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Weight loss is one of the goals common to almost anyone in Spain, but there are still some false beliefs around this goal: that from the age of 50 or 60 it is more difficult to lose weight, And that it is not worth any kind of exercise to achieve this. Some go so far as to state that men and women should perform different workouts.
But, as has been confirmed again in a recent study published in the journal Sports Medicine, The reality is quite different from popular belief. And it is that, according to this new work, the resistance training it would benefit both men and women over the age of 50.
One of the key points that would motivate some false beliefs would be muscle gain when performing a resistance training or strength training. the menThey usually have one greater absolute muscle gain; however, the women they have some very similar relative gains.
Basic resistance exercises.
In other words, while men’s muscle size would be larger, if the base size of men and women is taken into account, the relative gains would be similar. A percentage level, so much men how women they win the same level of muscle mass when performing strength training. And these gains would also continue from the age of 50.
To reach these conclusions, researchers from the University of New South Wales analyzed the results of 30 studies resistance training where more than 1400 volunteers participated. The work in question specifically assessed the outcomes of men and women aged 50 years or older.
As Dra. Amanda Hagstrom, a professor of exercise science at UNSW Medicine & Health and lead author of the paper, has historically been believed to be the best fit for strength training.
However, Dra. Hagstrom recalls that the data were erroneously focused: absolute gains were taken into account rather than relative ones. And men’s body size tends to be larger, so their total gains eventually tend to be higher. But if you consider the gain at the percentage level, things change.
In previous research, where data from young adults (between 18 and 50 years old) have been analyzed, it has already been suggested that relative muscle gains would be similar in both men and women. But that would be the first meta-analysis that would examine this data in older adults.
Improve from 50
In total, the gains in muscle mass and strength of 651 men and 759 women between the ages of 50 and 90 years who participated in the aforementioned 30 studies. Most participants had no previous experience in strength training.
It should be noted that while the 50-year-olds are not usually considered “older adults”, This threshold was selected taking into account the potential hormonal changes of menopause and its influence on the outcome of resistance training.
Thus, it was concluded that there are no significant differences in changes in relative muscle size or strength gain between men or women from the age of 50 years. In fact, they point out, knowing this fact would be important for professionals engaged in training in people of this age, as there would be no basis for differentiating by sex.
According to this study, older men tended to develop larger muscles if absolute gains were taken into account. In addition, they were also prone to achieve greater absolute strength improvements compared to women.
However, if relative strength gains (taking into account body size) were taken into account, older women obtained better results in the relative strength of the lower body compared to men.
In addition, the researchers also conducted a sub-analysis of the literature to see which strength training techniques would be best for each sex:
– The older men they seem to benefit more from higher intensity training programs to improve absolute strength in both the upper and lower body.
– Les older women they seem to benefit more from higher overall exercise volumes, meaning more weekly repetitions would help women increase relative and absolute strength in the lower body.
Also, a longer training duration would also help to increase relative and absolute muscle size in the case of older men, or absolute strength in the upper body in the case of older women.
Finally, endurance training would also have proven to offer other health benefits, How to increase strength, balance, flexibility and bone density; in addition to improving sleep, the feeling of well-being and being able to reduce the risk of injury.