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Barbell Training is Big Medicine by Jonathon Sullivan
This essay is more evidence of the opinion that STRENGTH TRAINING is a valuable and viable effort to an effective Aging Strategy.
Please take the time to read it.
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2011) — People lose 30% of their muscle strength between the ages of 50 and 70 years. However, maintaining muscle strength in old age is enormously important in order to maintain mobility and to be able to lead an independent life and manage everyday tasks independently.
In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Frank Mayer and colleagues from the University of Potsdam conclude that progressive strength (resistance) training counteracts muscular atrophy in old age.
The authors investigated the extent of the effects that can be achieved by strength (resistance) training in elderly persons and which intensities of exercise are useful and possible in persons older than 60 years. They found that regular strength (resistance) training increased muscle strength, reduced muscular atrophy, and that tendons and bones adapt too. These successes in turn had a preventive effect in terms of avoiding falls and injuries.
Greater intensities of training yielded greater effects than moderate and low intensities. In order to increase muscle mass, an intensity of 60-85% of the one-repetition-maximum is required. In order to increase rapidly available muscle force, higher intensities (>85%) are required. The optimum amount of exercise for healthy elderly persons is 3 to 4 training units per week.
In the coming decades, the importance of maintaining the ability to work and to make a living will increase, as will the need for independence in everyday life and leisure activities. The increase in the retirement age to 67 years from 2012 means that one in three adults of working age will be older than 50 by 2020, and by 2050, the proportion of people older than 60 in Germany’s population will rise to an estimated 40%. Currently, the proportion of elderly persons who practice strength (resistance) training is about 10-15%.
U.S. study ranks walnuts as most healthy nuts
LOS ANGELES, March 27 (Xinhua) — Walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut, U.S. researchers have found.
Study findings were presented on Sunday at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Anaheim, Southern California.
Nuts contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat, vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber, and are dairy- and gluten-free, ACS researchers said in the study.
Moreover, nuts contain healthful polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats rather than artery-clogging saturated fat, according to the study.
The researchers based their conclusion on analysis of antioxidants in nine different types of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias and pecans.
They found that walnuts have the highest levels of antioxidants, with plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat, vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber, and are dairy- and gluten- free.
The latest study adds more evidence that walnuts are top nuts for heart-healthy antioxidants, the researchers said.
Previous studies showed that regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter can decrease the risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.
But the latest study is the first to compare both the amount and quality of antioxidants found in different nuts.
“Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts,” said Joe Vinson, Ph.D., who led the latest study.
“A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don’t eat a lot of them. This study suggests that consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet.”
(c) 2011 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Copyright Xinhua News Agency – CEIS 2011
Exercise preserves, builds heart muscle
By Ransdell Pierson Ransdell Pierson – Sat Apr 2, 7:44 pm ET
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Consistent lifelong exercise preserves heart muscle in the elderly to levels that match or even exceed that of healthy young sedentary people, a surprising finding that underscores the value of regular exercise training, according to a new study.
The first study to evaluate the effects of varying levels of lifelong exercise on heart mass was presented on Saturday at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.
It suggested that physical activity preserves the heart’s youthful elasticity, showing that when people were sedentary, the mass of their hearts shrunk with each passing decade.
By contrast, elderly people with a documented history of exercising six to seven times a week throughout adulthood not only kept their heart mass, but built upon it — having heart masses greater than sedentary healthy adults aged 25 to 34.
“One thing that characterizes the aging process by itself is the loss of muscle mass, particularly skeletal muscle,” said Dr. Paul Bhella, a researcher from John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas who presented the study at the conference.
“But we are showing that this process is not unique to skeletal muscle, it also happens in cardiac muscle,” he said. “A heart muscle that atrophies is weaker.”
The study enrolled 121 healthy people with no history of heart disease. Fifty nine were sedentary subjects recruited from the Dallas Heart Study, a large multiethnic sample of Dallas County residents.
