🏋🏻♀️ Get Stronger, Live Longer
If there were ever a reason to keep lifting after 40, this is it.
A large prospective study published in JAMA Network Open followed more than 5,400 women aged 63 to 99 for over eight years to examine whether muscular strength predicted longevity. The results were clear: stronger women lived longer—independent of how much aerobic exercise they did.
I’d actually contend that muscle power here is a major player, too, especially when you consider the tests the researchers used in the study: grip strength and chair stand time. Here’s how it broke down.
Researchers measured “strength” with two simple tests:
After adjusting for age, health conditions, body weight, inflammation, and even accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time, strength still stood out.
Compared with the women who clocked the lowest scores:
Women in the highest grip strength group had about a 30-33% lower risk of death than those in the weakest group.
Those who performed the fastest chair stands had about a 31-37% lower risk of death.
Even moderate improvements in grip strength were associated with meaningful reductions in mortality risk.
These associations held even after accounting for how active the women were. So the strength results here, not just being active, predicted longevity. The reason I say power matters here, too, is that while grip strength is a very good, validated proxy for overall muscular strength and muscle quality, the chair stand test also rewards speed.
For the chair stand test, the women are asked to perform 5 consecutive sit to stands without assistance (i.e, arms crossed in front of chest). How quickly they can complete the task determines their score. Power is strength x speed–how quickly you can apply your force to do work. As I’ve written about in a previous newsletter, research suggests that power often declines during perimenopause—often before any noticeable changes in muscle mass. We want to lift to keep both (which is why I also like plyometrics).
Why Strength Predicts LifespanWhat is it about strength that extends lifespan? Skeletal muscle acts as a major glucose disposal organ. More functional muscle improves insulin sensitivity and cardiometabolic health. Stronger muscle also releases myokines–signaling molecules that help regulate inflammation.
So, no doubt, having muscle is important. But though lean mass and strength are correlated, they’re not interchangeable. You can have relatively high lean mass but low strength (poor neuromuscular function). You can maintain strength even with modest changes in muscle mass through neural adaptations. Strength often predicts outcomes more strongly than lean mass alone. In fact, some large epidemiological studies show that strength is a stronger predictor of mortality than muscle mass alone.
It makes sense. Strength is what you use to move through life and it’s a marker of your overall resilience. Strength reflects nervous system integrity, mitochondrial health, and hormonal balance. When strength declines, it often signals broader system decline.
Lower body strength is also strongly linked to fall prevention and mobility. Falls are a major driver of disability and mortality in older women. Strong legs literally protect independence.
This all matters for 40+ women because we lose muscle and power more rapidly beginning in perimenopause. If strength predicts survival in women in their 60s, 70s, and beyond, then building and maintaining it in midlife becomes our long game investment. Lifting for strength and power means you’re not leaving longevity currency on the table.
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