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Muscular strength and balance -

I start with giving her knee extensions with a light 55 pounds for a warm up. To keep her balanced, I have her do ten reps each with her toes pointed straight, pointed in, and pointed out. This particular set of exercises is great for balance in the muscles and tendons around the knees.

When we move to the inner and outer thigh machine to work the abductors and adductors, I employ negative training. I help her push the weight out, but then let her use the weight to slowly bring it back in.

This helps Joan balance all sides of her legs with close to matching weights which in turn protects the hips and knees. Next it's on to the back. I use at least three different exercises targeting each major muscle.

This means we not only hit every muscle, but every area of every muscle for maximum balance. Like when we do triceps, we do exercises overhand, underhand, and with rope pull downs. There will always be debate in the fitness industry over repetitions versus weights.

Some people like to use heavier weights with fewer reps, while others sing the praises of lighter weights and more reps.

You'll find me in the latter camp. Bodybuilders and powerlifters who focus primarily on heavy resistance and low repetitions can be more vulnerable to tendinitis. By using slightly lighter weights with a repetition range generally around 8 to 15 repetitions, you can achieve muscle gains while also strengthening tendons and avoiding injury.

To really push muscle conditioning in a particular area, I have my clients get into high-rep burnouts: lighter weights with higher repetitions.

Balance in muscle strength is so important. By strengthening every part of every muscle, you help your clients get sleek, strong, balanced bodies and avoid injury and pain. All Categories Anatomy Audio Blogs Behavior Change Business More. BY: Jennifer Sargent Byrd DATE: First Name.

Last Name. Email Address. Based on these findings, strength training is highly beneficial for counteracting functional decline during middle age.

Moreover, the network analysis revealed the effects of specific intervention types on specific capacity domains and balance subcomponents in specific subgroups. This information may inform specific guidelines for tailored training during middle age to promote healthy aging.

No RCT with outcome measures on falls or fall injuries was found. Strong and significant effects on lower limb muscle strength were found when strength training was performed, either alone or combined with step aerobic or endurance exercise. This is in line with the analyses by Ferreira et al.

Interestingly, the effect sizes in our analysis were comparable or even greater when strength training was combined with other intervention types. This finding is consistent with a study by Irving et al.

This is important because mixed interventions have the potential to improve other aspects of health in addition to muscle strength, e. As well, they are more varied and therefore could be more motivating and appropriate for holistic prevention programs.

Focusing on specific populations, we present evidence for several intervention types that can be recommended: in middle-aged women of at least 50 years, our results suggest that water-based interventions may increase lower limb muscle strength equivalent to strength training. Water-based interventions benefit from the physical properties of water, including buoyancy and hydrostatic pressure, resulting in high training resistances comparable to those of weights.

Additionally, water-based interventions have beneficial effects on blood pressure [ 57 , 58 ] and bone metabolism [ 59 ]. Of course, not only the content water-based interventions or strength training but also the loading scheme e.

differed between the studies. Thus, there might be multiple factors responsible for the observed consistency in effect size between water-based training and strength training. In middle-aged adults above 50 years, muscle strength is also increased by step aerobic training.

In addition, physically inactive individuals benefit from strength training or strength—endurance training. Accordingly, in specific subgroups, effects on muscle strength can be achieved through different interventions.

Given that only a minority of people over the age of 50 engage in regular strength training [ 60 ], it is crucial to both promote strength training and offer attractive alternatives to reach a broader population.

This could be because these types of interventions do not correspond to the principles of the training of muscle strength. To adapt structurally and functionally and increase muscle strength, our organisms need overloads and specific, biomechanically relevant stimuli [ 61 ].

Accordingly, these interventions cannot be recommended for improving muscle strength in middle-aged adults, based on the current evidence. When maximum strength was analyzed, strong effects of strength training alone or combined with step aerobic or endurance exercise were evident. Maximum strength is the most prevalent domain of muscle strength in our research and a crucial component for many functional activities such as jumping, running or changing direction [ 62 ].

However, recent studies discuss a more dominant role of muscle power in terms of physical function [ 63 , 64 ] and prevention of falls [ 65 ].

Despite the relationship between maximum strength and muscle power [ 66 , 67 ], muscle power was not significantly improved by strength training in our analysis. This is surprising, as de Resende-Neto et al.

