{"id":170658,"date":"2019-10-21T10:42:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T09:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/?p=170658"},"modified":"2019-10-21T12:22:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T11:22:58","slug":"resistance-training-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/resistance-training-research\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Interesting New Discoveries About Resistance Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

How best to optimise your time at the gym? And how does your time in the gym optimise your life outside of it? These questions around resistance training have long been the subject of research for institutions the world over.<\/p>\n

From a deeper dive into the effectiveness of a mind-muscle connection to the link between lifting weights and sleep, here is a selection of recent discoveries which have intrigued us at Form HQ.<\/p>\n

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The mind-muscle connection 2.0<\/h4>\n

The connection between muscle and mind is ancient lore for bodybuilders. The logic goes that focussing on a particular muscle when lifting promotes its activation and, by extension, development.<\/p>\n

But a new analysis published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living<\/a> suggests that this way of thinking about the link is one reserved for aesthetes, not athletes. To truly lift heavier or for longer, it encourages thinking instead about the weight you’re lifting, rather than your muscles.<\/p>\n

Proponents of the mind-muscle connection as we know it cite increased muscle activity when focussing on specific muscles when lifting \u2013 potentially translating to increased energy expenditure and muscle hypertrophy. But the opposite was found to be true when weightlifters focus on external effects such as the movement of a barbell. Lifts are done more economically and with less effort \u2013 thus resulting in greater capacity to lift more for longer.<\/p>\n

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Fitter people have fitter brains<\/h4>\n

Scientists have long known that the benefits of resistance training and general activity go far beyond what you can see in the mirror or what you can lift in the weights room. Past experiments haven\u2019t, however, been able to control factors such as education, age or bodyweight to confirm the underlying causes for the cognitive upshot of training.<\/p>\n

Analysing a large database of over 1,200 MRI brain scans, researchers conducted a two-minute walking test followed by a series of cognitive tests to measure memory, sharpness, judgement and reasoning. In doing so, they found that better performance in a two-minute walking test was directly linked to better cognitive performance and structural integrity of white matter in the brain \u2013 known to improve the speed and quality of cognitive nerve connections.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted at University Clinic, Munich<\/a>, and now that researchers have concluded that fitter people have better brain health, the next step is to ask whether making people fitter will actively improve it.<\/p>\n

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Longer life = muscle power over strength<\/h4>\n

Frailty in old age is often linked to all-cause mortality, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the OAP matching the squat 1RM of a 25-year-old has paved the way to a longer life. The key to longevity has been found to be far more linked to the power<\/em> of your muscles than the strength<\/em> of them.<\/p>\n

Power depends on the ability to generate force and velocity, and to coordinate movement, so is directly related to simple tasks such as climbing stairs (the faster you climb, the more power you need). After turning 40, muscle power is said to gradually decrease, and a lack thereof has been strongly related to a shorter lifespan.<\/p>\n

In this study, 4,000 non-athletes between the ages of 41 and 85 were enrolled to test their power during a set of upright rows. In the follow-up over six years later, participants with a maximal muscle power above the median for their gender had the best survival rate.<\/p>\n

Professor Claudio Gil Ara\u00fajo, the author of the study<\/a>, provides these training tips for increasing muscle power:<\/p>\n