🚨 Breaking News: The Secret Age Where Strength Training Matters Most

The New York Times’ Opinion Page Agrees.

Photo by Julia Taubitz on Unsplash

We all know by now that if you read this newsletter, strength training is important.

But there might be an age where lifting — and alternative therapies like hormone replacement, namely — make more sense than any other.

According to a New York Times’ Opinion released late last year, that age might be 40 and over.

Newsletter Summary:

• Why 40 and up are the best years to lift weights (and ditch HIIT) according to doctors

• What causes the need for hormone therapy and who needs it

The Best Time to Strength Train

Is actually any age.

But the years where it could add extra insurance to your life — protection from injury, hormonal balance, and keep you out of the PT offices — are after 40, according to Times’ Climate editor Eliza Barclay.

“New research shows that the bodies of men and women may age in waves, with one significant acceleration in our mid-40s (and another in our early 60s).

Acknowledging our 40s as a turning point can help demystify this era, allowing us to see it for what it is: a crucial time to counter some aspects of aging and the more punishing health problems that could lie ahead.

Fortunately, there’s good science on how to do that, specifically through strength training and hormone therapy, the latter more often recommended for women than men.

Rarely are people in their 40s getting these messages.

It’s true.

The brand of exercise that’s been sold to middle-aged adults (dramatically incorrectly, I might add) is high-intensity cardio, yoga, and bootcamps that leave you susceptible to injury and (wait for it)… don’t get you stronger.

Let’s be honest, too.

Those types of classes aren’t always fun.

People need something they can adhere to and enjoy like… *cough* a good relationship with a personal trainer.

It’s no wonder less than 25% of people actually meet exercise guidelines on a weekly basis.

The paradigm needs to change on exercise prescription, and while I’d love for it to start with doctors, it’s really going to come from word of mouth and newsletters like mine.

What about hormone therapy?

Hormone therapy like testosterone replacement therapy gets buzz in the news these days for aging men.

Truthfully, minds like Peter Attia even admit that a lot less men need TRT after 40 and could probably naturally fix testosterone with better diets and sleep habits.

Still, the issue for estrogen in women after 40 might need more of our attention.

The same Times’ article discusses how perimenopausal symptoms in women can actually be alleviated by hormone therapy (and it’s criminally under-prescribed, too):

“There is a treatment, hardly obscure, known as menopausal hormone therapy, that eases hot flashes and sleep disruption and possibly depression and aching joints. It decreases the risk of diabetes and protects against osteoporosis. It also helps prevent and treat menopausal genitourinary syndrome, a collection of symptoms, including urinary-tract infections and pain during sex, that affects nearly half of postmenopausal women.”

Along with enhancing longevity, this type of therapy sounds like it gets rid of a lot of annoying things that come with aging as a woman.

Why we’re not talking about more hormone therapy for women more concerns me, but my guess is that costs right now are likely too high for most women to have easy access.

My hope is that if more people try strength training — whether working with a trainer or educating yourself about the benefits of simply lifting heavy and lifting hard — more people will realize it’s way better than the plethora of combined nonsense that some group fitness offering package into their classes nowadays.

Nothing but love for my group fitness peeps, but there’s an ideal demographic for everything.