Strength Training and mortality

Gyakuto

Gyakuto

Senior Master
A 20 year study on more than 400,000 people found that strength training decreases mortality risk by 40 percent. That’s the same type of improvement seen when comparing non-smokers to people who smoke half a pack per day. For comparison, one hour per week of cardio will reduce your mortality risk by approximately 15 percent.

Dose–response association of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity with mortality: a national cohort study of 416 420 US adults | British Journal of Sports Medicine
 
Gyakuto said:
A 20 year study on more than 400,000 people found that strength training decreases mortality risk by 40 percent. That’s the same type of improvement seen when comparing non-smokers to people who smoke half a pack per day. For comparison, one hour per week of cardio will reduce your mortality risk by approximately 15 percent.

Dose–response association of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity with mortality: a national cohort study of 416 420 US adults | British Journal of Sports Medicine
Click to expand...
I am not surprised. But the control variable in the model seems quite loose. Seems to be taking a very gross sample for 'aerobic' exercise.
 
HighKick said:
I am not surprised.
Click to expand...
Really? We‘ve been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that aerobics are the thing to do and weight training is for posers and greased-up bodybuilders!
HighKick said:
But the control variable in the model seems quite loose.
Click to expand...
Models controlled for age, sex, race-ethnicity, income, education, marital status, survey year, smoking status, body mass index and chronic conditions.

Loose?
HighKick said:
Seems to be taking a very gross sample for 'aerobic' exercise.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by this?

Lets just ignore this bit of research, put on our spandex leotards, ankle warmers get down to aerobics 👯‍♀️👯
 
Gyakuto said:
A 20 year study on more than 400,000 people found that strength training decreases mortality risk by 40 percent. That’s the same type of improvement seen when comparing non-smokers to people who smoke half a pack per day. For comparison, one hour per week of cardio will reduce your mortality risk by approximately 15 percent.

Dose–response association of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity with mortality: a national cohort study of 416 420 US adults | British Journal of Sports Medicine
Click to expand...
My snowblower broke Saturday when we had between 7 and 8 inches of snow on the driveway. I switched to my shovel and got the driveway completely cleared in 2 1/2 hours. Saturday night, it snowed again and I did the driveway again on Sunday, only 2 hours this time.

Talk about mortality; I hurt so bad right now I wish I was dead. I bite my thumb at your cardio, sir.
 
Gyakuto said:
Really? We‘ve been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that aerobics are the thing to do and weight training is for posers and greased-up bodybuilders!

Models controlled for age, sex, race-ethnicity, income, education, marital status, survey year, smoking status, body mass index and chronic conditions.

Loose?

What do you mean by this?

Lets just ignore this bit of research, put on our spandex leotards, ankle warmers get down to aerobics 👯‍♀️👯
Click to expand...

I used to lift weights. My problem is that I was gifted genetically. I lifted for a bit and I turned into a huge musclebound monster. All my friends who lifted alongside me got angry at my gains (as the kids call them nowadays). So I stopped doing it. It was embarrassing.
 
Bill Mattocks said:
My snowblower broke Saturday when we had between 7 and 8 inches of snow on the driveway. I switched to my shovel and got the driveway completely cleared in 2 1/2 hours. Saturday night, it snowed again and I did the driveway again on Sunday, only 2 hours this time.

Talk about mortality; I hurt so bad right now I wish I was dead. I bite my thumb at your cardio, sir.
Click to expand...
Clearing snow is really hard work! I cleared the front of my house of leaves and various detritus and that was bad enough.

Get your snow blower repaired, ASAP!
 
Bill Mattocks said:
My snowblower broke Saturday when we had between 7 and 8 inches of snow on the driveway. I switched to my shovel and got the driveway completely cleared in 2 1/2 hours. Saturday night, it snowed again and I did the driveway again on Sunday, only 2 hours this time.

Talk about mortality; I hurt so bad right now I wish I was dead. I bite my thumb at your cardio, sir.
Click to expand...
Shoveling snow is a leading trigger for heart attacks. Please be careful.
 
Dirty Dog said:
Shoveling snow is a leading trigger for heart attacks. Please be careful.
Click to expand...
I don't get heart attacks, I give 'em. But yeah, I was careful. I have my annual physical today, we'll see what the ECG looks like. Afib seems to be under control, but I had an 8% SVT burden last time I was checked. Heart disease is a mother.
 
Gyakuto said:
A 20 year study on more than 400,000 people found that strength training decreases mortality risk by 40 percent. That’s the same type of improvement seen when comparing non-smokers to people who smoke half a pack per day. For comparison, one hour per week of cardio will reduce your mortality risk by approximately 15 percent.

Dose–response association of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity with mortality: a national cohort study of 416 420 US adults | British/ Journal of Sports Medicine
Click to expand...
One has to be careful with such statistics. - correlation vs causation. Those who regularly weight train often eat healthy as well. How much of that reduced mortality rate is due to diet?

I hope your stats are true since I lifted for an hour earlier today (3-4 times/wk. 10-15 reps/set) and just finished a Big Mac and BBQ chips for lunch. But tonight, I'll have salmon and a vegetable and then have a Lil Debbie snack cake for dessert. I guess I'm bipolar when it comes to health. As long as my lab tests are within range I don't plan to change. An old guy has to have some guilty pleasures in life.
 
Gyakuto said:
Really? We‘ve been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that aerobics are the thing to do and weight training is for posers and greased-up bodybuilders!

Models controlled for age, sex, race-ethnicity, income, education, marital status, survey year, smoking status, body mass index and chronic conditions.

Loose?

What do you mean by this?

