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Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

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Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#32
post #2

In plain English: stronger people live longer.

but is it because they are stronger, or because they have a healthier life in general, filled with more exercise than average? I mean, is the effect the same for 100m runners (=strength) and 10000m runners (=less pure strength)?

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#33
post #27

Hand grip strength. Pretty much all other measures of frailty - such as muscle mass. Time spent jogging. Time spent not sitting. Time spent being active. All of these correlate well with mortality. Causation is harder to prove on these longer timescales. e.g. more likely to be strong and exercising because you are more robust, or more likely to be more robust because you are strong and exercising. Or if both, as is l…

I think the calorie restriction studies deserve scrutiny. Do people who practice calorie restriction live longer compared to otherwise fit, healthy people who do not practice it? Or do they just live longer compared to the average (which includes a significant component of obese and/or diabetic over-eaters)?

http://www.nature.com/news/calorie-restriction-falters-in-th...

This article actually answers both your questions:

""" One reason for that difference could be that the WNPRC monkeys were fed an unhealthy diet, which made the calorie-restricted monkeys seem healthier by comparison simply because they ate less of it. The WNPRC monkeys’ diets contained 28.5% sucrose, compared with 3.9% sucrose at the NIA. Meanwhile, the NIA meals included fish oil and antioxidants, whereas the WNPRC meals did not. Rick Weindruch, a gerontologist at the WNPRC who led the study, admits: “Overall, our diet was probably not as healthy.” """

So, monkeys on a calorie restricted diet are not healthier than monkeys on a healthy, unrestricted diet, but are healthier than monkeys on a diet of monkey junk food.

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#34
post #27

Hand grip strength. Pretty much all other measures of frailty - such as muscle mass. Time spent jogging. Time spent not sitting. Time spent being active. All of these correlate well with mortality. Causation is harder to prove on these longer timescales. e.g. more likely to be strong and exercising because you are more robust, or more likely to be more robust because you are strong and exercising. Or if both, as is l…

I think the calorie restriction studies deserve scrutiny. Do people who practice calorie restriction live longer compared to otherwise fit, healthy people who do not practice it? Or do they just live longer compared to the average (which includes a significant component of obese and/or diabetic over-eaters)?

Indeed! If you actually had the time to look for studies correlating "calorie restriction without exercise" vs "exercise only" vs both with morbidity, please share a few links of what you've found.

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#35
here is my 2 cents. Im a coder, developer but I am ripped (sorry for the self love) I work out like crazy and actively surf / kitesurf, rockclimb. So my gym sessions have always had a purpose - to make myself stronger per the requirements of those sports. So my 2 cents - get of the whey protein. don't take it do not touch it. I have no scientific evidence but way too many people are on that and no long term studies. Only evidence is this: A good friend fellow athlete (sailor olympic level windsurfer) healthy as none other, got a heart attack at the age of 33. He looked into my eyes and said he never took anything (when i asked if he doped of any sort) and he only took whey. Made me get off it. Difference in phenomenal. You get "cut" lean, stronger muscles, just eat well. Not to mention your body gets conditioned to the "easy" absorption of nutrients that come from whey and gets lazy. There thats my 2 cents.

TLDR - get of whey protein, you'll get stronger live longer.

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#36
post #4

I've been doing strength training (the program is called Stronglifts 5x5[1]) with freeweights for about 9 months now. I just turned 44, and I've never felt better, and I'm stronger now than I have ever been. The program I use describes 3 simple exercises to do 3 times a week, and each workout takes me 30-45 minutes. Very little equipment is needed. It's hard to find good information about this on the net that covers…

[deleted]

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#37

Was thinking of putting together a HN/Digg style site for fitness links (example here: http://erikaugust.com/sportslinks/ )... Good idea? Or am I missing a site out there already (outside of the sub-Reddits)?

Why "outside of the sub-Reddits"? Are they missing something you can offer?

I'm only peripherally aware of the scene, but I know there's at least 3 massive, established online social fitness communities, for links and otherwise:

http://reddit.com/r/fitness/

http://4chan.org/fit/

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#38
post #27

Hand grip strength. Pretty much all other measures of frailty - such as muscle mass. Time spent jogging. Time spent not sitting. Time spent being active. All of these correlate well with mortality. Causation is harder to prove on these longer timescales. e.g. more likely to be strong and exercising because you are more robust, or more likely to be more robust because you are strong and exercising. Or if both, as is l…

I think the calorie restriction studies deserve scrutiny. Do people who practice calorie restriction live longer compared to otherwise fit, healthy people who do not practice it? Or do they just live longer compared to the average (which includes a significant component of obese and/or diabetic over-eaters)?

That's the question. Actually, it is not clear that calorie restriction increases human lifespans. It works really well with fruit flies and rodents, but monkey results are mixed. I don't know if there is any direct evidence of calorie restriction increasing lifespans in humans. Actually, practicing calorie restriction when young can affect development and practicing it when old might also be dangerous due to low BMI or bone loss. And if muscle is independently associated with mortality in men then losing muscle due to controlled starvation might not be helpful either.

Re: Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]

#39
post #25
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on Starting Strength for 3 months, and although I initially gained some fat (due to not getting a lean enough source of protein) I've gained a lot of muscle. I feel much healthier, and like you my knee pain has dissappeared. Squats and deadlifts are awesome, and the overhead press is a highly underrated exercise. (I'm a big distance runner, and I think too much distance running over time atrophied all of my…

Yeah, I used to only jog (2-6 miles at a time) for exercise, but I had lots of knee problems. Then I picked up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and that also kept me in good shape but gave me different knee problems, until I started lifting. Lifting is clearly good for the knees and back. The myths that squats will hurt your knees and deadlifts will hurt your back need to be dispelled.

Now just hold on a second there. As long as we're throwing out anecdotes, let me say that I've been lifting for a few years now and squats completely devastate my knees. I've tried over and over again and no matter what, my knees get a stabbing, debilitating pain when I squat, even at lighter weights. Physical therapy doesn't help. X-rays show no problems. Obsessing about correct posture doesn't help. Squats are just plain bad for my knees.
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