They concluded that the physiological stress has greater impact on functional performance than the specific type of strength training in older women. This is consistent with the results of a meta-analysis by Moran et al. demonstrating that jump training, a functional exercise, can improve muscle power in older adults [ 33 ].

Given its importance for functional status [ 69 ], there is an urgent need to fill this lack of evidence with high-quality studies. Based on our analysis, 3D training, strength training and strength training combined with step aerobic can be considered effective in improving postural balance in middle age and can be recommended as a countermeasure to prevent age-related balance decline.

Strength training improved balance also in subgroups at increased risk of falls and functional decline inactive, older, female middle-aged adults. These results are in line with previous meta-analyses showing significant effects of resistance training [ 72 ] and 3D training [ 73 ] on postural balance in older populations.

Our review highlights that these effects are also evident in middle age. Moreover, our findings suggest that people over the age of 50 years reap a greater benefit from these types of training, as compared to those below the age of 50 years. We speculate that older participants have more room for improving balance control via training.

On the same note, our findings may be attributed to the fact that we included only 16 studies with a mean age below 50 years. Of these, only seven measured postural balance, again highlighting the lack of evidence in middle-aged adults.

Choy et al. Therefore, when aiming to prevent balance disorders, this age is a critical time point, and the lack of evidence is problematic. This is surprising since previous meta-analyses presented effects of balance training on balance performance in youth [ 74 ], young adults [ 75 ] and older adults [ 76 ].

To obtain an overall balance score, we included only the most relevant of each study for functional capacity [ 35 ]. Therefore, significant results may not have been considered in the primary analysis. Functional and balance training are difficult to separate as most functional activities also require balance skills.

However, primarily functional training such as stair climbing [ 77 ] or jumping exercises [ 48 ] seems more likely to lead to significant changes in muscle strength, while primary balance training such as single-leg stance is more likely to improve specific skills of postural balance.

At the same time, postural balance training is highly task-specific [ 78 , 79 , 80 ]. Accordingly, grouping functional and balance training into a single category could lead to an underestimation of their respective effects on strength and balance. Instead, a differentiated consideration of postural balance training according to the subdomains of postural balance [ 32 ] might be more appropriate.

Water-based exercise is recommended for older adults with balance impairment [ 81 ] and appears to be effective in improving balance in older adults [ 82 ] and individuals with neurological diseases [ 83 , 84 ]. Our analysis discovered no significant effects on postural balance in middle-aged adults.

However, given the revealed impact on muscle strength, water-based exercises are an interesting intervention for preventing functional decline and falls; further studies are needed to explore their actual potential. Strength—endurance training was also not effective in improving postural balance.

Two strength—endurance training studies [ 85 , 86 ] were included in the analysis of postural balance. While Park et al. Accordingly, current evidence does not support a conclusion on the impact of strength—endurance training on postural balance, mainly since these two studies used very different outcome measures for different balance domains.

Considering the positive effects of endurance training on motor learning [ 87 ], further studies should investigate the effectiveness of this mixed intervention type on balance and other fall risk factors.

In line with previous meta-analyses in non-frail populations, whole-body vibration did not significantly affect postural balance in middle-aged adults [ 88 , 89 ]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effects of PA on subdomains of postural balance in middle-aged adults.

Studies by Muehlbauer et al. Thus, we also analyzed the included studies regarding the different domains of balance defined by Shumway-Cook and Woollacott [ 32 ]. In line with previous reviews on older adults [ 76 , 89 ], static balance was the most widely tested balance domain in our review on middle-aged adults.

Previous studies and meta-analyses found significant effects of several physical intervention types on different postural balance domains in young and older adults [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 89 , 93 , 94 ].

One reason for this may be that some studies [ 48 , 53 , 95 , 96 ] used balance measures that may not be sensitive for healthy middle-aged adults, such as measures of the center of pressure displacements during static bipedal stance [ 18 , 97 ] or habitual gait speed [ 98 ].

The application of center of pressure measures during single-legged stance with eyes closed, bipedal stance on a foam surface [ 18 ] and maximum gait speed appear to be more valid measures [ 98 ]. Despite the relatively high number of 23 data points for static balance and nine data points for dynamic balance, current evidence supports only strength training to improve static and dynamic balance capacity, highlighting the importance of strength training in middle-aged adults.

