From Consumer Reports "ON HEALTH":
Men, lift those weights. For every hour spent weight training each week, men's risk of type 2 diabetes fell by 13 perent, according to the a study published online Aug. 6, 2012, by the Archives of Internal Medicine. And Men who spent a combined five hours or more each week on weight training plus aerobic exerise saw a 59 percent decrease in risk. The analysis involved 32,002 male health professionals who wer followed for 18 years.
This speaks directly to me as I have tendencies in this direction. More support for Bar Bell Training is Big Medicine! Especially for the Geezers!
Barbell training IS Big Medicine. I am living proof of that. Hopefully more of these studies will continue to emerge and Medical Practitioners will get the idea. I won't bore you with the whole story but here are the pertinent details.
At the beginning of this year at the age of 36 I had the following diagnoses: High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes. These all stemmed from a bout with severe flu two years ago and a scary high blood pressure reading in Urgent Care(something along the lines of 210/150 or some other stupidly high number). Post that I was urged to visit my Primary Care Physician and was after some testing diagnosed as above and immediately started on several different meds. I started the year on 2 different oral meds for the Diabetes, 2 different oral meds for the High Blood Pressure and 1 Cholesterol med. I finally decided that I had enough and committed to making a change. My ultimate goal was to be completely free of ALL prescription medications before the end of the year. Secondary to that I wanted to just overall "feel better", be more capable, not get winded just looking at a flight of stairs, and instead of being called "big guy" actually feel like I was "big guy" instead of "fat guy". A diet change to Paleo/Primal and the immediate start of 3x/week training had a pretty dramatic immediate effect. I happened to find a VERY forward thinking Doctor who indicated to me that if I could demonstrate the ability to maintain good blood sugar readings as my diet changed that he would slowly lower the dosage of the medicines to wean me off of them. After about 3 months of just doing easy cardio and some minor screwing around with weights at the gym I fully succumbed to the siren song of the Iron and started barbell lifting. I was directed to Mark Rippetoe and SS by a work colleague and it began from there. My current lifts are nothing special as I have recovery issues related to my obesity, however what I was able to achieve is the primary goal. As of the beginning of October I am ENTIRELY Prescription Medication free!! My blood pressure is still just a tick high(low 140s/75-83) but it continues to come down as my weight decreases and my lifts increase. I have lost a total of just over 50lbs and certainly am MUCH stronger than I have ever been in my life. Barbells ARE Big Medicine!!
And take your co-worker who recommended SS and RIppetoe out to eat at a steakhouse. Then drink whisky.
You got me there, Josiah.
Definitely slow to seep into the medical mind. Because of a change in my employer's healthcare setup, I recently had to have a regular old checkup for the first time in umpteen years. As it was wrapping up, the doctor asked me what I do for exercise. When I put heavy squats, deads, etc at the top of the list, he shook his head and said forget about all that heavy lifting and switch to jogging or some other kind of cardio where I'd `burn more calories.' He was a nice guy and not really a scold so I just nodded and let it go. I'm too old for proselytizing.