At any age incorporating resistance exercises can help people have better mobility for longer.
By Tracey O’Shaughnessy, Staff Writer
Feb 5, 2026
Gisele Glee, 71, had always been a fitness buff. Running, aerobics, soccer, tennis. She did it all.
So, when she was diagnosed with osteopenia, or reduced bone mass, at 60, she was inclined
to shrug it off. After all, she figured, she had been doing weight-bearing exercises all her life.
But when her doctor suggested she add weight-training to her aerobic-heavy routine, the
West Hartford resident consented and began performing the resistance training she had
avoided most of her life at the Hartford Bone and Joint Institute.
In the two years since, she has noticed clear improvements. "I feel healthier," she said. "I live in
a house with three flights of stairs. I feel so comfortable now going up and down the stairs
every day without using the railing. When I visit my grandchildren in Brooklyn and I'm carrying
luggage, and navigating the subway system, I don't have any problem any more."
An increasing number of Americans are doing the same, adding resistance training to their lives, driven by research that indicates it helps to maintain functional mobility, improves bone health, protects joints, increases metabolism, reduces injury risk and enhances mental well-being, according to Hartford Health Care. Studies suggest it could also add years to one's life. One 2022 study by JAMA Network Open
found that those 65 and older involved in the National Health Interview Survey who did twice weekly strength training along with 150 minutes of aerobic exercise for a period that averaged eight years, lowered their risk of dying during the study period by 30%, compared to those who did less strength training.
"Our body is like our brain," said Corey Podbielski, a physical therapist at Gaylord Physical Therapy. "If we don't give it stimulus, our bodies just say, 'Oh, I guess that area is not important,' and we start to lose muscle mass, we start to lose bone mass and fractures and falls increase," he said. Fat collects around muscles and the body has more difficulty managing sugar, he said.
At its basic level, resistance, or strength training is moving muscles against an external force. That could be a dumbbell, a weight band, a wall or the body's own weight, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Increasingly, doctors, fitness experts and influencers have been encouraging Americans to improve their muscle mass to prevent disease and frailty, especially in the last decade of life.
Erica Bushey, assistant strength training specialist at Hartford Hospital's Center for Musculoskeletal Health, said Glee's experience as a healthy woman whose exercise regimen largely consisted of aerobic exercise, is particularly common among those who became adultsin the late 1970s and 1980s. While she endorses aerobics for its cardiovascular benefits, she said an exclusive emphasis on it devalues the importance of strength training in allowing people to get through the ordinary activities of daily life, from lifting groceries to getting out of the car.
"A lot of the focus (from the 1970s through) the 1990s was doing a bunch of cardio, cardio, cardio, cardio and that's great but there also needs to be just enough importance on the resistance training, lifting dumbbells, even just body weight exercises," she said. "Resistance training in general enhances your mental health and your cognitive function, and also your independence and daily activities." Compared to cardio, resistance training is superior for building bone density in individuals, especially individuals with osteoporosis or osteopenia (or a loss of bone density), Bushey said.
"Under any sort of load, even if just a little," makes the body stimulate bone formation, "to keep those bones nice and strong and healthy especially as we age," Bushey said.
The National Institute of Aging, whose researchers have been studying the effects of strength training for more than 40 years, have found that strength training helps older adults maintain muscle mass, mobility and increasing the healthy years of life. Much of that is because the process of aging itself. Muscle mass decreases about 3–8% each decade after 30, a rate that is higher after age 60, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That leads to an increase risk of falls, insulin resistance, decreased bone density and joint stiffness, accordingto NIH. About 30% of adults over age 70 have trouble with walking, getting up out of a chair, or climbing stairs an infirmity Podbielski said is one of the top reasons people start resistance training. Podbielski compares the loss of muscle strength to revving up a car to a high RPM and not moving.
"Without sufficient strength training, that's what everyday life starts to feel like," Podbielski said. "If we lose that reserve of strength, then basic everyday tasks like getting dressed, climbing stairs, picking up groceries, they're all at such a higher percentage of our capacity right because we've lost that reserve amount of strength."
Health experts say resistance training should work all the major muscle groups, especially legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms.
"The most common thing I see people having trouble with are getting out of a chair, bending over to pick something up off the floor and getting up from the floor," he said. All of those activities are heavily dependent on lower body strength and grip strength.
As for Glee, she said she feels more confident, has developed a group of friends and led others in her neighborhood to embrace resistance training. "I didn't say anything to them," she said. "I think they just saw how well I was feeling."