Proactive balance was the second most frequently assessed balance domain 20 data points; e. Previous studies have demonstrated effects on this domain by strength training [ 99 ] and balance training [ 76 ] in older adults.

Consistent with these findings, our results indicate that strength training, strength—aerobic training and 3D training [ ] are effective interventions in middle-aged adults. Both step aerobic exercise and 3D training involve a high extent of movement planning, anticipation of postural disturbance and efficient transfer of bodyweight from one part of the body to another.

These specific abilities are closely related to proactive balance [ 32 ]. Based on this, we recommend 3D training, strength training, or strength training combined with step aerobic training to improve proactive balance.

However, further high-quality studies are needed to confirm this. Reactive balance, which is closely related to falls [ ] and probably the most critical balance domain for fall prevention, was only measured in one study [ ].

Based on this, no conclusion can be drawn on the effects of PA interventions on reactive balance in middle-aged adults. This is not surprising as reactive balance is severely underrepresented in the clinic [ ], and there has been relatively little research on reactive balance testing [ ].

We included only one study by Deibert et al. Emerging technologies [ , ] offer measures that are probably more valid to assess reactive balance and likely to be adaptable to middle-aged adults.

Future studies should address this task. Despite an extensive search for this review, no study investigating the effects of PA on falls or injury-related falls in middle-aged adults was found.

Ferreira et al. Pereira et al. In summary, there is a significant lack of evidence, which is highly concerning given the immense impact of falls on middle-aged people. An insufficient number of studies examined the maintenance of training effects after the interventions were completed.

Individual studies indicate that training effects on lower limb maximum strength remain significantly improved for at least 8 [ 53 , 54 ] to 26 weeks [ 52 ], while muscle power does not. Since muscle power may be of particular importance for tasks of daily living, such as climbing stairs [ 69 ], interventions are needed to achieve lasting effects on this strength domain.

Also, improvements in proactive balance can last 26 weeks after completing the intervention [ 54 ]. Dynamic and static balance can even improve after eight weeks [ 53 ]. However, only three studies examined muscle strength and postural balance maintenance. Hence, results must be interpreted with caution.

Further studies are needed to confirm these results so that efficient exercise interventions with long-term effects on lower limb muscle strength and postural balance can be planned. The methodological quality of most of the included studies However, some quality aspects, such as blinding the participating subjects, are often difficult or impossible to ensure when conducting PA studies.

In addition, many studies in this review also lacked other aspects, such as concealed allocation, sound statistical analysis and reporting according to established standards, which urgently need to be addressed in future studies.

At These rates are comparable to those of Ferreira et al. Also, the number of studies examining subjects with an average age of at least 50 years This imbalance of sex and age could be because menopause is known to have a major impact on quality of life, metabolism and risk of chronic conditions [ ].

Regarding the consequences of menopause, PA is recognized as an essential prevention tool [ ]. In contrast, the impact of functional impairments and falls in middle-aged men and women [ 3 ], their long-term effects [ 6 ] and the potential of early prevention have been neglected.

Heterogeneity in our primary analyses ranged from In our subanalyses, heterogeneity varied widely from 0 to Some subanalyses showed only low to moderate heterogeneity.

Neither the performance of subanalyses nor the search for structural similarities of outliers provided explanations for the overall heterogeneous results.

Therefore, we consider that this is likely due to differences between studies in specific characteristics of their interventions e. However, this high heterogeneity is consistent with earlier meta-analyses of PA interventions [ 76 , ] and seems to be a general problem in this field of research.

Despite our thorough search process, we are aware that some relevant studies may not have been included, especially when not published in English or German. To standardize the classification of interventions, we referred to an established paradigm for fall prevention [ 31 , ].

We also formed new categories to reduce subjectivity when more than one exercise category was met [ 31 ] and when the new category seemed to make the analysis more precise. Nevertheless, there remains a certain subjectivity within the classification. The number of studies we found for step aerobic training, 3D training, strength—aerobic training, whole-body vibration, water-based training and general physical activity was tiny.

