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A new study finds that people who could lift 5 kilograms (roughly 11 pounds) were at higher risk of developing chronic health issues later in life.
The weight was designed to mimic things we do in daily life, like lifting groceries or a frying pan.
Here’s what experts want you to know about the findings, and what it means for you.
If strength training isn’t your thing, it’s easy to feel a little intimidated when you’re suddenly confronted with a row of dumbbells. But new research suggests that your ability to lift a certain amount of weight could actually signal how likely you are to develop a range of chronic illnesses and disorders later in life. So, it’s really in your best interest to get acquainted with that weights section at the gym.
It’s important to stress that the new study’s findings don’t suggest that you need to be a literal bodybuilder to lower your risk of disease. But they did find a link between the ability to lift a relatively small amount of weight—11 pounds to be exact—and the odds of developing future health issues.
So, what’s behind this number? And why 11 pounds? Here’s what experts want you to know.
Meet the experts: Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, is co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab; Clifford Segil, DO, is a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA
What did the study find?
The study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, analyzed data from more than 51,000 people aged 50 and up across 15 countries.
The researchers looked at how well people could lift 5 kilograms (11 pounds) at the start of the study and found that about 19.5 percent struggled to do it. Over the next four years, the researchers found that these study participants had a higher risk of developing a low quality of life, depression, issues with handgrip strength (a potential signal of health issues), and osteoarthritis. They also had higher risks for developing conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, heart attack, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, or hip fracture.
Ultimately, the researchers found that trouble lifting 11 pounds “can herald the onset of several cardiovascular, neurological, and musculoskeletal disorders along with a reduced quality of life.”
What’s so special about 11 pounds?
The number here may seem random, but there’s a reason researchers chose this weight. It’s designed to mimic average things we lift and tasks that we do in daily life, like lifting a cat, a cast iron frying pan, or a bag of sugar, points out Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA.
“Patients unable to lift 5 pound weights in their hands will have challenges completed independent activities of daily living like grooming and feeding, which can cause challenges living independently,” Dr. Segil says. “Most people should be able to lift something weighing 11 pounds in each of their hands.”
Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab, agrees. “For a healthy person, it should not be a heavy amount of weight,” he says. “It’s a good red-flag indicator that you do not have sufficient muscle mass.”
Why does strength equate to better health outcomes?
Strength isn’t just about the ability to carry groceries by yourself. It actually tells us that your muscles are healthy, Dr. Segil says.
“Patients unable to lift 11 pound items in their hands would be considered by a physician to be deconditioned or by a lay person to be frail,” Dr. Segil says.
That’s why he encourages his patients to exercise regularly. “Exercising and maintaining strength also provides protections from your bones becoming brittle, it lubricates your joints, preventing arthritis, and exercise maintains your muscle mass,” he says. “As people age and lose weight and lose muscle mass they lose any reserve for when they are sick and small illness can cause elderly patients to lose weight, which causes poor [health] outcomes.”
How often should I be strength training?
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, along with strength training at least twice a week. Matheny stresses that you should consider strength training at a minimum twice a week.
“You can certainly strength training every day different muscle groups or different intensities, but twice a week is really the baseline,” he says.
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