Benefit One: Avoid Muscle Loss
Adults who don’t strength train lose between 5-7 pounds of muscle every decade. Although endurance exercise improves our cardiovascular fitness, it does not prevent the loss of muscle tissue. Only strength exercise maintains our muscle mass and strength throughout our mid-life and senior years.

Benefit Two: Avoid Metabolic Rate Reduction
Because muscle is very active tissue, muscle loss is accompanied by a reduction in our resting metabolism. Information from Tufts University indicates that the average adult experiences a 2-5 percent reduction in metabolic rate during every decade of life. Because regular strength exercise prevents muscle loss, it also prevents the accompanying decrease in resting metabolic rate.

Benefit Three: Increase Muscle Mass
Because most adults do not perform strength exercise, they need to first replace the muscle tissue that has been lost through inactivity. Fortunately, research from the South Shore YMCA shows that a standard strength-training program can increase muscle mass by about three pounds over an eight-week training period. This is the typical training response for men and women who do 25 minutes of strength exercise two or three days per week, and represents an excellent return on a time-efficient investment.

Benefit Four: Increase Metabolic Rate
Research from Tufts University and the University of Maryland reveals that adding three pounds of muscle increases our resting metabolic rate by seven percent, and our daily calorie requirements by 15 percent. At rest, a pound of muscle requires about 35 calories per day for tissue maintenance. During exercise, muscle energy utilization increases dramatically. Adults who replace muscle through sensible strength exercise use more calories all day long, thereby reducing the likelihood of fat accumulation.

Benefit Five: Reduce Body Fat
Campbell and his co-workers at Tufts found that strength exercise produced four pounds of fat loss after three months of training, even though the subjects were eating 15 percent more calories per day. That is, a basic strength-training program resulted in 3 pounds more lean weight, 4 pounds less fat weight and 370 more calories per day food intake.

Benefit Six: Increase Bone Mineral Density
The effects of progressive resistance exercise are similar for muscle tissue and bone tissue. The same training stimulus that increases muscle proteins also increases bone proteins and mineral content. A University of Maryland study demonstrated significant increases in the bone mineral density of the femur bone (upper leg) after four months of strength exercise.

Benefit Seven: Improve Glucose Metabolism
The University of Maryland research center has also reported a 23 percent increase in glucose utilization after four months of strength training. Because poor glucose metabolism is associated with adult onset diabetes, improved glucose metabolism is an important benefit of regular strength exercise.

Benefit Eight: Increase Gastrointestinal Transit Speed
Another study at the University of Maryland showed a 56 percent increase in gastrointestinal transit speed after three months of strength training. This is a significant finding due to the fact that delayed gastrointestinal transit time is related to a higher risk of colon cancer.

Benefit Nine: Reduce Resting Blood Pressure
Strength training alone has been shown to significantly reduce resting blood pressure. Our YMCA studies have revealed that strength plus aerobic exercise is highly effective for improving blood pressure readings. After two months of combined exercise (Nautilus and treadmill walking), the program participants dropped their systolic blood pressure by 4 mm Hg. and their diastolic blood pressure by 3 mm Hg.

Benefit Ten: Improve Blood Lipid Levels
Although the effects of strength training on blood lipid levels needs further research, at least two studies from excellent universities have revealed improved blood lipid profiles after several weeks of strength exercise. It is important to note that improvements in blood lipid levels are similar for both endurance and strength exercise.

Benefit Eleven: Reduce Low Back Pain
Several years of research on strength training and back pain conducted at the University of Florida Medical School has shown that strong low-back muscles are less likely to be injured low-back muscles. A recent study by at the University of Florida found that low-back patients had significantly less back pain after 10 weeks of specific (full-range) strength exercise for the lumbar spine muscles. Because 80 percent of all Americans experience low back problems, it is advisable for all adults to properly strengthen their low back muscles.

Benefit Twelve: Reduce Arthritic Pain
According to a recent edition of the Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter, sensible strength training eases the pain of osteo and rheumatoid arthritis. This is good news, because most men and women who suffer from arthritic pain need strength exercise to develop stronger muscles, bones and connective tissue to improve joint function.

Benefit Thirteen: Reduce Depression
A Harvard University study found that seriously depressed seniors responded most favorably to a basic program of strength exercise. After 10 weeks of strength training, 87 percent of the program participants no longer met the criteria for clinical depression, even though they received no other treatment. Apparently, increasing muscle strength and physical functionality is highly effective for improving emotional states in previously depressed senior men and women.

Summary of Strength Training Benefits
There are 13 physiological reasons why older adults should perform regular strength exercise. On a more basic level, it is important to realize that proper strength training may help us look better, feel better and function better. Understand that our skeletal muscles serve as the engine, chassis and shock absorbers of our bodies. Consequently, strength training is an effective means for increasing our physical capacity, improving our athletic performance, reducing our injury risk, enhancing our personal appearance and improving our self-confidence.

Used with permission from Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D. the Fitness Research Director at the South Shore YMCA and author of 15 fitness books, including Strength Training Past 50 and Strength Training for Seniors.

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When you exercise, your body pulls glycogen from the muscles. Glycogen is your body’s storage form of glucose or sugar, which is the primary fuel for exercise depending on the type and the intensity level. If you workout at a higher intensity or are involved in anaerobic exercise (short, powerful bursts of energy such as strength training or certain sports), then your body primarily uses glycogen for energy. If you are involved in low or moderate intensity exercise, your body will use fat along with glycogen for energy. Once you are done exercising, you must replete the glycogen. If you don’t, you won’t have enough energy to do your next workout or the one after that. Or maybe you will but your performance will be less than ideal and you won’t last as long as you might usually do. So bottom line, you must replete that glycogen!

