Power in Exercise

​Marilyn Erickson, APRN
 
One of my daughter’s many jobs is to care for a 99-year-old woman. She desperately desires that this woman continue to live with as much strength and good mental health as possible. She also sees her own mother living a long life and wants her to be as physically fit as possible. She tells me how important it is to preserve muscle through exercise that focuses on strength and endurance-building and believes that exercise is the most important practice for longevity and quality of life. 

So, in this article, as much as to give myself a path forward to a regular exercise routine and one specific to building strength and endurance, I am offering you, the reader, encouragement to do the same. And while exercise is important in all stages of life, it is just as critical and, in fact, essential, for individuals in mid-life and later life. We are not too old to start or to continue to change our lifestyle practices!

First, think about what kind of movement you enjoy doing. Something that measures up to cardio-type exercise. Examples include running, cycling, swimming, dancing, rowing, and boxing and many more options. There are studies that show that cardio or aerobic training can help reduce the fat that accumulates as our hormones change with transitions to different stages of our development. Additionally, there is a greater benefit when you do both cardio and resistance training. Resistance training includes lifting weights and completing simple functional movements using your own body weight, like push-ups. 

Resistance training is one of the most impactful things you can do for yourself because the focus is on your muscle power. Muscle power is the ability to generate force quickly. It is critical for helping us perform better when playing sports or exercising in any setting. However, it also determines how well we do activities of daily living like climbing stairs, getting out of a chair, and protecting ourselves against falls. 

Around age 50, muscle strength (the ability to exert force or lift heavy objects) declines by about 3% per year. Muscle mass decreases by about 1% per year. But it is not inevitable that we lose muscle as we get older. It does take effort and commitment to ourselves, however. As you can see by the percentages above, muscle power declines more rapidly than muscle strength as we get older. 

So what can we do? Examples of power training exercises can include:

• Climbing a set of stairs as quickly as possible.
• Standing up from a chair as many times as possible within 30-60 seconds. Use this method as a form of interval training by taking a rest break and repeating as many times as possible.
• Fast step-ups using your own body weight or while holding dumbbells or wearing a weighted vest.
• Performing push ups as quickly as possible. Start on your knees if needed.
• Jumping jacks for 30-60 seconds. Can also use the interval training method with rest breaks between repetitions.

Physical activity affects mental health positively. Consistent, regular physical activity has the potential to help with sleep difficulties, depression and anxiety. I am a believer in having a body that is as healthy and as strong as possible will also give us a boost toward better mental health. So there is no time like the present to start some kind of program that works for you to start building endurance and muscle power. It is never too late to start! And you can start slow and small; change one thing at a time. 

Resources:
Haver, Mary Claire. The New Menopause. 2024.
Mahindru, et al. “Role of Physical Health and Well-being: A Review”, Cureus, 2023.
Patrick, Rhonda. Found My Fitness website, 2025 document

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