Episode 68- Why Strength Train?

Can lifting weights help you stay independent, mobile, and strong as you age? In Episode 68 of Decluttering 55+ with Michelle Passoff, Michelle talks with Noah Haydn, owner of Stronger Seniors in St. Petersburg, Florida, about why strength training is not just for athletes or twenty-somethings.

Noah explains how thoughtful, progressive barbell training can help adults in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond build the strength needed for everyday life, from getting out of a chair to lifting groceries, climbing stairs, maintaining balance, and reducing the risk of falls.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why strength declines with age and why it is important to address it
• How weightlifting supports functional movement, balance, bone health, and independence
• Why squats, presses, pulls, and other basic movements can translate to easier daily activities
• How strength training can support metabolism, weight management, and overall health
• Why you do not have to be “fit enough” before starting
• How to find a qualified coach or gym that works with older adults
• Options for getting started through in-person coaching, online coaching, books, and educational resources
• Why taking initiative and getting guidance matters when starting a strength-training routine

Noah Haydn trained with Dr. Jonathan Sullivan, author of The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40. He is a professional barbell coach, editor and online coach with Barbell Logic, and the owner of Stronger Seniors, where he coaches clients in person and online.

Learn more about Noah and Stronger Seniors:
Website: https://strongerseniors.org
Email: info@strongerseniors.org

Before beginning a new exercise program, especially if you have medical conditions, injuries, or concerns about mobility, speak with your health care provider and work with an appropriately qualified coach.

Stay connected and inspired—follow me on social media!
Website: https://decluttering55plus.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decluttering55plus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decluttering55plus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/decluttering55plus/

And also don’t forget to subscribe on my YouTube Channel!
https://www.youtube.com/@Decluttering55plus

Discover practical wisdom to simplify life—check out my book:
Decluttering 55+: Wisdoms to Create a Legacy, Not a Mess
https://www.amazon.com/Decluttering-55-Wisdoms-Michelle-Passoff/dp/B0DY88FQBS/

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Michelle 0:35

Welcome to another episode of Decluttering Fifty Five Plus with Michelle Passoff. I'm delighted to be with you because it is here that we engage in conversations that can help you get your life in order to age better and live longer. What could be better than that? We talk about health, fitness, and eating, technology, memoir writing, relationships, deciding where to live and what to do next in retirement. We also discuss financial and legal matters and even final arrangements. Instead of sweeping things that are confronting or confounding under the carpet, we bring them into the light of day so we can sort things out, get in action, and get things done. Today we're going to be talking with Noah Hayden. Noah has built a career around showing aging adults that they don't have to get weaker and less capable as the years go by. How does he do this? By having them lift weights. Just when you thought lifting weights was for the UFC fighters or for the 20-somethings of the gym, along comes Noah to suggest weightlifting for 50, 60, 70, 80, and older adults. He says it's a good thing. Hmm, we'll have to find out more about that. This craziness is not to be believed. Noah trained with Dr. Jonathan Sullivan. He's the author of the Barbell Prescription, Strength Training for Life After 40 in Michigan, where he obtained his professional barbell coach credential. He's the owner of Stronger Seniors, a weightlifting gym in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he teaches online and in person. In fact, I'm one of Noah's victims. Uh oh, I mean clients. That's right. My latest form of torture is lifting weights. Only kidding about the torture. Noah is great, and he's a staff, he's on staff as well as an editor and online coach for Barbell Logic. And we're lucky that all things considered, he's here today and he has something to teach us worth listening to. So please welcome him to Declutter55 Plus with Michelle Passoff. Welcome, Noah. How are you today?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Good. Hi, how are you doing?

Michelle 2:45

Good. Um, so tell me about why, first of all, let's start with the very basics and build up to the weightlifting. Why is it important to keep exercising as you age? Or even if you haven't been exercising, to start exercising as you age.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, there's a lot of health benefits from exercising. Um the main thing that I wanted to talk about today is uh what what kind of exercise is most valuable for an older person to spend most of their time on. So uh so I'll talk about training, like what is strength training, which is what you're doing in the gym with me as opposed to other kinds of exercise.

