
To Delay Death, Lift Weights - plessthanpt05
https://www.outsideonline.com/2263346/delay-death-lift-weights
======
dingaling
"Strength training in a gym and doing bodyweight exercises seemed to confer
roughly equivalent benefits. "

So no, bro, you don't have to lift.

Just buy a yoga mat and start doing press-ups / sit-ups / dips etc

That what we were told in the military back in the noughties and it makes
sense; wherever you are in the world you can still do your daily sets. No need
for weights and bars; a bath towel on the floor of a hotel room suffices.

~~~
xeromal
IDK about you, but bodyweight exercises are much more boring that lifting
iron.

~~~
lvturner
Agreed, for whatever reason I get bored to tears doing most bodyweight
exercises.

Strangely even adding something as simple as a resistance band to the exercise
makes it more enjoyable.

I wonder if there is any sort of reason for this phenomenon - I doubt we we
are alone!

~~~
metrokoi
I believe it is that you are focusing more on one set of muscles with
resistance bands or iron which makes it easier to enter into the "flow" state.
Bodyweight exercises involve so many different groups of muscles that it is
hard to deeply focus on form and enter "flow". For example the moment I
maintain my core perfectly straight on a pushup, my ankles may move out of
alignment.

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cheald
I've seen studies confirming the inverse relationship between strength and all
cause mortality numerous times. It seems pretty well established by now.

Personally, I started lifting several years ago, and it's been the greatest
change in my health in my life. I lost a lot of weight, my resting heart rate
is way down, everyday tasks are easier. I move better, and I just feel better
overall. Plus, it's a wonderful discipline for building determination and
grit. I am certain that most people's lives would be significantly improved by
the addition of a strength training program.

~~~
627467
How did you start? Any recommended regime?

~~~
cheald
I started with Stronglifts 5x5. It's a good starter program if you haven't
lifted before, because it'll give you the opportunity to drill and learn the
movements, and the program is simple, and there's an app that holds your hand.

In terms of programming, it has some deficiencies, but most people just need a
structured program to start with. You can probably run it for 12-18 weeks and
then have a strong foundation to switch to another program. People argue its
deficiencies, but if it gets you started and gets you structure to build a
routine with, that's what you need, IMO.

For the last couple of years, I've been training with Jim Wendler's 5/3/1
program, and it's fantastic. I keep getting stronger and can probably happily
train on it for many years to come. I've competed in a couple of local
powerlifting meets, and have a routine that I feel like I can sustain forever.
There is a 531 for Beginners program, too, but it's less hand-holdy than
Stronglifts.

~~~
thenanyu
I’m somewhat terrified about having wrong form and hurting myself. Is that a
silly fear or should I find a coach or something?

~~~
cheald
The good thing about 5x5 is that you start with minimal weights - like an
empty bar - and spend your first couple of weeks training with "easy" weight.
This time is really for you to learn the movements. There's a wealth of
information out there on how to do these movements properly. Injury is always
a possibility, but if you start light and progress steadily, the risk of it is
substantially diminished.

A coach is a great resource, but a) most trainers in gyms are not strength
coaches, and range from actively harmful to wonderful, and there's not really
any way for the novice to know which they are, and b) legit strength coaches
are expensive. I'd recommend self-study and starting lightly before a coach,
personally, but if having a coach is the difference between you lifting and
not lifting, get the coach.

Alan Thrall has 3 really good beginner videos on the S/B/D movements:

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs_Ej32IYgo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs_Ej32IYgo)

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYREQkVtvEc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYREQkVtvEc)

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYKScL2sgCs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYKScL2sgCs)

Also check out the JTS pillars series. JTS are legends in powerlifting, and
these videos can really help tune up technique.

* [https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-squat-technique/?v=7516f...](https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-squat-technique/?v=7516fd43adaa)

* [https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-bench-technique/?v=7516f...](https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-bench-technique/?v=7516fd43adaa)

* [https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-deadlift-technique/?v=75...](https://www.jtsstrength.com/pillars-deadlift-technique/?v=7516fd43adaa)

There's also
[https://www.reddit.com/r/formcheck](https://www.reddit.com/r/formcheck) (and
r/fitness and r/stronglifts5x5) which can be valuable resources for getting
help fixing particular problems.

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kqr
I have yet to read the methods used, but my low prior leaves me somewhat
skeptical even after reading this article. The vast body of pre-existing
material indicates "aerobic exercise" is the primary driver of health, with
strength training obviously delivering some aerobic exercise too, but not
nearly as much as some other forms of exercise.

The way these studies are described in the article, it sounds like they might
have mislabeled a bunch of confounders as signal.

(E.g. people who regularly get aerobic exercise -- especially as they are
older -- have greater muscle mass and are less likely to die. Heck, just that
people exercise at all in any capacity is a signal of health, which lowers
risk of death.)

Edit: That said, I believe some level of strength training is critical to
avoid injury or overstressing particular muscles, even when your interest is
primarily aerobic exercise.

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sradman
_The FNIH Sarcopenia Project_ [1] and the paper _Associations of Muscle Mass
and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults_ [2] are about
assessing age related decline.

Neither are about how strength and cardiovascular training impacts mortality;
the focus of the OP.

[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991146/)

[2]
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28991040/)

------
maurys
Especially with most of us shut at home, I've found kettlebell to be excellent
as medium for strength and conditioning.

The focus on the posterior chain helped resolve a lot of back issues I had
from sitting at a desk all day. I could feel my posture improving in a week or
so.

Unfortunately it does have a bit of learning curve to it, but it's still
something I recommend friends try as an effective quick workout.