You have a window of opportunity to replete glycogen and ideally it’s within 30 minutes. Within that 30 minutes when you finish exercising, you should have a snack that is comprised of carbohydrate and protein. Ideally you don’t want carbohydrate that is full of fiber because fiber slows digestion. You actually want the carbs to be digested rather quickly so they get to your muscles. Protein is important to include as it helps your body digest the carbs and it allows your muscles to absorb the glucose for storage.

A client of mine came to me with 2 goals. She told me that she wanted to win races (she’s a triathlete) and she wanted to lose some weight. One catch though….she wanted to keep her Starbucks skim caramel macchiato in her diet. When it comes to weight loss, that might be something that would need to be cut out more frequently than she would have liked. However because she already exercises regularly, I encouraged her that the ideal time to include the Starbucks coffee would be right after her workouts. It includes carbohydrate from the syrup and protein from the milk. Of course there are other snacks that are of better quality nutrition however keeping this coffee in her diet is extremely important to her. So we made it work to her benefit. If you like to eat foods that contain a lot of simple sugar, the best time to do that would be after a workout. You still need to control the portion size however make consumption of these foods work to your advantage. For example, if you like to eat chocolate, have 1 or 2 small pieces along with some milk as your post workout snack.

A few other suggestions for snacks include: a glass of chocolate milk, cottage cheese and fruit, a cup of yogurt, a toasted bagel with slices of cheese on top, a sandwich with turkey and cheese, or a piece of fruit and a glass of milk. Of course these are just a few suggestions. Think about what you like to eat and be sure to get a combination of carbohydrate and protein after your workouts to reward your muscles for their hard work. You’ll notice the difference in your strength and muscle tone for eating a proper snack after exercising.

Chris here again. Thanks Stephanie for contributing this piece! I’m especially in favor of the glass of chocolate milk after a workout. Next to crab legs, that’s my second favorite thing on the planet as far as food goes. Stephanie is the dietician I have chosen to work with (after years of looking) for S.P.A.R.T.A.’s nutrition program. Her website is SMull Nutrition. Current S.P.A.R.T.A. clients ask your trainer about how to set up your initial meeting with Stephanie to get on a guaranteed results nutrition regimen!

First and foremost, fat loss requires a calorie deficit. What does this mean? It means that we have to figure out how many calories your body needs to maintain your weight. You can use a formula based on your height, weight, age, and sex to determine this number, but a better way is to perform an accurate metabolic test using the Body Gem. Ask a S.P.A.R.T.A. trainer about how to set one up. From that number, we can determine exactly how many calories you need to LOSE fat. In the short run, this is the one and only thing that matters in terms of fat loss. These calories can come from anywhere as long as they are within your limit. It could be pure chocolate, but if an average size woman ate about 1400 calories of it, she would most definitely lose fat. Obviously, not the best nutritional thing to do, but calories are how your metabolism is measured and it doesn’t matter where they come from. If you put your body in a deficit, your body has to use its stores (fat) to make up the difference and keep you alive assuming you are not too low and in shut down mode.

Step 2.

Get some of each of the food stuffs at each meal and snack. Now we get into a little more detail and a little more long term effects. There is a lot of talk lately about Carbs causing an insulin spike and triggering fat storage, etc. That’s all true, but it’s a half truth. As long as there are not too many calories and you have a nice mix of some good carbohydrates like whole grains (containing fiber too), some lean proteins, and some good fats, you will slow digestion and hold off an insulin surge. You will also feel more full for a longer time. A mix of anywhere from 40-30-30 to 60-20-20 is acceptable. But, don’t get hung up on percentages. The simpler, the better. If you are going to track anything closely, make it where it will count most, the calories. The good carbohydrates should be the slight majority and about equal amounts of protein and fat. Not equal in volume, but calories. Fat has more than twice as many calories per gram than protein or carbohydrate. Just a dash of an oil can be equal to a few ounces of lean meat. Or if you have an oily fish like Salmon, you may kill two birds with one stone and get your protein and good fats in one shot. Couple that with some good carbohydrate and/or some veggie, and you have a meal. It’s the same thing with snacks, a small handful of something like peanuts has good vegetable protein, nut oils, carbohydrates, and fiber to boot. It’s a perfect snack in its own package.

Step 3.

Lastly, eat a variety. You don’t want to eat exactly the same thing every day. You will have your preferences that you like, but you should not consume the same regimented meals every single day. If you do that, you leave yourself open for nutritional deficiencies. If you follow my 3 steps here, you should be reasonably nutritionally sound and supplementation really isn’t much of an issue. I might suggest a multi-vitamin for insurance purposes to fill any gaps, but that’s about it besides taking fish oil for its numerous benefits on every cell in the body.

I’ve had my most success with this simple 3 step approach with many of my one on one clients. Some have lost 60-70lbs using this simple strategy. Once you know these principles, you should feel empowered that you now have the knowledge to control your body weight throughout your life. In the long term, we might need to go into a little more detail about metabolism if you lose a significant amount of fat like that. That is something any S.P.A.R.T.A. trainer would be happy to discuss with you. Feel free to use the “ask a trainer” feature on our website. Of course, in addition, it is absolutely critical that you do some proper resistance training to at least maintain your lean body tissues to preserve your metabolism. If you lose those, your metabolism will be lower than if you had done nothing at all. More information about nutrition and testing your metabolism.