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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]

#51
post #47
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…

The book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (book and author pretty much universally lauded by the strength training community) is also a great starting point. Beginners can often become overwhelmed by all the differing viewpoints and training methods presented to them when researching strength training but (besides avoiding injury by maintaining proper form and generally listening to your body to allow sufficient…

I want to second this! Please read "Starting Strength"! It is the most detailed and easy-to-understand guide for executing compound lifts.

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

#52

I've never been one for strength training. I just like to run really hard for a short period of time... Guess I will need to change that.

Actually, you're doing it right http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_trainin... Or just compare 100m competitors with marathon competitors for muscle mass

The body type of world class 100m competitors is due to genetics and steroids. Sprint workouts don't make people muscular. Muscular guys gravitate towards those events. Also, HIIT workouts are nothing like what 100m runners do to train.

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

#53
post #39
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There is very high chance that you were not performing squats properly. Tiny deviations in squat form can mean the difference between a PR and knee pain for me.

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

#54
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…

I'm going to look into this. I'm halfway through p90x (again) and starting to feel really beat up, instead of really great. This is where I usually get some kind of injury with p90x. Actually, just yesterday I think I pulled my trap a bit. Now it hurts to hold my left arm out (as if reaching to shake someone's hand). Anyway, I work out for surfing. I'm happy with the p90x results, but again, starting to feel 10 years…

I'm not the parent, but I'll reply too. I did SL 5x5 for a year, and then moved on to other strength programs. I'm young (20), so my results may not carry over to yours, but I found that SL was great for me. I definitely felt better after every workout, and in general felt a lot more energy. I felt sore after the first two workouts, but that dissipated very quickly. I've also fixed my posture (I've had TSA agents compliment my posture... not sure how I feel about that), feel much stronger day to day, and fixed some back pain.

As for tightness and injury... I think a crucial and under-stated facet of strength training is that when you are strength training, the pre-eminent concern is good form. Until you are competing and meets, there's no reason to focus strictly on lifting the highest possible weight. In fact, there is no time pressure, you have plenty of time to set up and rest after sets, no one is watching you, nothing to cause you to sacrifice your form. I just set up slowly, made sure I was confident for every lift, and tried as hard as I could to make each lift go through the full range of motion. It was a surprisingly slow-and-contemplative process (and workouts for me were about an hour each). As a result, I didn't find myself any tighter/less flexible, and I haven't gotten injured. I see a few friends get injured, but they also tend to be the friends who sacrifice form for weight-on-bar most often. There's no need to do that if you just check your ego at the door.

Point is, all sports can lead to injury. But strength training is naturally suited to making that easy to avoid.

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

#55
post #47
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…

The book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (book and author pretty much universally lauded by the strength training community) is also a great starting point. Beginners can often become overwhelmed by all the differing viewpoints and training methods presented to them when researching strength training but (besides avoiding injury by maintaining proper form and generally listening to your body to allow sufficient…

Good book for beginners but Mark has no shortage of critics and enemies in the strength community.

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

#56
post #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.…

Nice job, no scientific evidence, but your "friend" had a heart attack. Just pure amazing post my friend.

Oh, so I don't fall into the same trap, here are scientific studies in favor of Whey protein:

http://examine.com/supplements/Whey+Protein/#main_clinical_r...

TLDR - http://s3.roosterteeth.com/images/Ataxx50e4c5160c877.jpg

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

#57
post #2

In plain English: stronger people live longer.

Thank you. I believe the article's TLDR said it in about the most confusing way possible "Muscular strength is inversely and independently associated with death from all causes and cancer in men".

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

#58

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…

A scientific article with a funny title on this subject is "How fast does the Grim Reaper walk?" (http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7679)

In their study, no over 70 years old who had a walking speed of over 1.36 m/s (about 5 km/hour) died. That makes them conclude that that must be the grim reaper's top speed.

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

#59
post #39
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If it doesn't hurt when you do body weight squats with zero weight, then you can make it not hurt when you do heavier weights. The trick is to start with body weight squats, or an empty bar, and build slowly. At every step, keeping proper form. Adding only 5 lbs each workout. So many people make the exact claim you're making, without actually going through the painstaking process of starting from no weight on the bar and moving up over a period of a year. You may actually have a real problem in your knees, but if you can do body weight squats without pain, you can work up from there. If you can sit down in a chair without your hands, you can probably work up from there too.

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

#60
post #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)?

They corrected for "age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, body mass index, baseline medical conditions, and family history of cardiovascular disease" and cardiorespiratory fitness.
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