Resistance Beyond Weights

10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

Resistance, Your Way

We’ve talked before about the importance of resistance training:

Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)

And we’ve even talked about how to make resistance training more effective:

HIIT, But Make It HIRT

(High Intensity Interval Training, but make it High Intensity Resistance Training)

Which resistance training exercises are best?

There are two reasonable correct answers here:

  1. The resistance training exercises that you will actually do (because it’s no good knowing the best exercise ever if you’re not going to do it because it is in some way offputting to you)
  2. The resistance training exercises that will prevent you from getting a broken bone in the event of some accident or incident

This latter is interesting, because when people think resistance training, the usually immediate go-to exercises are often things like the bench press, or the chest machine in the gym.

But ask yourself: how often do we hear about some friend or relative who in their old age has broken their humerus?

It can happen, for sure, but it’s not as often as breaking a hip, a tarsal (ankle bones), or a carpal (wrist bones).

So, how can we train to make those bones strong?

Strong bones grow under strong muscles

When archaeologists dig up a skeleton from a thousand years ago, one of the occupations that’s easy to recognize is an archer. Why?

An archer has an unusual frequent exercise: pushing with their left arm while pulling with their right arm. This will strengthen different muscles on each side, and thus, increase bone density in different places on each arm. The left first metacarpal and right first and second metacarpals and phalanges are also a giveaway.

This is because: one cannot grow strong muscles on weak bones (or else the muscles would just break the bones), so training muscles will force the body to strengthen the relevant bones.

So: if you want strong bones, train the muscles attached to those bones

This answers the question of “how am I supposed to exercise my hips” etc.

Weights, bodyweight, resistance bands

If you go to the gym, there’s a machine for everything, and a member of gym staff will be able to advise which of their machines will strengthen which muscles.

If you train with free weights at home:

  • Wrist curls (forearm supported and stationary, lifting a dumbbell in your hand, palm-upwards) will strengthen the wrist
  • The farmer’s walk (carrying a heavy weight in each hand) will also strengthen your wrist
    • A modified version of this involves holding the weight with just your fingertips, and then raising and lowering it by curling and uncurling your fingers)
  • Lateral leg raises (you will need ankle-weights for this) will strengthen your ankles and your hips, as will hip abductions (as in today’s featured video), especially with a weight attached.
  • Ankle raises (going up on your tip-toes and down again, repeat) while holding weights in your hands will strengthen your ankles

If you don’t like weights:

  • Press-ups will strengthen your wrists
    • Fingertip press-ups are even better: to do these, do your press-ups as normal, except that the only parts of your hands in contact with the ground are your fingertips
    • This same exercise can be done the other way around, by doing pull-ups
    • And that same “even better” works by doing pull-ups, but holding the bar only with one’s fingertips, and curling one’s fingers to raise oneself up
  • Lateral leg raises and hip abductions can be done with a resistance band instead of with weights. The great thing about these is that whereas weights are a fixed weight, resistance bands will always provide the right amount of resistance (because if it’s too easy, you just raise your leg further until it becomes difficult again, since the resistance offered is proportional to how much tension the band is under).

Remember, resistance training is still resistance training even if “all” you’re resisting is gravity!

If it fells like work, then it’s working

As for the rest of preparing to get older?

Check out:

Training Mobility Ready For Later Life

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

Recommended

  • Train For The Event Of Your Life!
  • What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol
    Sobriety begins a journey of recovery: Seconds to months, your body heals from alcohol’s grip, delivering tangible benefits that offer motivation for a healthier life.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Olfactory Training, Better

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Anosmia, by any other name…

    The loss of the sense of smell (anosmia) is these days well-associated with COVID and Long-COVID, but also can simply come with age:

    National Institute of Aging | How Smell & Taste Change With Age

    …although it can also be something else entirely:

    ❝Another possibility is a problem with part of the nervous system responsible for smell.

    Some studies have suggested that loss of smell could be an early sign of a neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

    However, a recent study of 1,430 people (average age about 80) showed that 76% of people with anosmia had normal cognitive function at the study’s end.❞

    Read more: Harvard Health | Is it normal to lose my sense of smell as I age?

