Increasing your muscle power may do more than help you lift moving boxes multiple times or look good in a tank top. There’s new evidence that it could actually prolong your life.
Muscle power vs. muscle strength
So, what exactly is the difference between muscle power and muscle strength? While lifting 100 pounds once requires muscle strength, lifting 100 pounds 25 times requires muscle power. Muscle power isn’t just a measurement of how strong you are, but also a measurement of force and velocity while coordinating movement. That might explain why Olympic athletes living longer than the general population. Most of them probably have more muscle power than the rest of us due to practice.
Studying nonathletes
A team of researchers from Exercise Medicine Clinic CLINIMEX in Brazil looked at 3,878 nonathletes between the ages of 41 and 85. The volunteers made several attempts to lift increasing weight and then the researchers determined each person’s maximal muscle power by taking the highest value achieved and calculating the power exertion based on each volunteer’s weight.
The volunteers were followed for 6.5 years to determine the survival rate compared to their maximal muscle power. They found that:
• The group with the lowest maximal muscle power had a risk of dying that was 10 to 13 times higher than those with the top two (of four) maximal muscle power groups.
• The group with the lowest maximal muscle power had a risk of dying that was four to five times higher than those in the second-lowest maximal muscle power group.
The results of the study were presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s EuroPrevent 2019 meeting.
How to increase your muscle power
Adding weight-lifting repetitions to your workout—including moving the weights as quickly as possible—can help you build muscle power. Be sure to choose a weight that is neither too light or too heavy and rest between sets. Most importantly, talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
