Increasing Muscle Power Helps Promote Longevity: Study

Besides striving to lift weights that challenge our muscles, and performing enough repetitions to matter, new research suggests the speed at which we lift weights also makes a difference. Pixabay

We all know that increasing muscle strength is good for health, but new findings presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s EuroPrevent conference in Lison are focusing specifically on muscle power and its connection to longevity.

Muscle power depends on the ability to generate force and velocity and to coordinate movement. For example, lifting a weight one time requires strength, but lifting it several times as quickly as possible requires power. Study author Claudio Gil Araújo, a professor at Exercise Medicine Clinic, explains, “Rising from a chair in old age and kicking a ball depend more on muscle power than muscle strength, yet most weight-bearing exercise focuses on the latter.”