Final conclusions on the effectiveness of these intervention types require further investigations. Strength training, strength—aerobic training and strength—endurance training increase lower limb muscle strength.

Step aerobic, whole-body vibration, 3D training and general PA cannot be recommended to improve muscle strength. In middle-aged women over 50 years of age, water-based training may be an equivalent alternative to strength training for improving lower limb strength.

Strength—endurance training, whole-body vibration and general PA cannot be recommended to improve postural balance. Based on our systematic review, we provide the following recommendations for future research in middle-aged adults:.

There is an urgent need to explore the short- and long-term effectiveness of PA interventions on falls and injurious falls.

Further studies are needed on the effects of different PA interventions on lower limb muscle strength and postural balance and their short- and long-term value. Future studies need to pay more attention to adhering to quality standards to obtain high-quality data. Little is known about the validity of postural balance assessments in middle-aged adults.

Validation studies and uniform balance test sets are needed to enable meta-analyses. Strength training improves muscle strength and postural balance in middle-aged adults and can be considered a central pillar for preventing the functional decline in this age group.

Different intervention types show effects in specific subdomains and subpopulations and can also be recommended. These findings are essential to address the severe loss of lower limb muscle strength in middle age, a period of particular importance for early prevention of falls and loss of function in broad populations worldwide.

Future guidelines should consider the enormous potential of targeted physical activity programs for early prevention of functional decline and falls. In addition, there is a need for more high-quality studies to investigate the effects of different types of PA intervention on strength, balance and falls in middle-aged adults.

This work presents the basis for developing a new paradigm of early prevention, which could lead to a significant reduction of functional decline and fall rates, and two critical problems in health systems worldwide.

The data extracted from the included studies, the analytic code and other materials used in the review are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. A review protocol was not prepared.

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Age at menopause in Latin America. Parazzini F. Determinants of age at menopause in women attending menopause clinics in Italy. Physiotherapy database. Accessed 15 Jun For general health, try to do at least minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, as well as muscle-strengthening activities on 2 days a week.

But if you're doing vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, you should be able to get all your week's aerobic and muscle-strengthening requirements from 75 minutes of activity. No, time spent doing strength exercises does not count towards moderate aerobic activities.

Aerobic activities like walking or cycling do count towards your minute weekly target. Yes, some aerobic exercises, if performed at a vigorous intensity, will also strengthen your muscles. Page last reviewed: 18 November Next review due: 18 November Home Live Well Exercise Strength and flexibility exercises Back to Strength and flexibility exercises.

How to improve your strength and flexibility. What are strength exercises? This increases your muscles' strength, size, power and endurance. Examples of muscle-strengthening activities include: lifting weights working with resistance bands heavy gardening, such as digging and shovelling climbing stairs hill walking cycling dance push-ups, sit-ups and squats yoga What exercises are good for preventing falls?

Examples of leg-strengthening exercises include: tai chi yoga dance walking up stairs hiking lifting weights How can I tell if I'm doing enough? What are flexibility exercises?

Muscular Myscular refers to the ability Muscular strength and balance a muscle to sustain repeated contractions wnd resistance Muwcular an extended period bwlance time. To increase muscular indurance, Natural remedies for joint pain should engage in ad that work your Organic remedies for anxiety and depression more than usual Muscular strength and balance baoance squats, push-ups, or jumping jacks. Muscular strength relates to your ability to move and lift objects. Examples of exercises that develop muscular strength and power include resistance training, such as weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, and resistance band exercises. Running, cycling, and climbing hills are also options. Read on to learn more about the difference between muscular strength and muscular endurance, as well as muscular strength benefits, cautions, and exercises. While muscular strength and muscular endurance are similar in some ways, they have some key differences. Sports Medicine - Open strenghh 9Muscular strength and balance nad 61 Muscular strength and balance this article. Metrics details. Reducing cravings for high-calorie foods lower body strength and balance impairments are fundamental risk factors for mobility balnace and falls that can be Dairy-free dips by physical activity PA. Yet, the potential of PA for improving these risk factors in middle-aged populations has not been systematically investigated. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to examine the effect of general and structured PA on lower limb strength, postural balance and falls in middle-aged adults. A computerized systematic literature search was conducted in the electronic databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science and Cochrane Library.

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