Researchers have discovered an exercise that all older people should be doing

Lifting heavy weights during retirement could maintain leg strength well into old age, research suggests. People naturally lose muscle function as they age, and experts see declining leg strength as a strong predictor of death in the elderly.

Previous short-term studies have shown that resistance training, which may involve weights, body weight or resistance bands, can help prevent this. New research has explored the long-term effects of a year-long supervised resistance training program using heavy weights.

For the study, 451 people of retirement age were randomly assigned to undergo one year of intense resistance training, one year of moderate-intensity training, or one year of no additional exercise in addition to their usual activity. People in the weight group lifted heavy weights three times a week, while those doing moderate-intensity exercise did circuits including bodyweight exercises and resistance bands three times a week.

Each exercise in the high-weight group involved three sets of six to 12 repetitions at between 70% and 85% of the maximum weight the person could lift for one repetition. Bone and muscle strength and body fat levels were measured at the start of the research and then again after one, two and four years.

At four years, complete results were available for 369 people. They showed that those in the high-weight group maintained their leg strength over time, while those who did no or moderate-intensity exercise lost strength.

Writing in the journal BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, the researchers concluded: “In well-functioning older adults of retirement age, one year of intense resistance training can induce long-lasting beneficial effects by preserving muscle function.”

The researchers found, however, that there was no difference between the three groups in leg extensor strength, which is the ability to hit a pedal as hard and as fast as possible; grip strength (a measure of overall strength) and leg lean mass (weight minus body fat), with decreases in all of these.

When looking at the visceral fat stored internally around the organs, levels remained the same in the heavy-weight resistance training and moderate-intensity exercise groups, but increased in the no-exercise group. The authors, including from the University of Copenhagen, said the people in the study were generally more active (taking an average of nearly 10,000 steps a day) than the population as a whole.

But they concluded: “This study provides evidence that heavy-duty resistance training in retirement age can have long-term effects over many years. The results therefore provide practitioners and policy makers with means to encourage older people to engage in heavy resistance training.”

People at the end of the study were 71 years old on average, and 61 percent were women.