The best medicine for a long, healthy life is resistance training.

Nico is a sports journalist, author, personal trainer, and Health & Fitness Director for Women’s Health and Men’s Health (nico-airone.de).

His session couldn't have been more practical, as he started his talk by saying: "Everyone, stand up." and a workout appeared on the screen. He then went on to give a talk on why muscle strength is central to long-term health. His message was simple but powerful: if you want to age well, you need to lift.

Personally, I'm guilty of mostly doing cardio and yoga, as my primary source of exercise. Could I possibly have gotten my whole fitness routine wrong? Let's read on and find out! Below are my key insights from the talk.

Why Strength Training Is a Longevity Essential

While the benefits of muscle training are often associated with aesthetics, the real value lies way deeper. Strength training is one of the most powerful interventions for metabolic health, mobility, and independence as we age.

Resistance training improves:

• Metabolic health and insulin sensitivity
• Bone density, reducing fracture risk
• Posture and structural alignment
• Mobility and functional movement
• Cognitive performance
• Independence and physical capability in older age

The more muscle you maintain, the more capable and resilient you remain, physically, metabolically, and neurologically.

Muscle as Molecular Medicine

One of the most interesting parts of Nico’s talk focused on the biological magic of muscle tissue. Muscle is not just a mechanical system for movement, it’s a metabolic and hormonal organ.

When you train, your muscles release myokines, hormone-like messengers that travel throughout the body and create wide-ranging health benefits: They reduce chronic inflammation, support mitochondrial function, ehance DNA repair, improve metabolic flexibility, and boost BDNF, which supports neuroplasticity. They also show potential anti-cancer effects

Each workout you do is not just strengthening your muscles, it is sending a molecular signal that builds health and extends your healthspan.

The Power of Functional Fitness Testing

Nico then introduced a series of simple, functional tests to gauge your level of fitness:

• Standing up without using your hands
• Dead hanging from a bar for 1–2 minutes
• 15–40 push-ups
• Weighted reverse lunges
• 1–3 chin-ups
• Jumping your own body length
• A 1-minute heavy farmer’s walk

These movements show much more than athletic ability, they indicate your physiological reserve, your balance, your strength, and your long-term resilience.

I don't know about you, but this all made me want to try these tests, train for 2-3 months, and then take them again (hoping to see a difference!).

How Training Should Change After 40

Aging bodies require smarter strategies. Nico emphasized that once we reach our 40s (and beyond), training should shift toward:

• Technical precision over heavy loading
• Tempo control, especially in the eccentric phase
• Joint-friendly movement patterns
• A strong focus on the posterior chain
• Improving mobility and tissue quality
• Maintaining consistent progression, not maximal intensity

This stage of life is less about training like an athlete and more about training for longevity, stability, and sustainable strength.

As someone in approaching her late thirties, this all seemed relevant and applicable for me. Better start now!

A Framework for Sustainable Longevity Training

To maintain strength, muscle mass, and functional capacity long-term, Nico recommends the following training structure:

• 2–4 full-body sessions per week
• Around 20 sets per workout
• Rest intervals of 60–90 seconds
• Structured tempo (e.g., 2/1 or 3/1 seconds)
• Alternating sets for efficiency
• A new program every 4 weeks to avoid plateaus

The goal isn’t to compete with anyone, it’s simply to stay consistent. Over time, consistency compounds into capability.

Conclusion: Lift for Life

To go back to my opening question... Yes, it does seem that cardio and yoga are not enough! Certainly, they are good, but to extend my longevity, I need to integrate a lot more strength training into my routine. Muscle is one of the few tissues that we can actively build at any age, and every workout is a signal to our biology to stay youthful. Did this resonate with anyone else?

A big thank you to Nico Airone for sharing his expertise and helping our community understand why strength training is one of the central pillars of long-term health.

Let’s lift. Not just for fitness, but for life.