Increasing muscle power by lifting weights would have positive effects on life expectancy.
To live longer, lift cast iron!
This is, in essence, the conclusion of a new study conducted by Brazilian researchers, and presented in mid-April at Europrevent 2019, the congress of the European Society of Cardiology which took place in Lisbon. According to its authors, increasing one’s muscular power would make it possible to lengthen one’s life expectancy. But you still have to focus on the right exercises…
“Getting up from a chair in old age and kicking a ball is more about muscle power than muscle strength, but most weight-bearing exercises focus on the latter,” says the professor. Claudio Gil Araújo, director of research and education at Clinimex, a sports medicine clinic located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Our study shows for the first time that people with more muscle power tend to live longer.”
A muscular power that must be maintained
According to the authors of the study, it is important to differentiate strength and muscle power. This is based on two elements: force and speed, which are generated during the coordination of movements. For example, lifting a weight once requires strength, but lifting it several times as quickly as possible requires power. Climbing stairs also requires power, while holding or pushing a heavy object (for example a car when the battery is flat) on the contrary requires strength.
“Power training is done by finding the best combination of speed and weight to lift or move. For strength training in the gym, most people just think about the amount of weight lifted and the number of repetitions without paying attention to the speed of execution. But for optimal power training results, you should go beyond typical strength training and add speed to your weight lifts,” continues the professor. Araujo.
This muscle power gradually decreases with age, especially after 40 years. According to the authors, this loss of muscle power is strongly linked to all-cause mortality. However, it is possible to have a better survival rate by maintaining this muscle power.
A risk of death 10 to 13 times higher
To study this correlation between muscle power and life expectancy, the researchers recruited 3,878 non-athletes aged 41 to 85 who were tested for maximum muscle power by doing an overhead pull-up exercise between 2001 and 2016.
The researchers determined each participant’s peak muscle power by taking the highest value they achieved in two or three weight-increasing attempts and then calculating the energy effort per kilogram of weight.
They then separated the participants into quartiles based on their peak muscle power, the low quartile versus the high quartile. They also analyzed the participants separately based on their gender.
The team followed the participants for an average of six and a half years after this initial measurement, during which time 247 men and 75 women died. Researchers found that people with muscle power above the median for their sex had higher survival rates than those in lower quartiles.
In detail, the researchers found that participants in the first quartile had a 10 to 13 times higher risk of death than those in quartiles three and four, while the risk of participants in the second quartile was still four to five times higher. .
According to Professor Araújo, this is the first study to look specifically at the link between muscle power and life expectancy. Other works have instead highlighted the benefits of increased muscle strength to live longer.
Now, scientists’ research is focusing on the link between muscle power and specific causes of death, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. “Doctors should consider measuring their patients’ muscle power and advising them to exercise more,” recommends the professor.
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