STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

OVERVIEW

A decrease in muscle mass and strength can have wide reaching effects on your physical health, mental health, mobility, and quality of life. It is a big contributing factor to frailty, osteopenia (loss of bone strength), bone fracture risk, and loss of independence. One of the ways to prevent or slow the loss of muscle is through regular resistance training (e.g., weightlifting or similar exercises), as well as a host of other benefits. 

There is plenty of evidence stating resistance training is safe and healthy for adults of all ages (1). Even for elite athletes the basic principles of weightlifting (specificity, overload, variability, individualization, periodization) still apply and work out programs should include them (1,2). 

Strength and conditioning is a vital part of an athlete’s life. As you age, that doesn’t change. Maybe the reasons why you lift or go for a run changes, but the importance of it stays the same. You will not find specific work out programs here. Instead you will find the basic principles that you need to make your own program, tailored to fit your needs, body, and goals.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

There are muscular changes (decreased mass, power, speed) that occur with aging and come with a decline in performance. But you can still see strength gains, you can push yourself to new personal records, and you can still compete (3).

  • Do a combo of resistance and aerobic training.

  • Trying to keep up performance? Power training may be the best bet, as that is more related to performance than just overall strength. Power specific training will help keep your motor neurons and muscle mass optimized (3).

THE science & reality

Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass. 

  • This doesn’t start until age 50 in adults that keep training, then seen at 0.5–1% decline per year, which gets faster if training stops (3).

Dynapenia is loss of muscle strength.

  • This decreases at about 1% per year, with a faster rate after the age of 60 (4). 

Why does this happen? With aging there is a decrease in the amount of type II fibers (aka fast twitch) in muscles, as well as decrease in the overall numbers of motor units (which is the neuron and the specific muscles it attaches to). There is decreased conduction speed, decreased neuron signaling, and increasing size of the remaining motor units, none of which helps. Add in the loss of tendon stiffness, you see a decrease in the rate of force production which is important for fast, dynamic, explosive movements (3,4,5).

  • This combination has been shown to contribute, in competitive weight lifters, a loss of 1–1.5% competitive capacity per year between the ages of 30–70. 

Those that go through menopause see a decrease in lean muscle mass over the transition, with the decline lasting up to two years post-menopausal. For that period of time, it seems that keeping high levels of exercise around the late perimenopausal time is key to keeping more muscle mass (6).

OTHER EFFECTS

Loss of overall muscle can increase risk of diabetes, as healthy muscles help prevent onset of this disease (5).

The aerobic capacity of muscle decreases faster after 50, which also ties into cardiovascular health. Good news is that staying active across your lifetime can limit this decline (5). 

Weight gain with age is not unexpected but is not inevitable.

  • After 25, regular physical activity can mitigate some of the weight gain with moderate and fast walking being more effective than swimming or slow cycling. 

  • Those that stayed highly active were more likely to keep their starting weight and not gain any weight. 

  • For women, it appears that even low intensity physical activity will help prevent more weight gain than no activity.

  • A key take away is that being more consistent over many years is more important than just looking at weekly activities (7).

Females at any age were found to have faster strength gains relative to their starting strength. The biggest strength gains are seen in the first year of exercise, but even at a higher age, athletes were able to make significant new strength gains and maintain them after multiple years with consistent exercise (4).

World health organization strength & conditioning RECOMMENDATIONS

SOME IS BETTER THAN NONE
Even if you can’t go 100%, it’s better to do something rather than nothing. 

The intensity level will change based on how you’re feeling, your baseline fitness, age, and capability. What matters is that it feels moderate or vigorous to you.

FOR ADULTS 18–64

  • 150–300 minutes per week of moderate aerobic physical activity;

  • or 75–150 minutes per week of vigorous intensity physical activity;

  • or a combination of the two 

You should also undertake moderate or higher level intensity of specific muscle strengthening activities two or more days a week (i.e., don’t just run or bike or swim – throw weightlifting in as well).

FOR ADULTS OVER 65
The recommendations are the same but add more balance and strength training for 3 or more days a week.

DESIGNING A STRENGTH & CONDITIONING PROGRAM FOR YOU

ASK YOURSELF: WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?

i.e., Do I want to compete in weightlifting competitions? Do I want to crawl on the floor after the dog/cat/kids and be able to get back up? Do I want to run a half marathon? 

TAKE STOCK OF YOUR BODY AS IT IS RIGHT NOW

  • Be honest. What hurts? What have you injured in the past? What exercises do you avoid, or body areas you don’t train?

  • Where is your current level of fitness, ability, and health?

  • What is your current level of training, knowledge, experience in movements you want to do?

START WORKING ON THE THINGS YOU LISTED ABOVE

  • See injury prevention*

  • You may not have to postpone starting training toward your new goal, but if you ignore it and don’t work on it, it will affect your progress and body at some point. 

