How Getting Strong Can Extend Your Life

If you could take a pill that would simultaneously make you look good, feel good, and reduce your mortality risk by over 50%, with essentially no negative side effects, would you take it?

Yeah, I would too.

Unfortunately, such a pill does not exist. Nevertheless, you can achieve all of the above benefits by focusing on one simple thing: getting strong.

While it probably does not strike you as any great revelation that building muscular strength can make you look better and feel better, you may be surprised to learn about a growing body of scientific literature that also shows powerful associations between muscular strength and mortality.

Recently, a group of physicians from Munich, Germany published a systematic review of all English language studies evaluating the impact of muscular strength on mortality risk . To be included in their review, studies needed to have used a validated measure of muscular strength (e.g. hand grip, bench press, knee extension) with mortality as a primary outcome measure. After excluding all studies that didn’t meet these criteria, the authors included 23 studies in their review.

The results of their review were astounding. Of the included studies, “all 23 reported significant risk reductions of all-cause mortality with increased levels of muscular strength.” Several of the studies, in fact, showed greater than 50% reduction in mortality risk in people with higher levels of muscular strength.

Furthermore, several studies included in the review demonstrated powerful associations between muscular strength and decreased mortality specifically from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In one study of 800 men and women age 65 and older, there was a 27% reduction in cardiovascular death and a 19% reduction in cancer death for every standard deviation increase in grip strength. In the Women’s Health and Aging Study, women in the lowest third of hand grip strength had greater than twice the risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to women in the highest third.

Similarly, a study from the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas evaluated the relationship between muscular strength (as measured by the combined one-rep max for bench press and leg press) and cancer mortality in 8,767 men ages 20–80 years old. After correcting for potentially confounding factors such as age, BMI, percent body fat, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness, the risk of cancer death was 39% lower for men in the upper third of strength compared to men in the lower third.

Even in patients with pre-existing chronic diseases, such as hypertension, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, kidney failure, and cancer, higher measured levels of muscular strength were found to be associated with lower rates of mortality.

Why is muscular strength such a powerful predictor of mortality? The authors of the aforementioned systematic review offer several possible answers. First, muscle mass naturally declines with age, and people with greater baseline strength are less likely to become functionally debilitated as they get older. Secondly, people with higher levels of physical strength may be less likely to sustain falls and associated injuries. Finally, and interestingly, recent research has demonstrated that muscle tissues secrete chemicals into the bloodstream known as myokines, which exert direct effects on liver and fatty tissue. These endocrine effects, along with the powerful impact of muscle tissue on glucose metabolism, likely play important roles in maintaining overall health.

So how do you get stronger? Fortunately, the formula for building strength is relatively simple. Focus on lifting heavy weights with compound multi-joint exercises, such as barbell squats, deadlifts, bench press, and military press. Employ a strategy of “progressive overload,” in which you’re consistently adding a small amount of weight to the bar on each exercise with each workout. I’d recommend a program like Mike Matthews’ Bigger, Leaner, Stronger (for men), Thinner, Leaner, Stronger (for women), or Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength.

Making a commitment to being physically strong is one of the most powerful things you can do to ensure your long term health. Get strong, and live long!

Happy Lifting!

-David

I’d love to know what you think! Do you have anything else to add? Let me know in the comments below!