-olds: Brand New Study

Over the next three decades, the global population of adults over the age of 80 is projected to triple.  Aging is associated with a progressive loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia), muscle strength, and functional capacity; collectively, our ability to perform activities of daily living and quality of life are severely diminished.  It’s not an overstatement to suggest that our quality of life beyond age 80 is predominantly determined by our muscle strength.  Not our flexibility, general fitness, or mobility… our muscle strength.  This week, the most significant research study published in years on the topic of strength training and aging was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and provides breakthroughs in our understanding of the impact of strength training on older adults. 

Researchers sought to understand how adults aged 65-75 respond to strength training differently than adults who are over the age of 85.  For years, our collective understanding is that although adults 85+ can get stronger and enhance their quality of life, they appear to struggle to increase muscle mass to the same degree as those aged 65-75. 

Researchers trained a group of 65-75-year-old adults and a group of 85+ adults through 12 weeks of a high-intensity resistance training program.

The results?  The 85+ group added just as much muscle size, strength, and functional ability when compared to the 65-75 group. 

Researchers concluded, “These findings clearly show that such an advanced age per se does not limit the adaptive response to resistance exercise training… As such, high-intensity resistance exercise training represents an effective treatment regimen to optimize muscular fitness independent of age.  We strongly advocate that resistance exercise training should be promoted without restriction to support more active, healthy aging, including people over 85 years.”

Take home message: Resistance training (not exercise or physical activity) is the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth.