Analysis: Why Don’t More People Strength Train?

Within 24 hours, I had four conversations around the same theme.

Convo #1: A MOB member, Katie, told me about one of her friends who recently tore her achilles playing pickleball, a newly acquired hobby. (True story, this is the 3rd person I’ve heard about in the past year getting a terrible injury from casually picking up pickleball). Katie has been trying to get this friend to participate in more than pilates and walking for some time, explaining the specificity of strength training needed as we get older because of the conditioning that we lose over time (like jumping and changing directions quickly).

Convo #2: My 60 year old client Jillian and I were chatting about her progress over the years, so much so that her friends remark at her ability to squat and dance when she goes out. She’s trying to get her friend to hop on the strength training wagon and told me (as she was hanging on some rings), “People just don’t realize it’s all those small movements that you lose with age.”

Convo #3: A family member was interested in my current 6 Week Wrist Strength Program because he has some thumb side wrist pain. He currently isn’t able to lay his palms flat on the ground and doesn’t feel comfortable bearing weight on them. I offered to send him a recording of the first class to see what it’s like. He reported back that it looked interesting but none of the exercises seemed to directly apply to his specific wrist issue. He said, “I’m not sure if this has much use for me.” He didn't think general wrist strength and mobility would be relevant to his needs, even though his wrists can't extend fully or weight bear on the ground.

Convo #4: A new client, Chris, was referred to me by his daughter for general strength and mobility work. When his daughter asked him how his first session went, among the things he reported back was, “I’m not sure why I need to be able to get down and up off the floor without my hands.” I clearly didn't communicate well enough why we want to be mobile and strong beyond our current needs to increase the margins of our vocabulary. This is the ​One Rep Max Living idea I wrote about 2 months ago​.

These were all incredibly useful conversations for me. I live in a bubble where I’m surrounded by like minded professionals in my social circle, in my inbox and on social media who think similarly to me and who understand and promote the necessity of strength training as a foundational element of health (in the same categories as sleep, and nutrition). After these conversations, I was sort of dumbfounded. I thought, “OH. There’s still so much work to do to spread the word about strength training. Especially for older adults. People still don't understand how it can impact their daily lives.” And I started to wonder about the disconnect and why this is still not getting the weight it deserves in people’s minds. I came up with two theories.

But first, what is strength training? For the purposes of this post, strength training is training in such a way that the stimulus you provide necessitates a positive adaptation of your musculoskeletal system, resulting in neurological and hypertrophic strength (ie the brain to muscle connection and the muscle tissue itself get stronger).

Theory 1: In society and media and in healthcare, we regularly hear talk about the big three: sleep, food, exercise. But exercise is a MASSIVE category. Some people are getting 10,000 steps a day and checking off the exercise box. Others are taking 2 pilates classes a week and checking off the same exercise box. Some are doing a weekly hot yoga class and checking off the exercise box. Yes, those are all considered exercise, but they’re not strength training! And while they all have amazing benefits, the benefits of strength training go so far above and beyond any other exercise category that it deserves to be on par with sleep and nutrition. I’m not demonizing any of those forms of exercise, but I do encourage them to be done in addition to strength training because those modalities aren’t going to create the same strength adaptations we’re looking for in terms of musculoskeletal health in the long run. We haven’t even talked about mobility 🤦🏻‍♀️ but I will lump mobility training with strength for the time being.

Theory 2: People think they can still do now what they did 20 years ago even though they haven’t tried doing it in 20 years. I see this all the time. Clients who start trying to jump again who are shocked at how hard it is and thoroughly confused. Use it or lose it couldn’t be a more pervasive phenomenon for the human body. If you don’t use your strength and your mobility, you will eventually lose it and lose the ability to do certain movements and activities as a result.

“But wait,” you say. “I’m 62 and I can still jump. See? I just did it. I’m fine.” That’s great! But can you jump well enough to pick up a new sport? To run after your grandkids in the street? To catch the bus that’s about to leave the station? Jumping once isn’t the same as the physical requirements for all three of the above scenarios. The speed, agility, strength, and coordination needed is vastly different than being able to jump one time on a whim.

“But wait,” you say. “I’m 75. Who cares about jumping? I have no problem climbing the stairs regularly in my apartment, I don’t know why I need to strengthen my legs. I’m using it, so I’m not going to lose it.” That’s totally logical. Unless you have severe limited mobility issues or are experiencing chronic pain that interferes with your ability to live your daily life, you’re probably moving about day to day feeling great! And that’s amazing, and you are lucky to be moving well and pain free. But unfortunately, there’s a big caveat because physiology still stands. If you’re not actively strengthening your movements beyond what you can already do, you’re not adapting for strength. And if you’re not adapting for strength, you’re actually losing strength. After 30 years of age, we lose 3-8% of muscle mass every year and the numbers are higher after 60 years. You have to actively strengthen your skeletal muscle, because otherwise you’re naturally slowly losing it. I know it’s grim. But this hard reality comes with very well researched and approachable solutions! (Hint: strength training).

But wait, you say. “I’m 55 and young. I get on the bike every day for 45 minutes and my legs have gotten so much stronger. It’s actually easier to climb the stairs now! I don’t see why I need more strength training.” I get it. I think the hiccup can be explained like this: you can think of all our movements divided into three categories.

a) Movements we do every single day

b) Movements we do occasionally

c) Movements we don’t do anymore, but used to, and may want to again in the future.

It’s great you’re stronger climbing stairs (an “a” category movement) because of the bike. But what about lifting a heavy suitcase over your head into the compartment bin on a plane (“b” category movement)? “Oh I only do that once a year so I’m not worried about it,” you might say. Well my friend, once a year is enough to cause an injury that puts your shoulder out for a year. What if you want to start playing pickleball? (“c” category movement). Do you have the ankle mobility? The speed? The coordination? The ability to fall well if you trip? Strength training is specific! Don’t have time to train for everything all the time? No one does. Start with the basics, and find ways (I have to plug in ​The MOB​ here) on how to train for your specific needs that fall within your a, b, c’s at your given moment in life.

Ok. I know this is all a bit lecture-y. But it’s dawned on me that it might be necessary. The messaging just isn’t out there. Our doctors tell us to exercise but they don’t always tell us to get stronger. Our families tell us to “take it easy” as we get older. This post is about where the disconnect is between how we feel about the function of our bodies and the barriers to maintaining, if not improving, our “movement” hygiene. But of course there are also the physiological benefits of strength training which help mitigate literally everything (multiple types of cancers, diabetes, depression and anxiety, menopause symptoms, metabolic health, Alzheimer’s, cognitive decline, falls risk, heart disease, blood pressure, chronic pain, cholesterol, arthritis, osteoperosis, chronic fatigue syndromes . . ). But that’s another post.

Do you agree? Disagree? Are there other barriers you feel are prevalent in keeping middle aged to older adults from understanding the importance of strength training? I would truly love to hear your thoughts so that I can better target my education in a way that truly resonates with people.

keep moving.
alia

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