Strength training may be the key to healthy ageing
Healthy ageing is about staying independent, maintaining mobility and continuing to enjoy everyday activities as you get older. For many people, what matters most is being able to get out of a chair without help, carry shopping home, climb the stairs and recover quickly after illness.
One of the most important and well-established factors in healthy ageing is muscle strength. Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, leads to reduced physical function and mobility.
Over time, muscles become smaller and weaker. This matters because muscle does more than move our limbs: it stabilises joints, supports balance and acts as a reserve during illness or injury.
As muscle strength declines, the risk of falls and fractures increases, particularly in later life. Estimates suggest that sarcopenia affects a substantial proportion of older adults, particularly those over the age of 70.
Sarcopenia is also more widespread in certain groups. Work conducted by my colleagues and I has shown that adults living with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) are at an increased risk of sarcopenia. The good news is that the most effective treatment for sarcopenia is exercise training.
Most people know that physical activity benefits health. However, different types of activity have different effects on the body. Activities such as walking or cycling mainly improve heart and lung fitness. Others are better at strengthening muscles.
Research shows that not all types of activity are equally effective for improving muscle strength and physical function. Because muscle plays such a central role in movement, balance and recovery from illness, maintaining it becomes a key target for healthy ageing.
Strength training, also known as resistance exercise, involves working muscles against a force. This can include lifting weights such as dumbbells, using gym machines or resistance bands, or using your own body weight in exercises such as squats, step-ups or press-ups.
Strength training is the most effective way to maintain or improve muscle strength as we age, so should be the foundation of any programme aimed at healthy ageing. It also improves everyday physical abilities such as walking speed, standing up from a chair and overall mobility.
Strength training routines
Effective strength training routines can take many forms. The most important step is getting started and continuing consistently.
Exercises that target the lower body, such as squats or the leg press, are especially important because these muscles allow us to get out of a chair, climb stairs and move confidently. But upper body muscles including the chest, back and arms are also important. They help us carry shopping, lift objects and maintain posture, all of which support independence.
Strength training does not just mean lifting the heaviest weights in the gym. What matters most is that the exercise feels challenging. By the end of a set, your muscles should feel tense and fatigued.
Lighter weights can be just as effective if they are lifted more times. For example, performing 20 to 25 repetitions with a lighter weight can produce similar improvements to lifting a heavier weight ten times, provided the effort is high.
It is also not necessary to train every day. Evidence suggests a single session per week can be enough to produce meaningful gains in strength, particularly in people new to training.
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Strength training works best when combined with adequate nutrition, particularly sufficient dietary protein, which provides the building blocks muscles need to repair and grow. Starting gradually and building up over time can reduce the risk of injury.
Exercises can also be adapted for people with joint pain or long-term conditions, and support from qualified professionals can help ensure training is safe and appropriate.
Despite strong evidence for its benefits, participation in strength training remains low. Many people report barriers such as lack of confidence, uncertainty about how to start, fear of injury or the belief that gyms are not for them.
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Low participation reflects not only personal barriers but a longstanding emphasis on aerobic activity in public health messaging. For many years, public health guidance focused mainly on aerobic activity such as walking, running or cycling, and gave less emphasis to muscle strengthening.
Although strength training is now included in national and international physical activity guidelines, it remains underused – and adherence to these guidelines remains poor.
But there are signs of change. The UK Health and Social Care select committee is currently examining how physical activity can support healthy ageing, with strength training forming part of the discussion. If acted upon, these MPs’ recommendations could influence future investment in community exercise programmes and support services.
Campaigns such as the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Stronger My Way also aim to increase awareness and confidence around strength training.
The next step is to translate growing awareness into practical action. For most adults, this means aiming to do muscle strengthening activities at least once or twice a week, targeting the major muscle groups of the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms. Many people can begin at home using body weight exercises, then gradually increase the difficulty as their strength improves.
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Our work has shown that older people are willing to try strength training, even if they have never done it before, when exercises are tailored to their needs and supervised by qualified professionals. It is never too late to begin. Research shows that even people in their 80s and 90s can build or maintain muscle strength with appropriate support.
Maintaining muscle strength is one of the most accessible, effective and low-cost ways to influence how well we age. The ability to rise from a chair, steady yourself on uneven ground or carry a bag of groceries may seem ordinary, but it is deeply meaningful. These small acts underpin independence and dignity.
Strength training is not about aesthetics or performance. It is about preserving function, confidence and your quality of life for as long as possible.
Christopher Hurst is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (reference: NIHR203309). The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute for Health and Care Research or the Department of Health and Social Care.