CREATE THE NITTY GRITTY

  • Make your exercise program with the lifts and activities you want, tailored to fit your goal

    • Consider having exercises that cross multiple joints, mimicking fundamental patterns of movement (3)

  • Build in rest/recovery and other activities 

THE NATIONAL STRENGTH & CONDITIONING ASSOCIATION’S SPECIFIC SETS/REPS RECOMMENDATIONS

  • 2–3 times per week of 2–3 sets of 1–2 multijoint exercises for each of the major muscle groups

  • Intensity should be 70–85% of your 1 rep max (RM)

  • Sessions should also include power exercises at lower weights (40–60% of 1RM), focusing on speed production (1)

the non-negotiables

PUSH YOURSELF – DON’T BREAK YOURSELF

  • Going till total muscle fatigue, failure, and causing overload will likely cause loss of exercise form, and loss of speed, increase risk of injury, loss of usefulness of the exercise (3)

  • Consider avoiding 1 rep max test, using predictor tests to get a 1RM number

    • Exercise load during a lifting day should be tailored to how you’re feeling. What you can lift with your 80% effort one day may not be the same the next – and that’s okay! Meet yourself where you are each day. 

      • Training load is based on “effort perception,” not absolute number

      • This may feel a little frustrating looking at the total amount of weights lifted, but will propel you forward in the long run (3)

TECHNIQUE IS KEY: FIND A COACH TO CHECK OR TEACH PROPER FORM

  • Having poor form is a huge cause of injury (3)

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency!
Short- and long-term gains come from being consistent over a longer period.

TRAINING HABITS OF ELITE WEIGHTLIFTERS OVER AGE 35

Competitive weightlifting is a fast-growing sport for all ages and experience levels.
Want to know how they do it while still growing older?

  • Most exercised an average of 3–4 days a week at 1.5–2 hours per lifting session, with a slight decline to 1–1.5 hours per lift as they age

    • Females still averaged the same total hours per week with increasing age while males decreased, and females may have a higher ability to train more frequently (2)

  • Athletes found it was important to do other training (endurance, team sports, etc) too

  • Typical workout setup:

    • Warm up (0–15 minutes)

    • Competitive lifts then accessory lifts (30–60 minutes)

    • Strength exercises and supplementary exercises (15–45 minutes)

    • Cool down (0–15 minutes)

REFERENCES

  1. Fragala, M. S., Cadore, E. L., Dorgo, S., Izquierdo, M., Kraemer, W. J., Peterson, M. D., & Ryan, E. D. (2019). Resistance Training for Older Adults: Position Statement From the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(8), 2019–2052. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003230 

  2. Huebner, M., Faber, F., Currie, K., & Rieger, T. (2022). How Do Master Weightlifters Train? A Transnational Study of Weightlifting Training Practices and Concurrent Training. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052708 

  3. Jofré-Saldía, E., Villalobos-Gorigoitía, Á., & Gea-García, G. (2022). Methodological Proposal for Strength and Power Training in Older Athletes: A Narrative Review. Current Aging Science, 15, 135-146. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874609815666220228153646 

  4. Latella, C., Hoek, D. v. d., Wolf, M., Androulakis‑Korakakis, P., Fisher, J. P., & Steele, J. (2024). Using Powerlifting Athletes to Determine Strength Adaptations Across Ages in Males and Females: A Longitudinal Growth Modelling Approach. Sports Medicine, 54, 753–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01962-6 

  5. McGregor, R. A., Cameron-Smith, D., & Poppitt, S. D. (2014). It is not just muscle mass: a review of muscle quality, composition and metabolism during ageing as determinants of muscle function and mobility in later life. Longevity & Healthspan, 3(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-2395-3-9 

  6. Sipilä, S., Törmäkangas, T., Kovanen, V., & Laakkonen, E. K. (2020). Muscle and bone mass in middle-aged women: role of menopausal status and physical activity. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 11, 698–709. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcsm.12547 

  7. Littman, A. J., Kristal, A. R., & White, E. (2005). Effects of physical activity intensity, frequency, and activity type on 10-y weight change in middle-aged men and women. International Journal of Obesity, 29(5), 524-533. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802886 

  8. Bull, F. C., Al-Ansari, S. S., Biddle, S., Borodulin, K., Buman, M. P., Cardon, G., Carty, C., Chaput, J.-P., Chastin, S., Chou, R., Dempsey, P. C., Dipietro, L., Ekelund, U., Firth, J., Friedenreich, C. M., Garcia, L., Gichu, M., Jago, R., Katzmarzyk, P. T.,…Willumsen, J. F. (2020). World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(24), 1451-1462. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-102955