Michelle 3:35

And what I want to just specify for people when he says strength training, I am lifting uh barbells, like you see the guys on TV with uh little weights at either end of a long rod, and I'm lifting them in the air, and I'm bending them to lift them off the ground. So um that form that is one form of trait strength training, and that's uh what Noah's addressing is why is that important?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, and that's that's what I specialize in, and uh, and we'll get into why I chose that over other forms of exercise. So uh there are there are lots of ways to exercise. Uh most of the exercise that people tend to do revolves around feeling like you got a good workout in today. So getting your blood pumping, getting a little out of breath, getting sweaty, uh, which are great. There's a there's a place for that. Um, but that may or may not be moving you toward your long-term health and fitness goals uh over time. So in comparison to that, training focuses on getting results uh over a long period of time, and that requires planning. That's the big difference between training and exercise is the planning component. Uh, and that guarantees that you're moving in the right direction for whatever those goals are. So strength training would focus on making you stronger over time in in measurable ways. That's pretty important. So a strength training program like what you're doing, Michelle, um, that is focusing on increasing your ability to produce force in a handful of movements over time.

Michelle 5:35

What do you mean by force?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I'm I'm using that term intentionally because uh strength is can be a bit ambiguous. You know, we talk about people that are really strong-willed, or uh, you know, uh or a person that runs a marathon as being really strong, and uh that that might not be technically true for the way that we're describing this. So if your muscles are stronger, that means that they can produce more force against your environment in some way, and that's very different from muscular endurance, which is something like a marathon, um, or let's say cardiovascular fitness, right? Just not getting out of breath as easily. Those are very different things when it comes to uh um training goals, you know, and the the way that um those are different things for a coach to focus on to try to develop.

Michelle 6:40

So if you fast forward to you make a plan and then you fast forward to achieving the results of that plan, the end result is what?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Well, so this depends on on your goals. Uh, I'm gonna keep coming back to this because everyone is going to be a little bit more.

Michelle 7:00

I presume I know what I'm doing if I have goals for training.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, but uh so notice that whenever I have a consultation, uh, we we did the same thing with you. Whenever I have a consultation with someone, that's where we start because there's no reason to invest all of this time and effort into something that is hard, right? Exercise in the end, no matter what you do, is going to be challenging eventually. And so if we're doing something that's challenging, um it's worthwhile to make sure that we're getting out of it what we hoped for. So we want to make sure that we're getting a good uh a good result for our time investment because it's challenging. It's it's challenging to uh to do hard work, whatever kind of exercise that is, uh, and we want to make sure that we're getting our money's worth out of it, so to speak.

Michelle 7:56

Now, one of the things that I'm doing, for example, is um I did these deep squats, which um I have to say that uh between one um week and the next, I could actually tell the difference that I was weaker one week and the next week I was stronger, and the next week I could add more weight to it. So I could actually experience the incremental uh abilities that I had to do the exercises that you have given me. And then when I go home and I drop something on the floor and I have to bend, I can really see that um it's uh functional.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

So um it's a similar movement to things that you're going to do in your everyday life, right?

Michelle 8:42

Yes. And um that that is when you lift weights and do this weight training, um, that's what you should expect then, is to do what functional movements more easily. What what are you what are you as a coach aiming at being able to impart to the client in terms of functional movements?

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So I like to focus on a handful of movements, and that's it, because it takes a long time to get uh skilled in these movements. And you know, the better that we can perform them, the higher quality they are, and and the more uh benefit we can get out of them. So it's nice to only have a few things that you focus on improving uh instead of trying to get better at uh a large number of exercises that you only do every once in a while because of that. So uh one of them is squatting. That's a that's a major one for most people because it's a very it's getting uh it's getting off of a chair, right? Sitting down and getting up from a seated position. Everybody does that all day long. Uh and that's and you take you take it for granted until you can't do it anymore. Right. The ability to do that easily, not by itself, but I mean it's a big part of staying out of assisted living, for instance, right? So squatting is very it's a very normal movement that humans have to be good at. Um, another thing humans need to be good at is being able to pick things up off of the ground, and uh, and that's the deadlifts that we're doing. Um another one would be able to uh put things on shelves or take things down from shelves over your head uh while being balanced and stable and confident that you are balanced and stable. Uh so these and that would be a press, right? An overhead press of some of some sort.

