Pumping iron is American seniors' secret to ageing well

Stronger muscles and bones are associated with better health, so one gym in the US is teaching barbell lifting for older people

- Chris Cohen

UNITED STATES - The clang of weights rang out through Greysteel Strength and Conditioning on a recent Friday morning. Over the pumping music came chirps of instruction and affirmation: "You got this, push!"

Ms Ann Buszard, 84, strapped on a thick leather belt before stepping up to the barbell she had loaded to 170 pounds or about 77kg.

She exhaled and hinged, lifting roughly the weight of a medium-sized refrigerator fluidly off the ground, then reversed the move to gently set it down, safely completing a deadlift.

The retired nurse had never so much as touched a weight until she was 74, when she found herself struggling to stand up after kneeling. She wanted to get stronger, and her son had heard of a local doctor who was moonlighting as a weight-lifting coach.

She wound up at Greysteel, a no-nonsense gym in Farmington Hills, Michigan, outside Detroit. While many gyms around the country offer programmes for older people, Greysteel distinguishes itself by focusing on old-school barbell lifting.

The logic behind Greysteel is straightforward: Stronger muscles and bones are associated with longer life and better health. And heavy barbell lifting programmes are proven to build strength.

If you combine those two ideas, the inevitable decline that comes with ageing is perhaps not quite so inevitable.

Greysteel was founded by Dr Jonathon Sullivan, now 65, as a side project while he was working in the emergency room of Detroit Receiving Hospital.