Some 62 lifelong exercisers, all over age 65, were recruited mainly from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which had documented their exercise habits over a period of 25 years.
In the new study, exercise was assessed by the number of aerobic exercise sessions per week, rather than intensity or duration. Subjects were broken down into four groups: non-exercisers; casual exercisers (two to three times a week); committed exercisers (four to five times a week) and master athletes (six to seven times a week).
Heart mass measurements, taken using MRIs, showed that sedentary subjects had diminished heart mass as they aged, while lifelong exercisers had heart mass expansion with increasing frequency of exercise.
“The data suggest that if we can identify people in middle age, in the 45 to 60 year range, and get them to exercise four to five times a week, this may go a very long way in preventing some of the major heart conditions of old age, including heart failure,” said Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who headed the study.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot; Editing by Paul Simao)
Marshall PW, McEwen M, Robbins DW
Strength and neuromuscular adaptation following one, four, and eight sets of high intensity resistance exercise in trained males. [JOURNAL ARTICLE]
Eur J Appl Physiol 2011 Mar 31.
The optimal volume of resistance exercise to prescribe for trained individuals is unclear. The purpose of this study was to randomly assign resistance trained individuals to 6-weeks of squat exercise, prescribed at 80% of a 1 repetition-maximum (1-RM), using either one, four, or eight sets of repetitions to failure performed twice per week. Participants then performed the same peaking program for 4-weeks. Squat 1-RM, quadriceps muscle activation, and contractile rate of force development (RFD) were measured before, during, and after the training program. 32 resistance-trained male participants completed the 10-week program. Squat 1-RM was significantly increased for all groups after 6 and 10-weeks of training (P < 0.05). The 8-set group was significantly stronger than the 1-set group after 3-weeks of training (7.9% difference, P < 0.05), and remained stronger after 6 and 10-weeks of training (P < 0.05). Peak muscle activation did not change during the study. Early (30, 50 ms) and peak RFD was significantly decreased for all groups after 6 and 10-weeks of training (P < 0.05). Peak isometric force output did not change for any group. The results of this study support resistance exercise prescription in excess of 4-sets (i.e. 8-sets) for faster and greater strength gains as compared to 1-set training. Common neuromuscular changes are attributed to high intensity squats (80% 1-RM) combined with a repetition to failure prescription. This prescription may not be useful for sports application owing to decreased early and peak RFD. Individual responsiveness to 1-set of training should be evaluated in the first 3-weeks of training.
The below may be of interest, it was sourced from a post off the SUPERTRAINING LIST from Jamie Carruthers:
Delaying age related damage to the nerves and muscle
Excerpt from Deric Brownd blog:
Both exercise and drastic dieting have been shown to have anti-ageing effects in the brain. Studies on mice now suggest that such lifestyle changes preserve communication between nerves and muscles:
The cellular basis of age-related behavioral decline remains obscure but alterations in synapses are likely candidates. Accordingly, the beneficial effects on neural function of caloric restriction and exercise, which are among the most effective anti-aging treatments known, might also be mediated by synapses. As a starting point in testing these ideas, we studied the skeletal neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a large, accessible peripheral synapse. Comparison of NMJs in young adult and aged mice revealed a variety of age-related structural alterations, including axonal swellings, sprouting, synaptic detachment, partial or complete withdrawal of axons from some postsynaptic sites, and fragmentation of the postsynaptic specialization. Alterations were significant by 18 mo of age and severe by 24 mo. A life-long calorie-restricted diet significantly decreased the incidence of pre- and postsynaptic abnormalities in 24-mo-old mice and attenuated age-related loss of motor neurons and turnover of muscle fibers. One month of exercise (wheel running) in 22-mo-old mice also reduced age-related synaptic changes but had no effect on motor neuron number or muscle fiber turnover. Time-lapse imaging in vivo revealed that exercise partially reversed synaptic alterations that had already occurred. These results demonstrate a critical effect of aging on synaptic structure and provide evidence that interventions capable of extending health span and lifespan can partially reverse these age-related synaptic changes.