Michelle 10:53

Yeah, balance uh is great.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Those are all good examples.

Michelle 10:58

When you you one of the things that you talked about that my family.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

This is one of the things that you learn. This is one of the things that you learn when you're doing these movements as well, right? We uh we're integrating some coordination and uh and balance components into performing these movements because we are holding a weight in our hands and we're standing on our feet. That's another very important element of good training.

Michelle 11:29

When somebody is um 60 or 70 or 80, what are they commonly they they do they commonly come in like fit or ready, and that's why they've chosen this kind of exercise? Or uh do they come in with ailments that are correctable by strength and muscle training?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

That's a good question. Um there is a wide spectrum of people that that come into my gym uh and come into most gyms uh that I'm aware of. Some, you know, everyone sort of ages at a different rate, and some people are pretty healthy and pretty fit. And so they come into the gym just to make sure that they don't lose that and and get stronger than they are now, but um, you know, just get more physically fit and make sure that they don't deteriorate any faster than they have to. Other people come to the gym with lots of medical conditions that have to be managed, uh, lots of accumulated injuries. Um they can be very deconditioned and frail. You know, I have frequently had clients uh that start with me that struggle to get out of a chair under under their own power. Um, it doesn't really matter. It I would say that it's very rare that someone uh can't engage in strength training. It's a pretty rare uh it's a pretty rare occurrence.

Michelle 13:03

So you shouldn't be discouraged from exercising if you have uh an ailment. You should actually lean into the exercise if you have that ailment, say, no, no, I'm gonna stay home and stay on my easy chair until I recover. In fact, the going in and uh building your strength and your muscles will help you recover from any kind of ailment. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah, I would argue that um if someone falls into that camp of being very deconditioned and and more frail, that's more of a reason to train, not not less. Humans do not improve physically from resting on a couch or taking it easy. That that's really not that never works.

Michelle 13:48

Oh, darn.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Unfortunately, you know.

Michelle 13:52

So um, do you if if um what are the ways in which so you're talking about strength? So that's building muscle or building bone or both, or is one distinct from the other?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Well, they are distinct from one another, um, but strength training can build both of those, it can build bone density and muscle mass. Um I'll I'll talk about the muscle first. So um this is a big reason to train. You know, there are everyone knows that as we get older we lose our strength and muscle mass over time. Uh, and and like I said, even if someone is very weak, you'd be surprised at how much progress you can make in a pretty short amount of time um like you are already experiencing. It's only been what, a month, month and a half?

Michelle 14:52

Two months. Two months. I'm counting the days, two months.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah, and that's and that's usually what I notice is that one to three months into training, most people notice some difference in their everyday life. Uh uh and that and that is independent of someone's starting place. So uh the key with this is that uh we want to make sure that whatever exercises we're doing are challenging our strength. So challenging your ability to produce force and not primarily challenging your cardiovascular capacity or your muscular endurance, like we talked about before. So what I'm talking about here is aerobic exercise, cardio exercise, like spin class, jogging, swimming, that sort of thing. Or um what I will call calisthenics. So body weight or lightly weighted exercise, like uh Pilates or uh boot camp style group classes. Uh these are again these sorts of activities have their place and they can be you know helpful in some ways, but you will you will very quickly stop getting stronger by engaging in those kinds of exercise because it's simply not enough stress on the body to cause long-term strength adaptations in the body. It can definitely help, again, with muscular endurance, you know. So you think like uh push-ups, sit-ups, uh jumping jacks, that kind of thing. Uh that can help with muscular endurance, but after a very short amount of time, it's not going to make you stronger. Um, and uh same thing with jogging and and spin class, it can do wonders for cardiovascular endurance, uh cardiovascular fitness, but it's not going to make your muscles stronger. And so we need uh specific activities that are going to address that.

Michelle 17:13

And um not every there's not uh so when just to give the audience an idea, when you go into uh stronger seniors, that's Noah's gym, uh there's only three people in the gym at the time at a time, and there's a couple of sets of barbell areas and bench press areas and uh sled weight, sled pushing areas.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Um yeah, just a few stations. That's all that I think.