~~~
lottin
For strength training, you want exercises that can be performed with
increasingly heavier weights (e.g. barbell exercises). This is how you get
stronger. If you always lift the same weight you won't get stronger.

~~~
monsieurbanana
That's straight away misinformation. Your body doesn't know how many plates
your lifting, all it cares about is intensity and time under tension.

There's a few ways to increase that without increasing weight:

\- more time under tension (duh), in other words same movements but slower

\- harder exercice variations

Now to mention that kettlebells can go pretty high in weight.

And a last point: what is your goal? Kettlebells will never allow you to
compete in bodybuilding, but if what you want is to have a better quality of
life and aesthetics? The answer is much less cut and dry. Kettlebells have
some really great functional exercices. If you can do a turkish get-up with a
50kg kettlebell you're strong _enough_.

~~~
lottin
Doing many repetitions with light weights will elicit a different
physiological adaptation than doing few repetitions with heavy weights. In
particular, your body will become better at lifting light weights for many
reps, but you won't get necessarily stronger. If your goal is to get stronger,
you want to train by lifting increasingly heavier weights (progressive
overload). Any other training strategy, is less efficient, for the purpose of
getting stronger, or simply ineffective.

~~~
monsieurbanana
And what I'm saying is that you can achieve progressive overload with harder
variations and more time under tension. There's plenty of ways to keep you in
the strength rep range using kettlebells and/or calisthenics.

For pure strength and size nothing beats barbells, I already said that, but
unless that's your only goal, kettlebells can be an alternative.

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nojvek
I’ve been doing 100 pushups a day, 6 days/week (1 rest day on Sunday) for
about 3 months now.

Before I used to get back aches and had an awful form. Now I feel great. After
having a kid, it has been hard to find time to go to the gym. Two sets of
pushups, one in morning, and one in evening is easy to get in. Takes 5 mins
and you feel pumped.

Also been having more sex. So that’s been a great for health too.

~~~
slazaro
Be careful about doing too much pushing without pulling, though. The
bodyweightfitness subreddit is full of people asking about doing a high number
of pushups daily and people always warn about imbalances, shoulder
impingement, etc.

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aluminussoma
Get started with any exercise is difficult! Soon after I commence, I find
exercise-induced injuries that force me to rest until the pain goes away. A
younger me would ignore the pain bit now I'm not so invincible anymore.

