Fitness Weight Training

Staying Strong Through the Years

Summary & Participants

Strength training is a great way to stay fit and active as you age.

Medically Reviewed On: August 04, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Regular exercise only gets more important as we age.

Rosalind, Strength Training Student: I’m less dependent on other people and the fear of falling or being in the way just kind of vanished.

Rachel Eisenman, Strength Training Instructor: A lot of people tend to lose muscle as they get older, and the older you get, the more that muscle loss accumulates. Strength training, especially, is important across the lifespan.

ANNOUNCER: Strength training is especially great for maintaining good balance.

Rachel Eisenman, Strength Training Instructor: It’s the muscles that catch you if you start to fall.

Helga, Strength Training Student: I go up the stairs without touching the railing. Before I had to move up the stairs with my behind. It was bad.

ANNOUNCER: Of course there are social benefits to exercising, too.

Rachel Eisenman, Strength Training Instructor: You’re working with a group and you can appreciate making new friends and then enjoying the exercise with others.

ANNOUNCER: More older Americans than ever are hitting the gym; in fact, there are over 10 million health club members 55 or older – that’s a whopping increase of 562% since 1987! Strength training not only changes bodies…it changes lives.

Kathleen, Strength Training Student: It really saved my life. It really did. I was afraid walking around the apartment -- and now I’m using a six-pound weight on my legs.

Rosalind, Strength Training Student: I thought the deterioration with the age was something that was just natural and that I had to go through that. But now I don’t feel that, you know, I’m just going to waste away.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily.