subjects could walk almost 40 percent farther without a rest after 12 weeks of weight training. Such endurance can come in handy for your next shopping trip, but there’s an even better reason to pep up your gait.
Among seniors, insufficient leg strength is a powerful predictor of future disabilities, including the inability to walk. An 89-year-old senior interviewed in Successful Aging said that after two years of weightlifting, “I walk straight instead of shuffling. It gives me lots of energy. My family can’t believe it.”
Ease in performing day-to-day tasks. By giving you the strength to handle your daily routines, weightlifting can help you maintain your independence. Researchers at the University of Alabama found that healthy women ages 60 to 77 who lifted weights three hours each week for 16 weeks could carry groceries and get up from a chair with much less effort than before.
Prevention of broken bones. Weightlifting can protect you from devastating fractures in several ways. For one, the exercises boost your strength, balance, and agility, making it less likely that you’ll suffer a nasty fall.
A study at Tufts University found that older women who lifted weights for a year improved their balance by 14 percent. (A control group composed of women who didn’t lift weights suffered a