    We’d love to look at and cite the paper that they cite, but they didn’t actually provide a source. We did find some others, though:

    ❝Olfactory capacity declines with aging, but increasing evidence shows that smell dysfunction is one of the early signs of prodromal neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

    The loss of smell is considered a clinical sign of early-stage disease and a marker of the disease’s progression and cognitive impairment.❞

    ~ Dr. Irene Fatuzzo et al.

    Read more: Neurons, Nose, and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Olfactory Function and Cognitive Impairment

    What’s clear is the association; what’s not clear is whether one worsens the other, and what causal role each might play. However, the researchers conclude that both ways are possible, including when there is another, third, underlying potential causal factor:

    ❝Ongoing studies on COVID-19 anosmia could reveal new molecular aspects unexplored in olfactory impairments due to neurodegenerative diseases, shedding a light on the validity of smell test predictivity of cognitive dementia.

    The neuroepithelium might become a new translational research target (Neurons, Nose, and Neurodegenerative diseases) to investigate alternative approaches for intranasal therapy and the treatment of brain disorders. ❞

    ~ Ibid.

    Another study explored the possible mechanisms of action, and found…

    ❝Olfactory impairment was significantly associated with increased likelihoods of MCI, amnestic MCI, and non-amnestic MCI.

    In the subsamples, anosmia was significantly associated with higher plasma total tau and NfL concentrations, smaller hippocampal and entorhinal cortex volumes, and greater WMH volume, and marginally with lower AD-signature cortical thickness.

    These results suggest that cerebral neurodegenerative and microvascular lesions are common neuropathologies linking anosmia with MCI in older adults❞

    ~ Dr. Yi Dong et al.

    • MCI = Mild Cognitive Impairment
    • NfL = Neurofilament Light [Chain]
    • WMH = White Matter Hyperintensity
    • AD =Alzheimer’s Disease

    Read more: Anosmia, mild cognitive impairment, and biomarkers of brain aging in older adults

    How to act on this information

    You may be wondering, “this is fascinating and maybe even a little bit frightening, but how is this Saturday’s Life Hacks?”

    We wanted to set up the “why” before getting to the “how”, because with a big enough “why”, it’s much easier to find the motivation to act on the “how”.

    Test yourself

    Or more conveniently, you and a partner/friend/relative can test each other.

    Simply do like a “blind taste testing”, but for smell. Ideally these will be a range of simple and complex odors, and commercially available smell test kits will provide these, if you don’t want to make do with random items from your kitchen.

    If you’d like to use a clinical diagnostic tool, you can check out:

    Clinical assessment of patients with smell and taste disorders

    …and especially, this really handy diagnostic flowchart:

    Algorithm of evaluation of a patient who has olfactory loss

    Train yourself

    “Olfactory training” has been the got-to for helping people to regain their sense of smell after losing it due to COVID.

    In simple terms, this means simply trying to smell things that “should” have a distinctive odor, and gradually working up one’s repertoire of what one can smell.

    You can get some great tips here:

    AbScent | Useful Insights Into Smell Training

    Hack your training

    An extra trick was researched deeply in a recent study which found that multisensory integration helped a) initially regain the ability to smell things and b) maintain that ability later without the cross-sensory input.

    What that means: you will more likely be able to smell lemon while viewing the color yellow, and most likely of all to be able to smell lemon while actually holding and looking at a slice of lemon. Having done this, you’re more likely to be able to smell (and distinguish) the odor of lemon later in a blind smell test.

    In other words: with this method, you may be able to cut out many months of frustration of trying and failing to smell something, and skip straight to the “re-adding specific smells to my brain’s olfactory database” bit.

    Read the study: Olfactory training: effects of multisensory integration, attention towards odors and physical activity

    Or if you prefer, here’s a pop-science article based on that:

    One in twenty people has no sense of smell—here’s how they might get it back

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Xylitol vs Erythritol – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing xylitol to erythritol, we picked the xylitol.

    Why?

    They’re both sugar alcohols, which so far as the body is concerned are neither sugars nor alcohols in the way those words are commonly understood; it’s just a chemical term. The sugars aren’t processed as such by the body and are passed as dietary fiber, and nor is there any intoxicating effect as one might expect from an alcohol.