Michelle 17:42

Just a few stations. And but this is not something that's available everywhere in the country. So where would people go? What are the best ways uh the common uh senior can go and start working on their strength building?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Uh this is a tough question. So uh there are not a lot of senior strength training gyms in the country that I'm aware of, unfortunately, uh, which is a shame because I think it's pretty obvious that seniors need this service the most out of any demographic of people. Um, but I will say that the equipment older adults need is widely available.

Michelle 18:25

So the equipment that you need is widely available. So that's a plus. So you can almost go to any gym and you're gonna find barbells there.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

And wait, it's so or at least most of the equipment that you need, and you can purchase for yourself a couple of the specialty things. Uh, it's not it's not that's not much of an obstacle.

Michelle 18:44

It's then how do you get the leadership to know what you're doing? Is it would you go to YouTube or um are there CDs or do you do it online with a coach like yourself? How do you get that?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

It it definitely it definitely it definitely is the coaches that are scarce. So if you have a competent coach near you, you're very lucky, first of all. Uh and and I would go to them and ask them uh how you should start. Obviously, this is a big conversation because as people get older, um, they are not cookie cutter programs don't work very well as you get older. Because people, again, have accumulated a lot of injuries, they have health conditions that they have to take into consideration, they're taking medications. Um all of these things mean that they need a customized approach more often than not, they need more modifications uh uh more often than not than a younger person would. Uh so that's the easiest way to do it. If you're lucky enough to be near a coach, you should go in and talk to them and they can point you in the right direction.

Michelle 19:57

So if you go to a gym where they focus on barbells and strength training, um, and you ask them if they have a senior qualified coach, that would be one way. Is that correct? And and then what about YouTube or going online? What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Well, um that depends as well. So, like a lot of hobbies, you can you can learn a new skill one of two ways. You can learn that with uh with money and going to an expert that can guide you on exactly what you need to do, which is a short learning curve, right? But it's might be expensive. Um, or you can invest your time and uh and you can put in the time to learn how to coach yourself, essentially, is what we're talking about.

Michelle 20:50

Well, one of the decluttering 55 plus, one of the decluttering 55 plus kind of credos is take initiative. So that would be a take initiative moment is to do the research on how to build your own strength.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Absolutely. Uh I say this a lot that um, you know, just like in just like when it comes to medical issues, the best thing that you can do for yourself is to be your own advocate, right? You it's it's important to be informed so that you can tell if uh a coach is competent and can point you in the right direction or not. I think that that's very worthwhile. So um if you want to learn on your own, there are a couple things that you can do. Uh one of them is you can get Jonathan Sullivan's book that you mentioned at the beginning. Um The Barbell Prescription. That's available on Amazon, as far as I'm aware. Um that's a very good book. It's a technical book, um, but I think it's it's um pretty accessible to the general population. That's a a good place. To start, there is also uh a YouTube channel that Jonathan Sullivan has called Graysteel, uh Fitness After 50, that has a huge amount of free content that can be very uh very instructive for people who are just starting out to orient themselves. Again, if nothing else, to orient themselves so that they know what they should be asking a coach for help with?

Michelle 22:26

What I'm hearing you saying, Noah, is if uh we start taking initiative for ourselves, get the Jonathan Sullivan book, read it, and uh look at his free YouTube uh content so that you can um see what he's recommending, the kind of exercises. Let me ask you something. Does weight lifting and uh training do something for your metabolism and weight loss? Because weight loss is not only good for your vanity, but it's good for almost every medical condition that you can think of. If you have the weight off, at least that's not in the way.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah, uh it absolutely can. Um so if you build, we didn't talk about bone density yet, but uh if you build new lean body mass of muscle and bone, uh that takes a lot of calories and resources to maintain. Now, uh I want to say that the primary way a person should manage their body composition, their body fat percentage, is with diet. Uh, you cannot outlift a poor diet, it's not possible. Um, but building all of that extra lean body mass can help a diet that is maybe a little bit less strict, which of course would be easier to maintain long term. And so it can be a big help in maintaining uh body composition over time.

