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Hi

I’m Harry, I’m 76 and whilst I’ve always tried to keep reasonably fit, I found I was losing weight. I’ve always focused on aerobic fitness but now realise that I should have been doing more resistance stuff.

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,329 Member
    Hi, Harry: It's not too late. There have been research studies showing that people can increase strength through resistance training in their 80s.

    If you haven't done much strength training, I think in our demographic (I'm 67) it makes sense to start slowly, perhaps with lower weight and higher reps. If you have access to a personal trainer or physical therapist who has experience with our age group, that can be great (as long as their expectations aren't too low!).

    Depending on what aerobic activities you've done, you may already have strength to draw on. I've found that mine created some muscle imbalances that I need to work on, though.

    Wishing you success!

    P.S. You probably already know this, but it's especially important for us to get plenty of protein, and to spread it through the day, because we metabolize it a bit less efficiently as we age.

    https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(13)00326-5/fulltext