Title: Why Lifting Weights Can Be So Potent for Aging Well - The New York Times
Headings: Why Lifting Weights Can Be So Potent for Aging Well
Why Lifting Weights Can Be So Potent for Aging Well
How to Get Strong

Content: These volunteers were all between the ages of 65 and 75 and, like many Finns, healthy and physically active. But they did not lift weights. For the full study, they began a twice-weekly program of supervised, full-body resistance training at the university to familiarize participants with proper technique and build a base of strength. After three months, the group was randomly assigned to continue training once, twice or three times a week, while a separate, untrained group served as controls. Periodically, the researchers checked the volunteers’ strength, fitness and metabolic health, and also their attitudes about the workouts, including whether they found them daunting or inviting and how difficult it was for the volunteers to find the time and resolve to show up. This routine lasted for six months, by which time the people lifting weights had almost all gained strength and improved various markers of their health, even if they had lifted only once a week. But then, after the months of supervised lifting, the exercisers abruptly were on their own. The researchers explained that they could no longer have access to the university facilities and provided them with information about low-cost, suitable gyms in the area. But any subsequent training would be at their own volition. The researchers waited six months and then contacted the volunteers to see who was still lifting and how often.