More exercise also necessitates more sleep, which can be hard to do when there
isn't enough of time.

~~~
novas0x2a
What sort of timescale do you mean by "soon"? When you start doing a new
exercise regime, it's really common to experience DOMS[1] for the first few
weeks. It really feels like the end of the world (personal experience) but
it's not actually an indication of real injury and it's generally safe to push
through it if you can (and doing so can actually alleviate the pain, at least
temporarily). Distinguishing between DOMS (where it's safe to push through)
and real injury (where you definitely should not) comes with a bit of
practice, and honestly, compared with the few times I've hurt myself for
real... DOMS felt worse. Except when I slipped while holding weight and broke
my toe. Strongly recommend against that :)

If you're experiencing exercise-induced injuries immediately during a workout
(and if you have a budget for this), it might be good to talk to someone about
what you're trying to do. Some gym plans include a bit of consultation time
with a staff trainer, and they can probably help you work around whatever the
problem is, sometimes simple adjustments can help (particularly anything
involving preexisting shoulder damage, most of the commonly-recommended
shoulder exercises have substitutes that are less risky for already-damaged
shoulders).

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness)

------
ummonk
I do believe exercise and strength is helpful for long term health, but these
studies obviously don't control for the fact that people with poor health /
health conditions are both more likely to die in the future and less likely to
exercise / develop strength in the present...

------
graeme
For the purposes of meeting the aerobic training goal, is walking considered
moderate exercise?

I’ve never liked jogging, but I do strength training, about an hour of walking
most days, and occasional sprints.

~~~
themodelplumber
Last I checked, the aerobic range is a quantified goal so you should be able
to alter your circumstances to hit the range while walking. Personally I've
been walking for weight loss and exercise since 2013 and a lot of it easily
qualifies as aerobic, just depending on the incline, pace, weight carried, and
other factors.

~~~
graeme
Makes sense, thanks. Looks like I hit the 50% if max HT goal, but not by much.
So either I should walk faster (hard in heat) or do more on the exercise bike
I have.

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totetsu
Where I live the average age of farmers is over 65. Some people complain about
the inefficiency of small scale farming carried out by many older individuals,
and want to stop trade protections, and subsidies etc, and replace everything
with robots and drones. A study like this shows one dimension of how much
value there is in letting these people carry one working and not becoming a
burden on health budgets.

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JeremyNT
Note that this isn't highlighting any new information, the article itself was
from 2017 and was itself referring to earlier studies.

(Not to discount the overall thesis which is basically "muscle mass good," but
if you're relatively up to date on this sort of thing there's nothing novel in
this article for you).

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AnonHP
I recall (vaguely) reading long ago that lifting weights shortens muscles and
also reduces flexibility. Do people who lift weights or do rigorous strength
training also complement it with yoga or other stretching exercises?

~~~
woutr_be
As someone who's serious about lifting weights (at least 5 times a week), I
can tell you that I almost have zero flexibility these days, my lack of
stretching is also causing all types of pain. I sometimes have issues walking
because some muscles are too tight.

Doing yoga and certain stretches definitely helps, but it needs to compliment
your training. I tend to do 15 minutes of stretches in the morning, and then
15-20 minutes of yoga in the evening before going to bed, that has seriously
improved my life. (As in, I don't have muscle pain when doing regular
activities)

~~~
com2kid
My 5 day a week lifting program had upwords of 20 minutes of stretching，10
before and 10 after. I try to do 30 minutes of yoga a day on top of that.

If I'm already working out, why not stretch as well?

~~~
woutr_be
I've been doing it more and more before exercise, especially when doing heavy
squats and deadlifts. I also gradually increase my weights so that I'm warmed
up by the time I'm doing any heavy stuff.

But those 15 minutes in the morning also help me wake up, and I kinda enjoy
just stretching and not thinking about anything.

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thatoldfool
Kettlebells. Search youtube for "Enter the Kettlebell" with Pavel Tsatsouline;
easiest, best way to start, is with the "Simple and Sinister" program, which
is just kettlebell swings and Turkish getups.

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totetsu
Stephen Jepson comes to mind.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0PlR27qJ0)

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tus88
Correlation is not causation.

People who work out tend to practice a range of healthy habits.

~~~
triceratops
I've found that developing a workout habit is a gateway to other healthy
habits. You tend have less stress and sleep better, which improves workout
performance thereby creating a virtuous cycle. The drive to improve workout
performance leads you to make changes to your diet and watch other health
indicators more closely. It's all connected.