    In terms of macronutrients, while technically they both have carbs, for all functional purposes they don’t and just have a little fiber.

    In terms of micronutrients, they don’t have any.

    The one thing that sets them apart is their respective safety profiles. Xylitol is prothrombotic and associated with major adverse cardiac events (CI=95, adjusted hazard ratio=1.57, range=1.12-2.21), while erythritol is also prothrombotic and more strongly associated with major adverse cardiac events (CI=95, adjusted hazard ratio=2.21, range=1.20-4.07).

    So, xylitol is bad and erythritol is worse, which means the relatively “healthier” is xylitol. We don’t recommend either, though.

    Studies for both:

    Links for the specific products we compared, in case our assessment hasn’t put you off them:

    Xylitol | Erythritol

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Zucchini & Oatmeal Koftas

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    These vegetarian (and with one tweak, vegan) koftas are delicious as a snack, light lunch, or side to a larger meal. Healthwise, they contain the healthiest kind of fiber, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, and beneficial herbs and spices.

    You will need

    • ¼ cup oatmeal
    • 1 large zucchini, grated
    • 1 small carrot, grated
    • ¼ cup cheese (your preference; vegan is also fine)
    • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
    • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • ¼ bulb garlic, minced
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Small handful fresh parsley, chopped
    • Extra virgin olive oil, for frying

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Soak the flaxseed in 2 oz hot water for at least 5 minutes

    2) Combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil (and including the water that the flax has been soaking in) in a big bowl, mixing thoroughly

    3) Shape into small balls, patties, or sausage shapes, and fry until the color is golden and the structural integrity is good. If doing patties, you’ll need to gently flip them to cook both sides; otherwise, rolling them to get all sides is fine.

    4) Serve! Traditional is with some kind of yogurt dip, but we’re not the boss of you, so enjoy them how you like:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Train For The Event Of Your Life!
  • No, your aches and pains don’t get worse in the cold. So why do we think they do?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s cold and wet outside. As you get out of bed, you can feel it in your bones. Your right knee is flaring up again. That’ll make it harder for you to walk the dog or go to the gym. You think it must be because of the weather.

    It’s a common idea, but a myth.

    When we looked at the evidence, we found no direct link between most common aches and pains and the weather. In the first study of its kind, we found no direct link between the temperature or humidity with most joint or muscle aches and pains.

    So why are so many of us convinced the weather’s to blame? Here’s what we think is really going on.

    fongbeerredhot/Shutterstock

    Weather can be linked to your health

    The weather is often associated with the risk of new and ongoing health conditions. For example, cold temperatures may worsen asthma symptoms. Hot temperatures increase the risk of heart problems, such as arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), cardiac arrest and coronary heart disease.

    Many people are also convinced the weather is linked to their aches and pains. For example, two in every three people with knee, hip or hand osteoarthritis say cold temperatures trigger their symptoms.

    Musculoskeletal conditions affect more than seven million Australians. So we set out to find out whether weather is really the culprit behind winter flare-ups.

    What we did

    Very few studies have been specifically and appropriately designed to look for any direct link between weather changes and joint or muscle pain. And ours is the first to evaluate data from these particular studies.

    We looked at data from more than 15,000 people from around the world. Together, these people reported more than 28,000 episodes of pain, mostly back pain, knee or hip osteoarthritis. People with rheumatoid arthritis and gout were also included.

    We then compared the frequency of those pain reports between different types of weather: hot or cold, humid or dry, rainy, windy, as well as some combinations (for example, hot and humid versus cold and dry).

    Female construction worker clutching back in pain on worksite on cloudy day
    Bad back on a cold day? We wanted to know if the weather was really to blame. Pearl PhotoPix/Shutterstock

    What we found

    We found changes in air temperature, humidity, air pressure and rainfall do not increase the risk of knee, hip or lower back pain symptoms and are not associated with people seeking care for a new episode of arthritis.

    The results of this study suggest we do not experience joint or muscle pain flare-ups as a result of changes in the weather, and a cold day will not increase our risk of having knee or back pain.

