Exercise physiologist and personal trainer Courtney McCormack works at Salus Strength, a small Auckland gym where the focus is on high-intensity, low-volume strength training. A lot of her clients are older people looking to preserve or develop their strength to ensure a longer, more active life. McCormack shares seven basic truths about movement in middle-age and beyond, and explains how to fit it into your life, without drama.
1. Improved body strength can lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
The correlation between a strong body and a sharp mind isn’t just anecdotal – Courtney McCormack points to a UK Biobank study of 148,659 older adults which measured their grip strength.
“Grip strength is a simplistic but helpful over-arching gauge of total body strength,” she says. “And the study showed that people in the highest third of grip strength had a 31% lower risk of developing dementia and a 26% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
And the really good news? It’s never too late.
2. You can start right now
Think you’re too old to build muscle? Think again. “It really doesn’t matter what age you are. You will get benefits if you start exercising,” says McCormack.
“A lot of people have the mindset that ‘oh, it’s too late for me. I should have started 20 years ago when I was 50 or when I was 20, but actually, the science and the research coming out shows that whatever your age or physical condition, you can still do some form of exercise that’s going to improve your mind, improve your body, and give you better outcomes in life.”
3. Epic workouts are not required
Most people know that they can up their quota of aerobic exercise with a brisk walk or vigorous bout of vacuuming. But when it comes to resistance training, people often assume they need to join a gym or, at the very least, buy expensive home equipment.
McCormack says neither is required. “Resistance exercise is literally anything that will challenge the muscles to do more than they do currently,” she says.
The internet is rife with sites illustrating simple exercises that older adults can do at home using nothing other than their own body weight. Look for trustworthy sites with solid medical or sports affiliations.
Later, if you want to add some basic equipment, you could purchase a pair of 5kg or 10kg dumbbells and some elastic exercise bands, says McCormack. And again, the internet can show you how to use them.
She recommends working out at home for about half an hour, two or three times a week, maximum. “And just make sure you're pushing your muscles to the point of almost failure,” she says. “Aim for fatigue and a total body workout, using all your main muscle groups. But it really doesn’t have to be a daily thing.”
4. Muscles really matter
While aerobic exercise like walking, running, swimming or dancing is great (and is also proven to enhance mental capacity), a particularly powerful link has emerged between resistance exercise and the brain.
"Your attention, memory, problem solving, decision making – all those things are improved, when you get stronger.” says McCormack.
She points to another UK study in which155 older women engaged in 52 weeks of resistance training, just once or twice weekly. It was found that the exercise had an ongoing positive impact on their brain health, even a year after the exercise had ceased. The improvements were in executive function, memory and even brain structure, with reduced atrophy of cortical white matter – the part of the brain that, among other useful roles, helps to coordinate complex thought.
And then there are the many benefits below the neck.
“Not only does resistance training maintain muscle mass – which is great, the aerobic training can't do that – it reduces the risk of osteopenia (low bone mineral density) and sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle mass),” says McCormack.
Both resistance and aerobic training are also helpful in reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes. And aerobic training is particularly good for the lungs and the heart.
“So ideally,” says McCormack “People will do a combination of both.”
5. Future you will thank you
In our younger decades, we might think of exercise in terms of impressive achievements (long runs, advanced yoga poses) or optics (a sculpted stomach). There’s nothing wrong with those incentives, except that they’re all too easy for an older person, who’s made peace with their gradually waning strength and softening outlines, to dismiss.
But really, in your 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond, you have a much more powerful reason to get off the couch.
“We have plenty of clients over 60, and it's all about preserving their function,” says McCormack. “They often have their own personal goals, like wanting to lose some stomach fat, and that’s fine too. But the main thing for us is: Can they get off the floor? Can they play with and lift their grandkids? Can they carry their groceries upstairs?”
Fast forward another decade or two and the questions are even more essential: Can you raise yourself from a chair? Can you get out of bed in the night and lower yourself onto a toilet?
6. Strength training can actually reverse some forms of aging
McCormack gives a recent example of the power of resistance training. A client who'd been diagnosed with osteoporosis was, after several months of regular training, able to downgrade her diagnosis to one of the lesser osteopenia. “She improved her bone mineral density, and she's also got less back pain now, as a result."
For McCormack, seeing clients reduce pain and disease is a joy she shares with her boss and mentor Kyra Seiler. "She's shaped my focus on helping people live better, more independent lives for longer.
“We always see improvements in our clients, no matter how old they are when they start. With clients in their late 60s and 70s, some of them might have ailments, but they're still getting stronger. We just work around any injury they might have, whether it be a hip replacement or a bad knee; you can still build strength around it and possibly even improve their pain scores."
“We have one guy in his 60s who says he feels 21.”
7. Exercise makes you happy
Most of us have heard that running or walking helps release feel-good endorphins. But resistance training has an equally positive effect on lifting mood.
“And the higher the intensity of the workout, the more of an effect you get,” says McCormack.
“You get the release of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and even some adrenaline. So it's really mood boosting, and we see that in our clients. They come in, they feel a bit moody, a bit down. And then they leave the session and they’re really sprightly. Like, ‘Bye! Have a good day!’
"It's an immediate effect.”
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