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The Weekly Exerciser

Jackson Fyfe

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How to turn the tables on muscle ageing

Read time: 3.5 minutes It seems inevitable. The older we get, the harder it'll be to do what we used to find easy. We’re talking daily tasks like: Rising from a chair Climbing a flight of stairs Or carrying the shopping around Much of this comes down to how ageing (and inactivity) impacts our muscles. And these changes make aged muscles look - as well as function - very different to younger ones. But these effects aren’t set in stone. In fact, the muscles of some older people look (and work)...

16 days ago • 4 min read

Read time: 4 minutes What’s better: cardio or weights? It’s an age-old question. Well, maybe not really… Most of us associate cardio (or aerobic training) with getting “fitter” and resistance training with getting “bigger” (muscles). But let’s face it, not everyone cares about these things. So how do they stack up when it comes to general health benefits? The answer might surprise you. Aerobic versus resistance training for health Many link the health benefits of exercise with aerobic...

about 1 month ago • 4 min read

First, a quick request: Know someone who'd be interested in this newsletter? If so, I’d greatly appreciate you forwarding on this email. And if you received this email from someone else, click here to subscribe: Subscribe Read time: 3 minutes What if I told you there was something that (if low) made you: 2.4 times more likely to experience falls and fractures Up to 14 times more likely to have mobility limitations And this same thing predicted your: Cognitive decline and brain tissue loss...

about 2 months ago • 3 min read

Read time: 2.5 minutes Most can appreciate strength loss goes hand-in-hand with ageing. And we assume these strength declines are pretty uniform across different muscles. But this isn’t the case. And this has implications not only for our risk of bad outcomes like falls, but how we can tailor exercise to maximise the benefits. Strength loss begins earlier than most people think Probably as early as our 20’s or 30’s. And these initial losses are followed by accelerated declines in our early...

2 months ago • 3 min read

Read time: 3.5 minutes It’s arguably the most accessible form of exercise. Walking has a number of benefits - both physical and psychological. But is it enough to keep muscle loss at bay across the lifespan? A new study has the answers. Let’s dive in. First, what do we know about whether aerobic exercise can increase muscle mass? To be clear, resistance training is our most effective tool for building muscle and strength. But that doesn’t mean other exercise types aren’t effective at all for...

2 months ago • 3 min read

Read time: 3 minutes It was August 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Not a great time in the world, to be honest. Like most things, gyms were off-limits. I was lucky enough to have some gym equipment at home…so I tried a little experiment. How better to break up some quality lockdown time with a little strength training spread across the day? Any exercise science textbook will not recommend this approach. But I quickly found two things: I was MORE motivated to train AND I got stronger Since then,...

3 months ago • 3 min read

Read time: 4 minutes It’s an all-too-common scenario. We start a new exercise kick, and make some early progress. But we just can’t seem to keep the streak going. Things get harder - and then we stop turning up. To benefit from exercise long-term, nothing is more important than avoiding dropout. And to do so, we need to understand: Why do people drop out And when does it often occur The problem is, most research studies don't capture this information. Fortunately, a recent study in more than...

3 months ago • 5 min read
How to reclaim our most important physical capacity

Read time: 5 minutes As we age, our ability to move and stay independent declines. Most of us probably associate this with losses of both muscle mass and strength. But there's another lesser-known physical capacity that succumbs to ageing. And this more profoundly affects not only our ability to carry out daily tasks, but our risk of negative health outcomes (like falls). It’s muscle power. So what exactly is muscle power, why is important, and what can we do about it? To understand muscle...

4 months ago • 5 min read
The surprising benefits of lifting weights for heart health

Read time: 4 minutes Resistance training probably isn’t the first thing to spring to mind when it comes to heart health. But a recent landmark paper may change this. The American Heart Association (AHA) dropped an updated scientific statement on the benefits of resistance training for cardiovascular disease (CVD). And there’s lots to learn. So - let’s dive in. The links between resistance training and better heart health The statement begins by setting the scene for how resistance training is...

4 months ago • 4 min read

Read time: 4 minutes What’s the first thing that springs to mind when you hear "ageing"? I’d bet many of you think of muscle loss. Or is that just me… The term “sarcopenia” was coined in 1989 to describe age-related muscle wasting. It literally means “a poverty of flesh” (in Greek). Sarcopenia has a considerable impact on our health as we age. But it turns out sarcopenia affects some muscles more than others. And this not only says a lot about WHY we lose muscle as we age - but also what we...

4 months ago • 5 min read
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