Michelle 23:57

And what other um ailments can weight and strength training help alleviate?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

This really depends on the condition. Um, like I was saying, uh training is not a substitute for a proper diet, but it can help a lot with reducing the symptoms of metabolic disease. So uh blood sugar issues, right? Things like that. You know, uh just I'll briefly mention this. Uh this is a big topic, but um, muscle tissue is the only tissue in your body that can take sugar, uh blood glucose, out of the bloodstream into the cells of the muscles without insulin being present. And this is a big deal because there's no other way to lower your blood sugar except by your body secreting insulin. And so uh more muscle mass acts as a sponge to to uh more uh efficiently process blood sugar, so it it can only be a good thing to have more of that. Uh also for also for um you know uh heart conditions, uh your heart is a muscle. So uh it will respond to a challenge the same way that all the rest of your muscles respond, right? Uh a big one that a lot of people complain about is arthritis. Obviously, a lot of people have arthritis. Um arthritis is a degenerative condition. So usually it is it's just going to get worse over time, unfortunately. But uh the best thing that you can do for arthritis is to keep moving. So training can be a part of that. Uh if you have joint pain that's not from arthritis, losing body fat and strengthening your connective tissues can go a long way toward uh reducing that pain. And uh, what else? You know, a big one is uh lifting weights is great for low back pain. Sitting less is also great for low back pain as an aside. Uh but uh, you know, not having a sedentary lifestyle is what I'm getting at. But strengthening the lower back and uh using it the way it was intended to be used uh is is a great way of managing low back pain um throughout your life, actually.

Michelle 26:45

Well, that's uh we're gonna run out of time uh today to be talking about this, but I think we get the message that um we have to get off our behinds, get out there, get moving, get um some uh guidance and instruction on how to apply uh the opportunity to do strength training and bone building in our exercise routine and to make that a routine, not to think that if you have any ailments that you're disqualifying yourself from exercise, but in fact lean into it and uh get moving. Is that right? Now Noah, if people want to get in touch with you, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Uh so you can email me at uh info at strongerseniors.org. They can go to my website, uh, same address, strongerseniors.org, uh, and they can either set up a consultation to talk to me in person or to talk to me online. Uh, we didn't talk about this much, but I do have remote clients because again, there are not coaches available all around the country in every uh uh location. And uh it is possible to get guidance remotely from coaches that are not local to you. So that is another option for people.

Michelle 28:11

We're gonna we're gonna wrap things up then. So that's uh info at strongerseniors.org. And uh by hook or by crook, it's time to be sure that you're not only get out there and exercise, but be sure that um you're getting the guidance that you need to uh build your strength so that you can continue to do everyday activities and so that you don't uh fall and easily break your bones. Thank you, Noah, for being here today, and thank you all for listening and viewing uh and the viewing audience for uh taking the time to uh talk about exercise. It's so important that we stay active so that we can live longer. So please share about your exercise routine. Excuse me, please share about your exercise routine and particularly about your weightlifting experience with us by going to www.decluttering55plus.com. Click on the Let's Connect button and sign up on the mailing list. Not only do we want to hear about your experiences with exercise and weightlifting, but we want to keep uh you informed about what's going on around here and what's coming up on the Decluttering 55 Plus with Michelle Passoff podcast. Excuse me. If you haven't already seen a copy of Decluttering 55 Plus Wisdoms to Create a Legacy Not a Mess, here it is. Excuse me. If you haven't already seen a copy of uh Decluttering 55 Plus, Create a Legacy Not a Mess, Wisdoms to Create a Legacy Not a Mess, go to the website decluttering55plus.com and watch the video by clicking on books and then learn more. It's a spiral book of 29 different messages in the areas of your life that will make a difference in your vitality and your longevity. Leave the book on a dresser or shelf, flip it to any page, get uh a prompt to get an action. After a while, change the page, get a new message, and you'll stay present to what will make a difference in your life. Get a copy for your friends, your family, yourself. It makes a difference. Remember to tell your friends also to like, follow, and subscribe to us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Let's get out there and get in action, everyone. I want to thank you again, Noah, for being with us. And thanks to the listening audience for hanging in there and uh hearing about the importance of building your muscles and bones so that you remain mobile and functional. Now get out there and have a clutter free day. Thank you.