    In order words, there is no direct link between the weather and back, knee or hip pain, nor will it give you arthritis.

    It is important to note, though, that very cold air temperatures (under 10°C) were rarely studied so we cannot make conclusions about worsening symptoms in more extreme changes in the weather.

    The only exception to our findings was for gout, an inflammatory type of arthritis that can come and go. Here, pain increased in warmer, dry conditions.

    Gout has a very different underlying biological mechanism to back pain or knee and hip osteoarthritis, which may explain our results. The combination of warm and dry weather may lead to increased dehydration and consequently increased concentration of uric acid in the blood, and deposition of uric acid crystals in the joint in people with gout, resulting in a flare-up.

    Why do people blame the weather?

    The weather can influence other factors and behaviours that consequently shape how we perceive and manage pain.

    For example, some people may change their physical activity routine during winter, choosing the couch over the gym. And we know prolonged sitting, for instance, is directly linked to worse back pain. Others may change their sleep routine or sleep less well when it is either too cold or too warm. Once again, a bad night’s sleep can trigger your back and knee pain.

    Likewise, changes in mood, often experienced in cold weather, trigger increases in both back and knee pain.

    So these changes in behaviour over winter may contribute to more aches and pains, and not the weather itself.

    Believing our pain will feel worse in winter (even if this is not the case) may also make us feel worse in winter. This is known as the nocebo effect.

    Older woman sitting reading book next to wood fire
    When it’s cold outside, we may be less active. Anna Nass/Shutterstock

    What to do about winter aches and pains?

    It’s best to focus on risk factors for pain you can control and modify, rather than ones you can’t (such as the weather).

    You can:

    • become more physically active. This winter, and throughout the year, aim to walk more, or talk to your health-care provider about gentle exercises you can safely do at home, with a physiotherapist, personal trainer or at the pool
    • lose weight if obese or overweight, as this is linked to lower levels of joint pain and better physical function
    • keep your body warm in winter if you feel some muscle tension in uncomfortably cold conditions. Also ensure your bedroom is nice and warm as we tend to sleep less well in cold rooms
    • maintain a healthy diet and avoid smoking or drinking high levels of alcohol. These are among key lifestyle recommendations to better manage many types of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. For people with back pain, for example, a healthy lifestyle is linked with higher levels of physical function.

    Manuela Ferreira, Professor of Musculoskeletal Health, Head of Musculoskeletal Program, George Institute for Global Health and Leticia Deveza, Rheumatologist and Research Fellow, University of Sydney

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Over 50? Do These 3 Stretches Every Morning To Avoid Pain

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Will Harlow, over-50s specialist physiotherapist, recommends these three stretches be done daily for cumulative benefits over time, especially if you have arthritis, stiff joints, or similar morning pain:

    The good-morning routine

    These stretches are designed for people with arthritis and stiff joints, but if you experience any extra pain, or are aware of having some musculoskeletal irregularity, do seek professional advice (such as from a local physiotherapist). Otherwise, the three stretches he recommends are:

    Quad hip flexor stretch

    This one is performed while lying on your side in bed:

    • Bring the top leg up toward your body, grab the shin, and pull the leg backward to stretch.
    • Feel the stretch in the front of the leg (quadriceps and hip flexor).
    • Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on both sides.
    • Use a towel or band if you can’t reach your shin.

    Book-opener

    This one helps improve mobility in the lower and mid-back:

    • Lie on your side with arms at a 90-degree angle in front of your body.
    • Roll backward, opening the top arm while keeping legs in place.
    • Hold for 20–30 seconds or repeat the movement several times.
    • Optionally, allow your head to rotate for a neck stretch.

    Calf stretch with chest-opener

    This one combines a calf and chest stretch:

    • Stand in a lunged position, keeping the back leg straight and heel down for the calf stretch.
    • Place hands behind your head, open elbows, and lift your head slightly for a chest stretch.
    • Hold for 20–30 seconds, then switch legs.

    For more on all the above plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like:

    Top 5 Anti-Aging Exercises

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • What Curiosity Really Kills

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Curiosity Kills The Neurodegeneration

    Of the seven things that Leonardo da Vinci considered most important for developing and maintaining the mind, number one on his list was curiosity, and we’re going to be focussing on that today.

