The fountain of YOUTH...for men??

Every month or so, I get a new copy of "The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research." Each month has plenty of good information in it. But this months had an article that I knew I had to read it. 

Its been a pursuit of men everywhere since who knows how long. I believe it was Ponce de Leon who was searching for the fountain of youth somewhere in Florida back in the 1600's. But he should have been looking in a weight room.

A recent study by Canadian researchers took 20 older men with an average age of 64 and compared their muscle mass, muscle thickness and bench press/leg press strength levels to groups of younger men with an average age of 24 years old. 

At the beginning of the study, the older group had less muscle mass, less muscle thickness, and strength levels were nearly half that of the younger group. The older group engaged in a resistance training program consisting of bench press, leg press, pulldowns, shoulder press, leg extension, leg curls, biceps curl and triceps extension, for 22 weeks at 3 times per week. 

Hey Cowles, I got your picture!!

At the end of the 22 weeks, the older group had gained over 6 lbs of muscle, with some in the group adding over 14 lbs of muscle!! Their strength levels had increased remarkably, leg press strength increasing by an average of 120 lbs and bench press strength increasing by nearly 70 lbs!

At the end of the 22 weeks, the older group was significantly improved in all measures and were nearly equivalent with the younger group in strength of both leg press and bench press, lean muscle mass and muscle thickness!

The study did not evaluate other health measurements such as cholesterol, blood pressure, resting heart rate, vascular resistance, etc. But this study certainly showed that if you are looking to turn back the clock, strength training is THE WAY to go about it!

So there it is guys, if you aren't lifting at least twice per week, you may be missing the boat!

Stay tuned later this weekend for next week's workout!