Here’s an excerpt from the book “The Barbell Prescription”
written by Jonathan M. Sullivan, a medical doctor and PhD. It really got my attention.
Strength training can slow, arrest, or even reverse many of
the degenerative effects of aging: loss
of muscle and strength, brittle bones, floppy ligaments, frozen joints, and the
decline of mobility and balance.
In the past, war, famine, and infectious diseases were the scourge
of mankind. Today the main killers are
cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Cancer runs second, while diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and respiratory
diseases bring up the rear. When
infectious diseases do kill us, they tend to do so at the extremes of age and
ill health.
A tragic manifestation of modern aging is the 65 year-old
nursing home pretzel: diapered, immobile, sore ridden, tube fed, chronically dehydrated,
kept alive until the insurance stops paying off, and finally allowed to die to
open up the bed for a more lucrative replacement.
This obscenity is perpetuated by modern medicine’s ability
to keep dead people breathing.
Me? I have no intention of going quietly. I am committed to growing older with as much
strength, vigor, and function as I possibly can.
Lifting weights at any age has its rewards, but after 50 it can literally change your life. The prescription for stiff joints, sore backs, and sleeping trouble is lifting weights. Pumping iron can increase bone density, reverse osteroporosis,and raise testosterone in older men!
Strength training (lifting weights) has long been thought of
as the domain of burly young men. Sure,
a 22 year old bodybuilder can train a lot harder than a 60 year old
grandmother, and he might even look better with his shirt off. But the 60 year old needs to train in a way
that Gym Bro cannot begin to
fathom. The 22 year old is pumping iron
to look good on the beach. The older
person is engaged in a death match for existence, fighting to hang on to tissue,
mobility, independence, and years of quality living.
In my remaining years I want to be active, in shape, continue gardening, throw my cast net like a boss, jog on the beach, lift heavy things, live as productively as possible, and passionately pursuing the things that mean the most to me. I want to run my race well and cross the finish line strongly.
Dr. Sullivan says, “Exercise is the most powerful medicine
in the world. No drug in the world will
ever match the power of exercise medicine.
Not drug in the world will ever confer so many beneficial effects to so
many organ systems, at so little cost, with so few side effects.”
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