Older Adults and Strength Training

Older Adults and Strength Training As we age our muscles over time forget how to take up sugar, while our fat cells become much more proficient. Along the full length of muscle tissue fibers, you will discover there is what is known as Insulin Receptor Sites. These receptor sites are similar to doors that must be opened up to allow for the flow of blood glucose as well as amino acids into the cells. When muscles are sedentary they require hardly any blood glucose, and after prolong sedentary periods of time, these doors are not actively performing as they are supposed to be. Strength training among older adults will cause these once nonfunctioning receptor sites to function, activating muscle tissue. Too many carbohydrates in the daily diet of an older sedentary adult whose receptor sites are not functioning will certainly bring about glucose deposits in fat stores. Strength training allows a recovery uptake of this glucose into the muscle tissues of the older adult instead of this glucose being taken up into fat stores. This is just one method of fat reduction in the older adult as a direct result of strength training. Strength training keeps the muscle fibers and receptor sites active and functional. For the sedentary older adult to implement a low to moderate amount of resistance exercise could be productive in re-educating receptor sites even when the resistance is not enough to cause size and strength increase.