Maintain Your Strength Gains

​In a recent study published in the July 2023 edition of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found “maintenance of muscle mass and strength is not superior after home-based resistance training compared with center-based training. However, training continuation seems crucial for the maintenance of muscle mass, irrespective of the training intervention” across participants aged 65 and older.

One participant group performed low-intensity home resistance training (sit-to-stands, modified push-ups, and TheraBand leg exercises). The other group performed high intensity exercises in a facility with machines (same leg exercises but with machines, lat pull-downs, seated shoulder press machines). Participants had their muscle strength, muscle mass, and function measured at baseline, 6 months of training, 12 months of training, and 6 months post-study. Both groups used the same progression protocol, but neither demonstrated superior effects to the other group in terms of strength and muscle mass.

What does that mean for us?

It is ok to not have to go to the gym for every workout or at all to exercise. Going to the gym has other benefits such as accountability, exposure to new exercises, encouragement from peers, and more, but to maintain strength and muscle mass, you can keep going with your TheraBand and calisthenics exercises at home. Lack of access to a gym does not mean that you cannot work out after therapy ends. ​

Maggie Duggan, PT, DPT, FDN-1, CF-OL1