Lets just ignore this bit of research, put on our spandex leotards, ankle warmers get down to aerobics 👯‍♀️👯
Click to expand...
Aerobics is a 'universal' term. Unless I missed something, it made the blanket statements you mentioned without going into details, hence loose.
 
Gyakuto said:
Really? We‘ve been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that aerobics are the thing to do and weight training is for posers and greased-up bodybuilders!
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised either. I've been following the literature on this for decades and if you read between the lines, even the studies on "aerobic" exercise point to greater muscular stimulation resulting in better results (with in the bounds of safety and recovery). So, within what we call "aerobic" or "cardio" activity, walking is better than being sedentary, but brisk walking is better still, running is more effective than walking, sprinting is more effective than running, and a good HIIT protocol is more effective than sprinting. Even Kenneth Cooper MD, started to acknowledge this to some degree when he began to see that patients who had followed his exercise advice (which did not originally include guidelines on intensity) had radically different outcomes when they jogged the same distances but at significantly different speeds. If the activity isn't intense enough to stimulate muscular adaptation it doesn't do much good for you, regardless of duration or frequency. The logical conclusion is that you should be doing a physical activity that effectively inroads our musculature sufficiently to stimulate a significant adaptive response, and the most effective, safe, way to do that is through resistance training.
 
There's a problem with this.

Average life expectancy of a male bodybuilder is only 47.

Average life expectancy of a male powerlifter is 70.

Average male life expectancy for the general male population is 69.
www.worlddata.info

Average life expectancy by country

International ranking of life expectancy in 121 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.
www.worlddata.info www.worlddata.info

Of the first 20 Olympic athletes to have run a mile in under 4 minutes, 18 have lived into their 80's

So I'm just trying to see how all this jives together.
 
Hot Lunch said:
There's a problem with this.

Average life expectancy of a male bodybuilder is only 47.

Average life expectancy of a male powerlifter is 70.

Average male life expectancy for the general male population is 69.
www.worlddata.info

Average life expectancy by country

International ranking of life expectancy in 121 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.
www.worlddata.info www.worlddata.info

Of the first 20 Olympic athletes to have run a mile in under 4 minutes, 18 have lived into their 80's

So I'm just trying to see how all this jives together.
Click to expand...
Your answer is right there in the title of the second link, "Increased Premature Mortality of Competitive Powerlifters Suspected to Have Used Anabolic Agents". Chronic, high dosage, steroid use is not conducive to longevity and is very common in competitive athletics, but especially so in strength events and body building.

Edit: Also, running a sub 4 minute mile is not a low intensity activity.
 
MetalBoar said:
I'm not surprised either. I've been following the literature on this for decades and if you read between the lines, even the studies on "aerobic" exercise point to greater muscular stimulation resulting in better results (with in the bounds of safety and recovery). So, within what we call "aerobic" or "cardio" activity, walking is better than being sedentary, but brisk walking is better still, running is more effective than walking, sprinting is more effective than running, and a good HIIT protocol is more effective than sprinting. Even Kenneth Cooper MD, started to acknowledge this to some degree when he began to see that patients who had followed his exercise advice (which did not originally include guidelines on intensity) had radically different outcomes when they jogged the same distances but at significantly different speeds. If the activity isn't intense enough to stimulate muscular adaptation it doesn't do much good for you, regardless of duration or frequency. The logical conclusion is that you should be doing a physical activity that effectively inroads our musculature sufficiently to stimulate a significant adaptive response, and the most effective, safe, way to do that is through resistance training.
Click to expand...
I agree with what you are saying. However, walking/jogging/running just isn't the right vehicle for some people. Finding what works best is sometimes the biggest challenge.
 
There was a great article in Muscle & Fitness magazine around 1990/91 relating to the benefits of resistance training on health, wellbeing and longevity. The article referred to studies taken in 1980s which demonstrated the improvement of many areas of health in the elderly population when exercising with weights. Around the same time as the article a book was released which you can see at the following link:


Clarence Bass has written about this book and the studies at his website: Biomarkers
 
Gyakuto said:
Really? We‘ve been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that aerobics are the thing to do and weight training is for posers and greased-up bodybuilders!
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised, either, though the effect is larger than I'd have expected. I've seen increasing evidence presented over the last decade (at least) that there are real health benefits to strength training, and showing that cardio/aerobic doesn't have the huge benefit the general media presented decades ago.
 
Hot Lunch said:
There's a problem with this.

Average life expectancy of a male bodybuilder is only 47.

Average life expectancy of a male powerlifter is 70.

Average male life expectancy for the general male population is 69.
www.worlddata.info

Average life expectancy by country

International ranking of life expectancy in 121 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.
www.worlddata.info www.worlddata.info

Of the first 20 Olympic athletes to have run a mile in under 4 minutes, 18 have lived into their 80's

So I'm just trying to see how all this jives together.
Click to expand...
I'd say there are considerable confounding factors in comparing those overall statistics without controls. Here are the ones that I immediately thought of:
  • Bodybuilders - especially among the elite - have a history of steroid use, which surely skews statistics. The recommended diets decades ago were often very high in red meat, too.
  • Elite runners are exceptions to many things. There's reason to expect elite athletes to have higher life expectancy over general population, if other factors are controlled for.
There are certainly others, though the elite runners you refer to likely support the earlier post about intensity. They're running at an intensity level much higher than most who are doing aerobic/cardio exercise.
 
Strength training definitely improves longevity. Don't confuse bodybuilders with weight-training though. Weights or resistance training (Bodyweight) combat sarconpenia and have a positive effect on all the biomarkers of health and wellbeing. The studied cited above is another in a long line which have consistently shown resistance training to be one of the greatest investments one can make for their overall health. The Muscle & Fitness article from 1990/91 referenced the research taken at Tufts University in the 1980s - there's nothing new in this world of ours really ;)
 
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