Have you heard of Sarcopenia, Osteopenia and Osteoporosis?

Sarcopenia = loss of muscle mass

Osteopenia/Osteoporosis = loss of bone mineral density.

We then have a combination of the two - OSTEOSARCOPENIA

This is common in older folk who, perhaps are not as active as they once were and have over time lost both muscle mass and bone density.

When we engage in regular resistance training ( using equipment or our own body weight ) we get a double whammy. The muscles pull on the bone helping them to ‘remodel’ and stay strong and the muscles become stronger through ‘adaptation.’

In order for the muscles to go through adaptation we gradually increase the workload. If the stimulus is significant enough ( e.g we squat until our thighs are feeling quite uncomfortable ) we get micro tears in our muscles. When the micro tears repair that’s when adaptation occurs or putting it simply our muscles become stronger and then they adapt to that new stimulus. What happens if we stick to the same level of stimulus? We PLATEAUX and further strength gains are not going to be gained.

Resistance training is the gift that keeps on giving because if we have more lean muscle mass our body requires / burns more calories so we can manage our weight better. And to put the Cherry on the cake it also has positive effects on our cognition / brain health helping to avoid Dementia.

What is there not to like about resistance training!