"Strength training in a gym and doing bodyweight exercises seemed to confer roughly equivalent benefits. "<p>So no, bro, you don't have to lift.<p>Just buy a yoga mat and start doing press-ups / sit-ups / dips etc<p>That what we were told in the military back in the noughties and it makes sense; wherever you are in the world you can still do your daily sets. No need for weights and bars; a bath towel on the floor of a hotel room suffices.
I've seen studies confirming the inverse relationship between strength and all cause mortality numerous times. It seems pretty well established by now.<p>Personally, I started lifting several years ago, and it's been the greatest change in my health in my life. I lost a lot of weight, my resting heart rate is way down, everyday tasks are easier. I move better, and I just feel better overall. Plus, it's a wonderful discipline for building determination and grit. I am certain that most people's lives would be significantly improved by the addition of a strength training program.
I have yet to read the methods used, but my low prior leaves me somewhat skeptical even after reading this article. The vast body of pre-existing material indicates "aerobic exercise" is the primary driver of health, with strength training obviously delivering some aerobic exercise too, but not nearly as much as some other forms of exercise.<p>The way these studies are described in the article, it sounds like they might have mislabeled a bunch of confounders as signal.<p>(E.g. people who regularly get aerobic exercise -- especially as they are older -- have greater muscle mass and are less likely to die. Heck, just that people exercise at all in any capacity is a signal of health, which lowers risk of death.)<p>Edit: That said, I believe some level of strength training is critical to avoid injury or overstressing particular muscles, even when your interest is primarily aerobic exercise.
<i>The FNIH Sarcopenia Project</i> [1] and the paper <i>Associations of Muscle Mass and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults</i> [2] are about assessing age related decline.<p>Neither are about how strength and cardiovascular training impacts mortality; the focus of the OP.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/</a>
Especially with most of us shut at home, I've found kettlebell to be excellent as medium for strength and conditioning.<p>The focus on the posterior chain helped resolve a lot of back issues I had from sitting at a desk all day. I could feel my posture improving in a week or so.<p>Unfortunately it does have a bit of learning curve to it, but it's still something I recommend friends try as an effective quick workout.
I’ve been doing 100 pushups a day, 6 days/week (1 rest day on Sunday) for about 3 months now.<p>Before I used to get back aches and had an awful form. Now I feel great. After having a kid, it has been hard to find time to go to the gym. Two sets of pushups, one in morning, and one in evening is easy to get in. Takes 5 mins and you feel pumped.<p>Also been having more sex. So that’s been a great for health too.
Get started with any exercise is difficult! Soon after I commence, I find exercise-induced injuries that force me to rest until the pain goes away. A younger me would ignore the pain bit now I'm not so invincible anymore.<p>More exercise also necessitates more sleep, which can be hard to do when there isn't enough of time.
I do believe exercise and strength is helpful for long term health, but these studies obviously don't control for the fact that people with poor health / health conditions are both more likely to die in the future and less likely to exercise / develop strength in the present...
For the purposes of meeting the aerobic training goal, is walking considered moderate exercise?<p>I’ve never liked jogging, but I do strength training, about an hour of walking most days, and occasional sprints.
Where I live the average age of farmers is over 65. Some people complain about the inefficiency of small scale farming carried out by many older individuals, and want to stop trade protections, and subsidies etc, and replace everything with robots and drones. A study like this shows one dimension of how much value there is in letting these people carry one working and not becoming a burden on health budgets.
Note that this isn't highlighting any new information, the article itself was from 2017 and was itself referring to earlier studies.<p>(Not to discount the overall thesis which is basically "muscle mass good," but if you're relatively up to date on this sort of thing there's nothing novel in this article for you).
I recall (vaguely) reading long ago that lifting weights shortens muscles and also reduces flexibility. Do people who lift weights or do rigorous strength training also complement it with yoga or other stretching exercises?
Kettlebells. Search youtube for "Enter the Kettlebell" with Pavel Tsatsouline; easiest, best way to start, is with the "Simple and Sinister" program, which is just kettlebell swings and Turkish getups.
Stephen Jepson comes to mind. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0</a>