Lift for Life: Resistance Training and Longevity by Jerry Brainum 11/23

 

With the recent increase in deaths among prominent bodybuilders, some people get the impression that bodybuilding has become a dangerous, life-threatening activity. Winston Churchill once noted, "Sports is murder."  In a sense, that's true, but there are some caveats to that notion. The basis of bodybuilding is resistance training, primarily lifting weights such as barbells, dumbells, and various types of resistance-training machines and devices. Resistance training is unquestionably the best way to develop greater muscle mass because it imposes an overload on working muscles that the muscles respond to by growing. A differentiation must be made between bodybuilding and bodybuilding competition. Bodybuilding, defined as regularly engaging in resistance training, is always healthy. However, bodybuilding competition often involves the use of various anabolic drugs, such as anabolic steroids and growth hormone, as well as others that have possibly serious side effects. Having known many of the elite bodybuilding champions of the last 50 years, I can tell you that none of them enjoys using anabolic drugs but feel they are necessary to compete on even ground with their competitors. And that is the truth since you cannot compete on the professional level in bodybuilding without using a wide array of anabolic drugs.

A question that frequently arises is, what are the long-term effects of using high-dose anabolic drugs for extended times? All drugs have side effects, or they wouldn't work, and the extent of side effects depends on time and dosage, meaning how long you use them and how much you use. Using higher doses dramatically increases the risks of more immediate side effects that can range from mild to fatal. However, no study has yet shown a direct link between the use of anabolic drugs and death. The effects are always indirect, such as the drugs promoting negative changes in cardiovascular function that can lead to death. However, an animal study published about 20 years ago showed that when the animals were provided with anabolic steroid drugs in doses that approximate what human athletes use, it cut short their lives by an average of 15%. No human study has confirmed this, although one study did find higher mortality rates in retired competitive powerlifters who hadn't used any anabolic drugs in years.

So, the practice of bodybuilding competition that involves the use of anabolic drugs will probably limit longevity. But what about resistance training itself? How does regular resistance training (RT) affect the longevity? 

When I began regular weight training at age 12, my initial goal involved promoting longevity. I reasoned that having larger muscles and greater strength was likely conducive to increased longevity. I had no scientific basis for affirming such thoughts, but bodybuilders I saw in magazines seemed to look healthier than most other people. From a scientific point of view, for years, the advice for those seeking a longevity effect from exercise was to focus on aerobic exercise. The reason for . . .