Heavy Weightlifting Maintained Older People’s Long-Term Strength

https://reurl.cc/oRlORq

Emily Harris

Article Information

JAMA. Published online July 12, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.12234

People who participated in a year-long intensive strength-training program maintained their leg strength over 4 years, while those who engaged in less-intensive resistance training or no training at all experienced a decline in strength, according to a recent randomized clinical trial involving 369 participants in Denmark with an average age of 71 years.

The heavy resistance training group performed machine-based exercises close to maximum capacity 3 times weekly, and the moderate resistance training group engaged in body weight and resistance band exercises for the same number of sessions. There was no difference between groups in handgrip strength—an indicator of overall muscle strength.

The results suggest that health care professionals should encourage older people to engage in heavy resistance training, the researchers noted in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

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Article Information

Published Online: July 12, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.12234