Having Bigger Waist Raises the Risk of Death, Study SaysJEANNINE STEIN BY JEANNINE STEIN 08-26-10 By Jeannine Stein Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES Having a large waist is associated with a host of potentially serious health issues, such as heart disease, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes and inflammation. According to a new study, it might also be linked to something else: death. Researchers from the Epidemiology Research Program of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta looked at data among 48,500 men and 56,343 women ages 50 and older who took part in the study . Most of the participants were white. In 1997, they supplied their weight and waist circumference. At the beginning of the study the average age was 69 for men and 67 for women. The study participants were followed until 2006, at which point 9,315 men and 5,332 women had died. Having a very large waist – at least 47 inches for men and 43 inches for women – was associated with about twice the risk of death compared with men with waists measuring 35 inches or less and women with waists measuring 30 inches or less. The link was found through all BMI groups, but in women it was strongest among those who were normal weight. Having visceral, or intra-abdominal fat, is considered to be a bigger health risk than fat underneath the skin, or subcutaneous fat, because visceral fat surrounds the internal organs. Researchers also found that men and women with the largest waist circumferences also tended to be less educated, have a high BMI, were physically inactive, used to smoke and had a history of cardiovascular or respiratory disease or cancer. The study was released Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. (C) 2010 The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company All Rights Reserved |
Lack of zinc linked to diabetes
United Press International
07-26-10
A U.S. researcher says zinc may play a role in blood sugar regulation and in avoiding type 2 diabetes.
Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy of the University of Michigan suggests in type 2 diabetes — a protein called amylin forms dense clumps that shut down insulin-producing cells. However, in the presence of zinc, amylin does not form clumps.
“We found that one of the likely factors stopping amylin from attacking the insulin-producing islet cells of the pancreas is zinc, which normally is found in high amounts in these cells, but is deficient in people with type 2 diabetes,” Ramamoorthy says in a statement. “By understanding what stops amylin from attacking islet cells in normal people, we hope we’ll be able to understand how it is attacking them in people with diabetes.”
The research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, suggests zinc prevents amylin — also known as Islet Amyloid Polypeptide — from forming harmful clumps.
Ramamoorthy and colleagues looked at how amylin acts with and without zinc present using several methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
“Ultimately, we want to understand how the whole scenario leads to type 2 diabetes,” Ramamoorthy says.
Copyright United Press International 2010
Q: What are the some of the important roles of Resistance Training and Protein Synthesis?
A: Resistance Training is a highly effective way to increase muscle protein synthesis, which result in specific metabolic and biological changes within muscle. The underlying theme of muscle anabolism (muscle building; i.e. hypertrophy) is when the rate of muscle protein synthesis exceeds protein degradation (breakdown) for an extensive period of time (Koopman 2007).Koopman also explains that following strenuous exercise, protein degradation is accelerated beyond that of protein synthesis. Consequently if food intake is deficient, total protein balance remains negative. As a result, clients and athletes should strive to consume both carbohydrates and protein following exercise (including resistance training) to achieve a positive protein balance. The relationship between exercise and nutrition is extremely important to promote adaptation and muscle anabolism to training.
Resistance Training and Protein Synthesis
The primary adaptive response to resistance training is the increase in muscle hypertrophy, which is indicative to the load applied (i.e. weight). Phillips (2002) emphasizes that increased loading augments muscle protein synthesis and degradation and this training induced increase in protein turnover ultimately promotes protein remodeling, thus further adaptation. Previous research shows that resistance training clearly enhances muscle protein synthesis and that a single bout of resistance training elevates protein synthesis rates within 2-4 hours (3,4,5). These research studies also demonstrate additional protein synthesis rates lasting between 24-48 hours. It should be noted these increases in protein synthesis (also termed fractional synthetic rate) are primarily due to increases in myofibrillar (actin and myosin contractile proteins) rates.
