Strength Train to Stay Younger Feeling as you Age

There doesn’t seem to be a day go by that you don’t read about the benefits of strength training as you age. It improves your strength, bone density, balance, metabolic function, and even your over all mental well being. I worked in the construction trade as a mason until the age of 38, and maintained a decent degree of strength and fitness without the need to go to the gym and workout. After that I took a job sitting behind a bench as a electronic technician and programmer. Needless to say things slowly went downhill after that. It has been a real challenge for me to change my mind set that I now need to work at staying fit. Fortunately for me, my lovely wife keeps reminding me of this fact, I think she wants me to stick around for a while!
Last year I put together a decent home gym and began a power lifting routine. Everything was going along fine. Squats, rows, deadlifts, overhead presses, and bench presses. I was gradually adding weight each training session and then it happened. I re-injured my shoulder. It was an old injury from my construction days. That was about 6 months ago. It is now pretty well healed and I’m about to start lifting again, this time with a little more caution. After all the big 60 is rolling around in a little over a month. The first article below is a very good primer for someone starting out so hopefully you can avoid any serious injuries as you train.
I ran across a very good article the other day on strength training for beginners. It is on the myfitnesspal blog “Hello Healthy” written by Mackenzie Lobby. It can be read here and is titled The Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training
Another article I found interesting was dealing with strength training being good for dealing with lower back pain, something most old masons deal with. It can be found here: Why Back Pain Sufferers Should Lift Weights
I hope you found these articles as interesting as I did. Please leave a comment below because I’d like to know what you think!