According to a well-known fitness trainer, you should add strength training to any workout if you want to live longer and healthier.
Rachael Sacerdoti, a personal trainer and founder of the coaching platform It’s So Simple, is an advocate for adopting strength training if you want to age well.
“If someone has a good muscle base, they’re increasing their quality of life and longevity,” she tells Fit&Well.
She adds that there is one simple move you can do to accomplish this without weights! The lunge!
“Doing any form of lunge will hit your glutes, quads and core,” says Sacerdoti: “It works balance, mobility and stretching—it’s very versatile.”
“Any lower-body exercises—squats, lunges and deadlifts—are good because the lower-body contains the largest muscle groups and muscle building is really important—it’s like the holy grail when it comes to longevity,” she says.
Sacerdoti says any type of lunge is great for building muscle and supporting longevity. Once you can comfortably perform three sets of 10 bodyweight lunges, you can progress by adding weights. Several recent studies have said that weight training is linked to longevity.
Both forward and reverse lunges are effective options. The difference between a forward lunge and a reverse lunge is that the forward lunge places more emphasis on your quads, while the reverse lunge activates the glutes and hamstrings.
Even though the lunge looks straightforward, form is crucial to getting the most out of the move and keeping your joints safe.
Sacerdoti says the biggest mistake she sees is people trying to keep their feet in a single line when lunging.
“Instead of putting your feet directly behind each other, think about being on a train track,” she says. Imagining your feet are on these parallel tracks will help with balance.
Sacerdoti also advises that you protect your knee joint by making sure the knee on your front leg doesn’t overshoot the ankle.
“That’s when people can experience pain,” she says.
Even though they’re called forward and backward lunges, Sacerdoti says you should think about the movement being vertical.
“Think of yourself as a spring, going down and up rather than forwards and back,” she says.
This will help build drive, power, and control. It will also help keep your upper body upright—a forward collapsing torso is another common pitfall.
Sacerdoti recommends “training to failure,” which means doing an exercise until you can no longer do another repetition with proper form.
“By the time you’ve completed 75% of your reps, you want to make sure that you’re really being challenged,” she advises.
Try adding lunges to your workout routine at least twice a week to see improvements in strength, mobility, and confidence.
