A Friendly Nudge - Rethinking Limits
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
The last two weeks I’ve posted the link to a review about heavy and very heavy strength training for older adults. Given its importance, I felt an obligation to talk about the study and unpack some of its findings in this week’s Nudge. But I highly encourage you to read it for yourself. (It’s linked below.) While it’s incredibly encouraging, like so many things, it’s also complicated because its recommendations aren’t going to be immediately actionable by everyone.
The review that I’m referring to is titled Heavy Strength Training in Older Adults: Implications for Health, Disease and Physical Performance which appeared in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, April 16, 2025. The authors were puzzled why more older adults weren’t being encouraged to lift heavy (80%–84% of 1 rep max [RM]) to very heavy loads (≥ 85% RM), since the research around this has been overwhelmingly positive.
Lifting those very heavy loads is referred to as maximal strength training (MST). Here is the author’s description of maximal strength training and its value:
“MST uses loads of ~90% of 1RM, which can only be performed a maximum of 3–5 times, 3–5 sets and maximal intentional concentric velocity. Strength training performed with loads in the heavy to very heavy domain of the spectrum may, because of the large increases in muscle strength, focuses on neural adaptations and relatively low risk, provides additional benefits for older adults and contrasts current guidelines which recommend low‐to‐moderate intensity (60%–70% of 1RM) and slow‐moderate concentric velocity.”
Examples of the concentric velocity they refer to would be things like rising from the bottom position of a squat to a standing position. Or with something like a biceps curl it would be the raising or curling part of the movement as opposed to the lowering of the weight or the descending part of a squat which would be the eccentric part of the movement. Because the weight being lifted is heavy the actual speed of the movement is relatively slow, but the intention is deliberate and powerful.
It’s probably helpful to think just a second about rep ranges and what they indicate. Our 1 rep max is the most weight that we can safely lift 1 time. If it’s your true 1 rep max, you can’t lift it for 2 reps. Because it’s so taxing, doing multiple sets of a true 1 rep max isn’t practical. A weight that you can lift with good form for 4 reps would obviously be lighter than your 1 rep max. Various formulas calculate the effort required as 89-92% of your maximum effort. This is a rep range characterized as MST or maximum strength training in the review.
Very heavy weight scares people. I get it. Especially if you’re unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with lifting weights to begin with. It’s why I said this isn’t immediately actionable or even recommended for everyone. But I do think it’s beneficial to look at the research and examine what’s possible. That’s especially true when we consider that some of the early studies referenced were done with frail, elderly patients between the ages of 72-98 (with a mean of 87 years) who were working with weight that was 80% of their 1 rep max.
But context matters. If you’re frail, getting out of a chair unassisted might be your 1 rep max.
I also think we have to look at the concentric velocity piece of the equation because that is a critical piece in developing power or the ability to rapidly generate force. One of the things that increases the risks of falls as we age is our reduced ability to rapidly produce force. We catch our foot on a rug or an unseen tree root (as I did recently) and we stumble. If we’re missing power then we can’t quickly and forcefully get our foot out in front of us to keep our stumble from becoming a fall. I was lucky enough to quickly recover, so mine was just a stumble but it easily could have been a sprawl.
We lose our power or force production a lot quicker than we lose our strength. Heavy lifts and maximum intended velocity help us build type 2 or fast twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for force production, but we can’t ignore the ability of lighter high velocity movements to also improve our force production. I’ll be adding some body weight lower body power exercises in the coming weeks.
There were a few jaw dropping sections in the review. One of the findings pointed to increases of maximum force improving on average 2.5% per session. And I think they were equally impressed because they brought up a helpful lens to see this through. Without the intervention of heavy lifting, these subjects would have been expected to lose about 1% of their strength a year beginning in their 50s– and in this study there were folks in their 70s, 80s and 90s improving 2.5% in a single session!
Sort of makes you want to grab a barbell.
I’m not suggesting that someone who hasn’t been lifting weights should start trying to toss around atlas stones or do 350 pound deadlifts. That’s a recipe for disaster. But this review, when combined with additional research like the LiftMOR study that used heavy lifting with postmenopausal women to significantly improve bone density, helps reframe what’s possible if we’re diligent about building capacity and not getting ahead of ourselves. Our muscles may handle a load just fine but too often they outstrip the capacity of our tendons which leads to injury.
Some of the work I’m doing in the gym now and with my physical therapist is in the heavy to very heavy weight (for me) lower reps category but it’s something that I’ve worked up to over the past year.
I’m adding a dumbbell deadlift to the mix of exercises but I want you to pick a weight that you can manage easily. Until you’re comfortable with the move let’s stick to a weight that you can deadlift 12-15 times. We’ll be well shy of the heavy to very heavy ranges but since you deadlift every time you pick up a bag of groceries, let’s build the capacity to do that safely.
Now speaking of groceries, let’s make something tasty to eat to fuel our exercise!
Spring Salad
I know that it’s creeping into summer but it’s not routinely 100℉ here yet, so it still feels a little like Spring. Asparagus, sugar snap peas, cucumber, radishes, goat cheese and a lemony vinaigrette help support that illusion of spring. So this salad helps me hang on to that feeling just a little bit longer since a steady diet of 100 ℉ days is bound to be just around the corner.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus, rough ends snapped off and the rest of the stalks cut into bite sized pieces on a bias
1 bunch of sugar snap peas, stems trimmed and discarded and the peas cut thin on a bias
½ of large english cucumber, sliced and cross cut
2 large radishes, sliced thin
¼-⅓ cup goat cheese, crumbled
Vinaigrette:
Juice from 1 lemon
Equal part extra virgin olive oil
1tbsp Dijon mustard
Bring a large well salted pot of water to boil and prepare an ice bath. While the water is coming to a boil, prep your ingredients. You’ll be blanching the asparagus and snap peas separately.
When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the asparagus and leave for just a few seconds. You’re just looking for a slight color change but you do not want to cook it, you’re just blanching it and then removing it to the ice bath.
When the water returns to boiling, add the snap peas and follow the same process. This will only take seconds, not minutes. Remove the peas to the ice bath.
Take the peas and asparagus out of the ice bath and place them on a dish towel or paper towels to drain and then add them to your salad bowl.
Add the cucumber that you’ve sliced and cross cut, the sliced radishes and crumbled goat cheese.
Prepare the vinaigrette using the juice from 1 lemon, an equal amount of extra virgin olive oil, and a dollop of dijon. Whisk to combine.
Toss and dress the salad and enjoy. We paired this with grilled tri tip and cilantro rice and it was delicious!
Now let’s give you some exercise options for the week.
I try to make a point of saying this every week because it bears repeating - start where you are.
It’s easy to get impatient and try to make up for lost time but sustained fitness demands that we play the long game.
If an exercise feels a little too much too soon, skip it. It may feel more doable as you get stronger. We get stronger when we push ourselves enough that it feels challenging but not to the point that our form breaks down or that we’re wrecked the next day. Pay attention to how your reps feel. As the speed of your reps slow that means you’re getting to the end of your set. Our target is 2 reps in reserve.