RESISTANCE TRAINING IS MEDICINE

Not long ago, the muscle-building activity known as weight training was generally considered to be the domain of exceptionally strong men who competed in sports such as powerlifting, and Olympic lifting. It was obvious that these athletes required high levels of strength and muscularity to excel in their chosen sport and that their physiques responded favorably to heavy resistance training.

Typically, other athletes and individuals saw no reason to engage in weight training and felt that lifting weights actually would hinder their athletic performance, rather than enhance it. What we now know is the opposite.

Typically, adults who do not participate in strength training exercise, 2 to 3 times a week can experience an 8% to 10% loss of muscle mass per decade, accompanied by resting metabolic rate reduction and fat accumulation.

Ten weeks of strength training has been shown to increase lean weight by 1.4 kg, increasing resting metabolic rate by 7%, and reducing body fat by 1.8 kg.

Benefits of strength training include improved physical performance, movement control, walking speed, functional independence, cognitive abilities, and self-esteem.

Strength training has also been shown to assist with prevention and management of type 2 diabetes by decreasing visceral fat, reducing HbA1c, increasing the density of glucose transporter type 4, and improving insulin sensitivity.

Strength training also enhances cardiovascular health, by reducing resting blood pressure, decreasing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, and increasing

high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Studies have shown a 1% to 3% increase in bone

mineral density as well as reducing low back pain and easing discomfort associated with arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Reversing Muscle Loss

Numerous studies have demonstrated that relatively brief sessions of regular resistance training (two or three non-consecutive days per week) can increase muscle mass in adults of all ages through to the 10th decade of life and many of these studies showed lean weight gains of about 1.4 kg following approximately 3 months of resistance training.

A representative large-scale study with more than 1,600 participants between the ages of 21 and 80 years revealed a mean lean weight increase of 1.4 kg after 10 weeks of resistance training, incorporating 12 total exercise sets per session.

Strength training stimulates increased muscle protein turnover and actually has a dual impact on resting metabolic rate. First, as a chronic response, strength training results in greater muscle mass that necessitates more energy at rest for ongoing tissue maintenance.

A 1.0-kg increase in muscle tissue raises resting metabolic rate by approximately 7% and as an acute response, resistance training causes tissue micro trauma that requires

relatively large amounts of energy for muscle remodelling processes that may persist for 72 hours after the training session.

---

Resistance Training is medicine – Wayne L. Westcotte PhD

Copyright – American College of Sports Medicine