This is so helpful! It reinforces what I’ve been hearing: 2x/week moderate but somewhat challenging strength training, especially if doing complex moves to target multiple, opposing muscle groups, pays big dividends. I’m 65 and only recently developed a consistent 2 x/week strength training habit. I’m seeing positive results. I’m glad to learn it’s helping my brain too!
Thanks for the disclosure of your use of AI—some Stacks are spitting out tons of data/essays/books—so much so it has to be largely AI generated—-it’s clogging my inbox. I unsubscribed due to info overload.
Not your post here—prudent use of AI but collated by a human!
Glad this is helpful to you. Sounds like you’re on a well-informed path to strength training in a balanced way. As for AI, I too am dismayed by how quickly so many creators on Substack are substituting AI slop for original thought and intellectual composition — without disclosing it. Several doctors I’ve noticed doing this, specifically. Essentially, trading on their medical authority to give people anodyne AI answers.
This is just me observing how people age in more remote places, like the mountain town I live in, but those still involved in heavy physical work (chopping wood, gardening, plowing, planting, harvesting) are visibly aging better than those who are not. Men stay active until late years. My neighbor is 83 and fitter than I am. Women live longer on average but are less involved in load bearing activities, and the cognitive decline is more visible. I wonder if this has something to do with decades of different physical load?
Women lose their estrogen after menopause and that leads to cognitive decline, as well as osteoperosis, heart disease and lots of other diseases. That's why the women have more cognitive decline and that's why I use HRT.
This is why I think strength belongs near the center of any serious longevity strategy, not as an optional side quest.
Cardio gets the public glory because it feels like “health.” Supplements get the marketing budget because they feel like control. But muscle is the unglamorous infrastructure: it protects your joints, steadies your glucose, supports your brain, preserves independence, and gives aging fewer places to hide.
In portfolio terms, strength is not a speculative bet. It is capital preservation.
Daniella, that's right. There's two proven longevity drugs: strength training and quality sleep. One is free; the other can be, too, if you use bodyweight only.
Although I wouldn't say muscle is unglamorous. One doesn't need bulging pecs, quads, delts, abs, lats or glutes to feel and look great, of course. Toned is strong, and that's achievable with short, mini-sets done a couple times a day at home. I talk about that as the equivalent of compound interest, and you can explain that power better than me.
Exactly — strength training is compound interest with dumbbells. Unfortunately, unlike money, your muscles notice immediately when you stop making deposits.
Paul, thank you for including women's health particularities in your posts! Having recently re-enlivened my resistance training practice, learning about the link to promoting a healthier brain is just the extra encouragement I need.
Heinz, it absolutely does. Carrying firewood or groceries count. Picking up a child counts. Bodyweight lunges count. Anything that puts your muscles under healthy stress.
This was very interesting to me! I joined a functional strength training gym last September and have lifted twice a week since. (I was never much for weights before, preferred cardio.) Around the same time, I went on a GLP-1 that has helped me eat less and lose 45 pounds. Good to know that at 57, my new habits are not just improving my current quality of life but may also extend it.
This is so helpful! It reinforces what I’ve been hearing: 2x/week moderate but somewhat challenging strength training, especially if doing complex moves to target multiple, opposing muscle groups, pays big dividends. I’m 65 and only recently developed a consistent 2 x/week strength training habit. I’m seeing positive results. I’m glad to learn it’s helping my brain too!
Thanks for the disclosure of your use of AI—some Stacks are spitting out tons of data/essays/books—so much so it has to be largely AI generated—-it’s clogging my inbox. I unsubscribed due to info overload.
Not your post here—prudent use of AI but collated by a human!
Glad this is helpful to you. Sounds like you’re on a well-informed path to strength training in a balanced way. As for AI, I too am dismayed by how quickly so many creators on Substack are substituting AI slop for original thought and intellectual composition — without disclosing it. Several doctors I’ve noticed doing this, specifically. Essentially, trading on their medical authority to give people anodyne AI answers.
This is just me observing how people age in more remote places, like the mountain town I live in, but those still involved in heavy physical work (chopping wood, gardening, plowing, planting, harvesting) are visibly aging better than those who are not. Men stay active until late years. My neighbor is 83 and fitter than I am. Women live longer on average but are less involved in load bearing activities, and the cognitive decline is more visible. I wonder if this has something to do with decades of different physical load?
so older women in your area are more likely to have cognitive impairment than men, while also being observationally less physically active — wow
Women lose their estrogen after menopause and that leads to cognitive decline, as well as osteoperosis, heart disease and lots of other diseases. That's why the women have more cognitive decline and that's why I use HRT.
This is why I think strength belongs near the center of any serious longevity strategy, not as an optional side quest.
Cardio gets the public glory because it feels like “health.” Supplements get the marketing budget because they feel like control. But muscle is the unglamorous infrastructure: it protects your joints, steadies your glucose, supports your brain, preserves independence, and gives aging fewer places to hide.
In portfolio terms, strength is not a speculative bet. It is capital preservation.
Daniella, that's right. There's two proven longevity drugs: strength training and quality sleep. One is free; the other can be, too, if you use bodyweight only.
Although I wouldn't say muscle is unglamorous. One doesn't need bulging pecs, quads, delts, abs, lats or glutes to feel and look great, of course. Toned is strong, and that's achievable with short, mini-sets done a couple times a day at home. I talk about that as the equivalent of compound interest, and you can explain that power better than me.
Exactly — strength training is compound interest with dumbbells. Unfortunately, unlike money, your muscles notice immediately when you stop making deposits.
Paul, thank you for including women's health particularities in your posts! Having recently re-enlivened my resistance training practice, learning about the link to promoting a healthier brain is just the extra encouragement I need.
Amy Louise, I'm glad these posts are helpful to you. Keep going.
Does kettlebell training count?
Heinz, it absolutely does. Carrying firewood or groceries count. Picking up a child counts. Bodyweight lunges count. Anything that puts your muscles under healthy stress.
Thank you for this post! Just lifted weights today ✔️ my brain 🧠 will thank me for this!
Anney V for the win. Well done. You did your body and brain a solid today. Keep going.
Lean protein? Flip that pyramid ;) great tips
I’ve been trying to make more of my weekly protein plant-based. But I still enjoy chicken, fish and venison.
This was very interesting to me! I joined a functional strength training gym last September and have lifted twice a week since. (I was never much for weights before, preferred cardio.) Around the same time, I went on a GLP-1 that has helped me eat less and lose 45 pounds. Good to know that at 57, my new habits are not just improving my current quality of life but may also extend it.