    In case you are curious about what seven things made Leonardo’s* list, they were:

    1. Curiosità: an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning
    2. Dimostrazione: a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes
    3. Sensazione: the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as a means to enliven experience
    4. Sfumato: (lit: “gone up in smoke”) a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty
    5. Arte/Scienza: the curated balance of art and science, imagination and logic
    6. Corporalità: the cultivation of physical grace, ambidexterity, and fitness
    7. Connessione: a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of phenomena (systems-based thinking)

    *In case you are curious why we wrote “Leonardo” and not “da Vinci” as per our usual convention of shortening names to last names, da Vinci is not technically a name, in much the same way as “of Nazareth” was not a name.

    You can read more about all 7 of these in a book that we’ve reviewed previously:

    How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day – by Michael J. Gelb

    But for now, let’s take on “curiosity”!

    If you need an extra reason to focus on growing and nurturing your curiosity, it was also #1 of Dr. Daniel Levitin’s list of…

    The Five Keys Of Aging Healthily

    …and that’s from a modern-day neuroscientist whose research focuses on aging, the brain, health, productivity, and creativity.

    But how do we foster curiosity in the age of Google?

    Curiosity is like a muscle: use it or lose it

    While it’s true that many things can be Googled to satisfy one’s curiosity in an instant…

    • do you? It’s only useful if you do use it
    • is the top result on Google reliable?
    • there are many things that aren’t available there

    In short: douse “fast food information” sources, but don’t rely on them! Not just for the sake of having correct information, but also: for the actual brain benefits which is what we are aiming for here with today’s article.

    If you want the best brain benefits, dive in, and go deep

    Here at 10almonds we often present superficial information, with links to deeper information (often: scholarly articles). We do this because a) there’s only so much we can fit in our articles and b) we know you only have so much time available, and/but may choose to dive deeper.

    Think of it in layers, e.g:

    • Collagen is good for joints and bones
    • Collagen is a protein made of these amino acids that also requires these vitamins and minerals to be present in order to formulate it
    • Those amino acids are needed in these quantities, of which this particular one is usually the weakest link that might need supplementing, and those vitamins and minerals need to be within this period of time, but not these ones at the exact same time, or else it will disrupt the process of collagen synthesis

    (in case you’re curious, we covered this here and here and offered a very good, very in-depth book about it here)

    Now, this doesn’t mean that to have a healthy brain you need to have the equivalent knowledge of an anatomy & physiology degree, but it is good to have that level of curiosity in at least some areas of your life—and the more, the better.

    Top tips for developing a habit of curiosity

    As you probably know, most of our endeavors as humans go best when they are habits:

    How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits

    And as for specifically building a habit of curiosity:

    1. Make a deal with yourself that when someone is excited to tell you what they know about something (no matter whether it is your grandkid, or the socially awkward nerd at a party, or whoever), listen and learn, no matter the topic.
    2. Learn at least one language other than your native language (presumably English for most of our readers). Not only does learning a language convey a lot of brain benefits of its own, but also, it is almost impossible to separate language learning from cultural learning, and so you will learn a lot about another culture too, and have whole new worlds opened up to you. Again, more is better, but one second language is already a lot better than none.
    3. Make a regular habit of going to your local library, and picking out a non-fiction book to take home and read. This has an advantage over a bookshop, by the way (and not just that the library is free): since library books must be returned, you will keep going back, and build a habit of taking out books.
    4. Pick a skill that you’d like to make into a fully-fledged hobby, and commit to continually learning as much about it as you can. We already covered language-learning above, but others might include: gardening (perhaps a specific kind), cooking (perhaps a specific kind), needlecraft (perhaps a specific kind), dance (perhaps a specific kind). You could learn a musical instrument. Or it could be something very directly useful, like learning to be a first responder in case of emergencies, and committing to continually learning more about it (because there is always more to learn).

    And when it comes to the above choices… Pick things that excite you, regardless of how practical or not they are. Because that stimulation that keeps on driving you? That’s what keeps your brain active, healthy, and sharp.

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: