While many people understand the vitality benefits of cardio activities and maintaining a healthy body weight, I am frequently surprised at how few seem to grasp the importance of weight-bearing and resistance training in order to build and maintain healthy muscle mass. The fact is that unless our job is physically exerting, even those that maintain a regular exercise regime today have a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. Maintaining strength and agility requires a concerted effort at maintaining muscle mass as we age.
Over the years, I have heard several people explain that they don’t train with weight because they do not want to “get bulky”, which is a very naive statement. Anyone who has ever tried to put on muscle mass, knows that it is actually quite difficult to add bulk. That said keeping muscles strong and lean has wide ranging health benefits from metabolism boosting, to agility, balance, and disease fighting. See: How to keep your muscles strong as you age.
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