Strength training

 I used to go to Jazzercise once a week, a fitness program that included both aerobics and strength training. The program shut down during Covid. To compensate, I signed up for Jazzercise on Demand, an online program. It’s $25.00 a month, but worth it for me because I use it consistently twice a week (although my sessions are only ten minutes long). The photo below is an accurate depiction of what I do, using five-pound weights and my iPad (not a TV). It’s strength training.

Silver Sneakers is also an option. It’s an exercise program for seniors, offered as both in-person classes and online. It’s free (mostly) for Medicare Advantage subscribers (but not through Original Medicare). A friend of mine uses this and likes it a lot. The image below is from the Silver Sneakers website.

According to experts, just 20 minutes of strength training twice a week, or 10 to 15 minutes three times a week brings significant long-term rewards, including a 10 to 20 percent reduction in your risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer. (I don’t see how you can reduce your risk of mortality, but that’s what my source, the British Journal of Sports Medicine, said.) At any rate, I do it to maintain strength. 

Strength training is particularly valuable for people with diabetes, as one journal reports: “Our findings showed that muscle-strengthening activities were associated with a 17% lower incidence of diabetes. Because muscle-strengthening activities increase or preserve skeletal muscle mass, which has been identified as the major tissue in glucose metabolism, a clear dose–response association can be established.” 

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