The Role of Carbohydrates on Protein Synthesis
The role of carbohydrate on muscle metabolism, specifically protein metabolism has been credited with the rise of insulin concentrations in bodily tissues. Early research shows the increased plasma insulin level to enhance net muscle protein anabolism in humans (6,7,8). However, previous research from Biolo (9) suggests that insulin should not be viewed as the major influence of muscle protein synthesis, as insulin yields only a moderate effect on muscle protein synthesis if amino acid levels are less than optimal.
Protein and Amino Acids
Aside from providing a foundation for protein synthesis, amino acids also serve to produce certain hormones (i.e. glucagon, growth hormone, and IGF-1). In Addition, amino acids can stimulate ‘nutritional signaling molecules’ by regulating muscle protein metabolism, although the exact physiological mechanism(s) for this response are still unknown. More importantly, amino acids can alter mRNA translation and protein synthesis within skeletal muscle. Previous reports suggest that intake of large amounts (30-40g) of amino acids upon cessation of exercise greatly increase muscle protein synthesis. Furthermore, smaller quantities of amino acids with and without carbohydrate have also shown to accelerate post -exercise protein synthesis and promote net protein balance (difference between muscle protein synthesis and breakdown). (10,11,12). The importance of post-exercise protein consumption is incredible valuable to optimize the anabolic response to training.
References
1). Koopman R, Nutritional interventions to promote post-exercise muscle protein synthesis. Sports Med. 2007;37(10):895-906. Review.
2). Phillips SM, Parise G, Roy BD, Tipton KD, Wolfe RR, Tamopolsky MA. Resistance training-induced adaptations in skeletal muscle protein turnover in the fed state.
Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2002 Nov;80(11):1045-53.
3). Chesley A, MacDougall JD, Tarnopolsky MA, Atkinson SA, Smith K. Changes in human muscle protein synthesis after resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol. 1992 Oct;73(4):1383-8
4). MacDougall JD, Gibala MJ, Tarnopolsky MA, MacDonald JR, Interisano SA, Yarasheski KE. The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. Can J Appl Physiol. 1995 Dec;20(4):480-6.
5). Phillips SM, Tipton KD, Aarsland A, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. Mixed muscle protein synthesis and breakdown after resistance exercise in humans. Am J Physiol. 1997 Jul;273(1 Pt 1)
6). Fryburg DA, Jahn LA, Hill SA, Oliveras DM, Barrett EJ. Insulin and insulin-like growth factor-I enhance human skeletal muscle protein anabolism during hyperaminoacidemia by different mechanisms. J Clin Invest. 1995 Oct;96(4):1722-9
7). Gelfand RA, Barrett EJ. Effect of physiologic hyperinsulinemia on skeletal muscle protein synthesis and breakdown in man. J Clin Invest. 1987 Jul;80(1):1-6
8). Hillier TA, Fryburg DA, Jahn LA, Barrett EJ. Extreme hyperinsulinemia unmasks insulin’s effect to stimulate protein synthesis in the human forearm. Am J Physiol. 1998 Jun;274(6 Pt 1)
9). Biolo G, Declan Fleming RY, Wolfe RR. Physiologic hyperinsulinemia stimulates protein synthesis and enhances transport of selected amino acids in human skeletal muscle.J Clin Invest. 1995 Feb;95(2):811-9
10). Børsheim E, Tipton KD, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. Essential amino acids and muscle protein recovery from resistance exercise. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Oct;283(4)
11). Miller SL, Tipton KD, Chinkes DL, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. Independent and combined effects of amino acids and glucose after resistance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Mar;35(3):449-55.
12). Rasmussen BB, Tipton KD, Miller SL, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. An oral essential amino acid-carbohydrate supplement enhances muscle protein anabolism after resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol. 2000 Feb;88(2):386-92.
Jonathan Mike, MS, CSCS, USAW, NSCA-CPT, Doctoral Student, Assistant Editor
September 20, 2011
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