Midlife comes with a number of inevitabilities: restaurants seem darker and louder, things which once bored us suddenly become of great interest, and our bodies don’t work quite as well as they used to.
We all know that staying active is an important part of ageing well, but while many of us simply take up walking or cycling, strength training is often an overlooked part of the puzzle.
Given that a major study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that around two hours of strength training a week can help to increase life expectancy, it is certainly something worth paying attention to.
“After 40, strength training becomes less about aesthetics and more about longevity, mobility, and resilience,” says Hamid Ghasemi, a personal trainer at Virgin Active with more than 20 years of experience. “We naturally lose muscle mass, bone density and joint stability with age, but the right exercises can slow – and even reverse – these declines.
“Focusing on functional, compound movements with both free weights and bodyweight, helps to maintain strength, co-ordination and independence.”
