Strength Training & your Health

Strength or resistance training does more than increase your muscle mass and improve aesthetics it is a powerful prescription for improved health all on its own. Let's look at the tip of the evidence iceberg for some inspiration.

Obesity fighter

Healthy men who did twenty minutes of daily weight training had less of an increase in age-related abdominal fat compared with men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic activities, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers and colleagues. Combining weight training and aerobic activity led to the most optimal results. This study underscores the importance of weight training in reducing abdominal obesity, especially among the elderly.

Blood pressure & cholesterol

2013 research in the Journal of Applied Physiology demonstrates that young men who regularly strength train have better-functioning HDL (high density lipoprotein), or good cholesterol, compared with those who never lift weights. Strength training improves blood pressure and triglyceride levels similarly to cardiovascular exercise, but it has even greater benefits on HDL. HDL has a number of key roles; it reduces, reuses, and recycles LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol by transporting it to the liver where it can be reprocessed.

Test results from your GP

A cholesterol test or lipid panel tells the level of HDL cholesterol. What do the numbers mean?

• HDL cholesterol levels greater than 60 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) are high. That's good.
• HDL cholesterol levels less than 40 mg/dL are low. That's not so good.

In general, people with high HDL are at lower risk for heart disease. People with low HDL are at higher risk.

Pushing back the pre-diabetes tide

A 2013 review published in the Journal of  BioMed Research International shows that, in addition to building muscle, strength training also improves the muscle's ability to take in and use glucose, or blood sugar. Strength training improves the functioning of specialist transporter cells to pick up a lot more glucose from the blood and shift it into muscle, thereby decreasing blood sugar levels.

One clinical significance of this GLUC reduction is related to glucotoxicity, a phenomenon that when associated with increased intracellular fat, can augment the production of reactive oxygen species (often known as free radicals) . Daily chronic or intermittent hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, and other factors  can encourage structural and functional impairments to pancreatic beta cells and insulin-related tissues. In a pivotal study by Moreira et.al, (2012), GLUC analysis from a clinical resistance exercise RE circuit (8.3 minutes of exercise)it was revealed that RE at a low or moderate intensity can be protective against the deleterious effects of glucotoxicity.

The exercise physiologists in this study recommend a prescription RE circuit consisting of 3 sets of 6 exercises with 15 or 30 repetitions each at an intensity of either 45 or 25% 1RM, respectively. The recovery between exercises would be between 20 and 40 seconds in which the participant should change the exercise, and the muscle groups involved would be the large ones and exercise would be performed alternating them.

Getting a Grip

When you meet up with us for the first time you will be assessed using a hand dynamometer to ascertain grip strength. We use this as a key benchmark measure and re-test you with it on a 90 day cycle. Why?  Research published in The Lancet, by Leong et.al (2015),   shows that grip strength (a marker for total-body muscle health) more accurately predicts death from heart disease than blood pressure does. This landmark finding has triggered widespread research into the role of strength training in reducing mortality and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Everything we do at FFS is about improving your health and wellbeing based on evidence and shared learning. Strength training is a crucial component of your program.

References

Leong, D. P., Teo, K. K., Rangarajan, S., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Avezum, A., Jr, Orlandini, A., Seron, P., Ahmed, S. H., Rosengren, A., Kelishadi, R., Rahman, O., Swaminathan, S., Iqbal, R., Gupta, R., Lear, S. A., Oguz, A., Yusoff, K., Zatonska, K., Chifamba, J., … Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) Study investigators. (2015). Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. The Lancet, 386(9990), 266–273.

Moreira, S. R., Simões, G. C., Moraes, J. F. V. N., Motta, D. F., Campbell, C. S. G., & Simões, H. G. (2012). Blood glucose control for individuals with type-2 diabetes: acute effects of resistance exercise of lower cardiovascular-metabolic stress. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research / National Strength & Conditioning Association, 26(10), 2806–2811.