Row, Row, Row Your Back

Nick Rizzo was determined to motivate his parents to “ditch their sedentary habits and get more active” when they entered their 60s. As director of Training & Fitness at RunRepeat.com, a popular athletic shoe review site, Nick wanted his folks to appreciate the innumerable health benefits of strength training as they aged. 

“Inactivity is extremely dangerous for the 80 percent of adults who shun the physical exercise they need to keep them in good shape,” Nick said. It increases risk for serious health conditions including high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, heart disease, stroke, obesity,  diabetes, metabolic issues, depression and death from any cause, he explained. Light walking isn’t good enough.

To confirm the importance of doing more strenuous exercise like strength training as we age, Nick spent hours researching and reading over 200 scientifically backed, peer-reviewed studies. Hopefully, his list of 78 benefits will convince you to stop being a dumbbell, and pick up a dumbbell instead.  

In the meantime, here are five key takeaways from Nick’s research:

Weightlifting is the most effective treatment to prevent, slow down, or partially reverse age-related muscle loss/sarcopenia.

 

Volunteers from 61 to 80 years old added 2.4 lbs of muscle from strength training and looked an average of five years younger.

 

 

Lifting weights helps aging populations reduce risk factors for falls, improve functional independence, functional capacity, and quality of life. 

 

Weight training has been shown repeatedly in studies to reduce a wide variety of general aches and pains associated with aging, as well as many disorder-specific pains.

 

 

Exercising only 20 minutes a day reduces the risk of early death by as much as 30 percent, and strength training twice a week reduces the risk of all-cause mortality by 46 percent. 

 

“Strength training exercises work your muscles by applying a resistance against which the muscles need to exert a force. 

We want the exercises to be functional movements so that the strength translates into our everyday lives and compound movements that help target the largest and most amount of muscle groups in a single movement,” Nick advised. 

A typical beginner’s strength training program involves 8 to 10 exercises that work the major muscle groups of the body. “You start with the basics and slowly work your way up to more advanced variations of an exercise. These exercises are usually performed two to three times every week,” Nick added. 

To help get you started on a strength-training program, I asked Nick to recommend the five most powerful exercises and guidance on doing them properly. We’ve covered squats and pushups. Today, we’re covering rows. 

ROWS: NUMBER THREE STRENGTH-TRAINING EXERCISE    

Seated and bent over rows are perfect for safely building a strong and stable back. They also help develop your biceps, lats, and core.

To do seated rows at home, Nick suggests investing in a resistance band. Gyms usually offer a variety of equipment to perform rows, but the movement is the same. This demonstration will help you perform this exercise safely and effectively.

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