We all want to protect our brains and bodies from disease and decline and stay sharp and vibrant throughout the decades. Regular exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle, and it brings a range of benefits, from lowering blood pressure to perking up your mood and prompting the release of feel-good endorphins. Your training habits can benefit your physical health and your brain health, too. For example, an interesting study showed that people who took part in aerobic fitness training had increased brain volume and white and gray matter. 

Physical activity can sharpen problem-solving, memory, and learning and reduce depression or anxiety. Another study concluded that cognitive decline is nearly twice as common in adults who are inactive compared to active adults. In a recent study, researchers wanted to look at how exercise lowered the risk of dementia. Let’s take a look at the study and the results.

The study

In a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers wanted to investigate how cardiorespiratory fitness affected the risk of dementia, taking genetic predisposition into account. The researchers looked at data from 61,214 adult participants who didn’t have dementia. 

The researchers identified dementia cases through medical records and assessed genetic predisposition. They used a six-minute submaximal cycling test to determine the participants’ cardiovascular fitness and estimate maximal oxygen consumption or VO2 max. The participants also took neuropsychological tests to evaluate their reaction time, processing speed, and memory. The researchers looked closely at the data to analyze the relationship between cardiovascular fitness and genetic predisposition.

The results

In conclusion, the researchers reported a positive association between a high cardiovascular fitness level and cognitive function across all age groups. High cardiovascular fitness levels were associated with a 40% lower overall risk of dementia and a delayed dementia onset by 1.48 years on average. For individuals with a high predisposed risk of dementia, high cardiovascular fitness was associated with a 35% lower risk of dementia.

What is cardiovascular fitness?

Cardiovascular fitness refers to your ability to deliver oxygen to your working muscles and your heart. Another interesting study revealed that higher cardiovascular fitness levels were linked with a lower risk of heart and blood vessel disorders and complications.

What we can learn from this research

This research shows that having good fitness levels could lower your risk of dementia, delay its onset by up to 18 months, and enhance your cognitive performance. This study shows us that even those with a higher genetic risk of developing dementia can lower that risk with regular exercise. Prioritizing your fitness helps protect your brain health, heart health, and more.

Members of the Get Healthy Walking Club walk the paths past the animal enclosures during the morning at the Louisville Zoo in Louisville, Ky.
AP

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Janet Rapp strode briskly down a paved path through the city zoo, waving at friends and stopping briefly to greet emus she knows by name.

The 71-year-old retiree starts each morning this way with a walking club.

“I’m obsessed,” she said. Not only does it ease her joint pain, “it just gives me energy … And then it calms me, too.”

Medical experts agree that walking is an easy way to improve physical and mental health, bolster fitness and prevent disease. While it’s not the only sort of exercise people should do, it’s a great first step toward a healthy life.

“You don’t need equipment and you don’t need a gym membership,” said Dr. Sarah Eby, a sports medicine physician with Mass General Brigham. “And the benefits are so vast.”

What can walking do for you?

Walking can help meet the U.S. surgeon general’s recommendation that adults get at least 2½ hours of moderate-intensity physical activity every week. This helps lower the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, depression and many types of cancer.

Janet Rapp, a member of the Get Healthy Walking Club stands in front of the zebra enclosure during the early morning at the Louisville Zoo.
AP

Walking also improves blood sugar levels, is good for bone health and can help you lose weight and sleep better, added Julie Schmied, a nurse practitioner with Norton Healthcare, which runs the free Get Healthy Walking Club.

Another advantage? It’s a low-impact exercise that puts less pressure on joints as it strengthens your heart and lungs.

James Blankenship, 68, said joining the walking club at the Louisville Zoo last year helped him bounce back after a heart attack and triple bypass in 2022.

“My cardiologist says I’m doing great,” he said.

For all its benefits, however, walking “is not enough for overall health and well-being” because it doesn’t provide resistance training that builds muscle strength and endurance, said Anita Gust, who teaches exercise science at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

That’s especially important for women’s bone health as they age.

Experts recommend adding such activities at least twice weekly – using weights, gym equipment or your own body as resistance — and doing exercises that improve flexibility like yoga or stretching.

Do you really need 10,000 steps a day?

Nearly everyone has heard about this walking goal, which dates back to a 1960s marketing campaign in Japan. But experts stress that it’s just a guideline.

The average American walks about 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day and it’s fine to gradually work up to 10,000, Shmied said.

Setting a time goal can also be useful. Shmied suggests breaking the recommended 150 minutes per week into 30 minutes a day, or 10 minutes three times a day, for five days. During inclement weather, people can walk in malls or on treadmills.

As they become seasoned walkers, they can speed up the pace or challenge themselves with hills while still keeping the activity level moderate.

“If you can talk but not sing,” Eby said, “that’s what we consider moderate-intensity exercise.”

How do you stay motivated?

Walking with friends – including dogs – is one way.

Walking clubs have popped up across the nation. In 2022, New York personal trainer Brianna Joye Kohn, 31, started City Girls Who Walk with a TikTok post inviting others to walk with her.

“We had 250 girls show up,” she said.

From left, Lou Ann Parrino, Lisa Weisert, and Janie Reinert, members of the Get Healthy Walking Club pause during their morning walk to say good morning to one of the animals at the Louisville Zoo in Louisville, Ky.
AP

Since then, the group has walked every Sunday for around 40 minutes, with some meeting afterward for brunch or coffee.

The Louisville Zoo launched its walking club in 1987, partnered with Norton in 2004 to expand it, and now boasts more than 15,000 registered members. Every day from March 1 through Oct. 31, people walk around and around the 1.4-mile loop before the zoo officially opens.

Tony Weiter meets two of his siblings every Friday. On a recent morning, they caught up on each other’s lives as they zipped past zebras in a fenced field and a seal sunning itself.

“I enjoy the serenity of it. It’s cold but the sun is shining. You get to see the animals,” said Weiter, 63. “It’s a great way to start the morning.”

Whether you’re bored of the same old walking routine or want to boost your fitness, strength training is the name of the game. While walking is excellent at torching calories, strength training offers benefits beyond burning calories in the moment. That’s why we spoke with a fitness pro who outlines the best strength exercises to get lean when you’re tired of walking.

“With strength training, you’re not only burning calories during the workout, but you’re also building lean muscle. This added muscle mass increases your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories even at rest,” explains Stan Kravchenko, celebrity coach and founder of OneFit.com. “Your body will naturally expend more energy to maintain muscle mass, which supports weight loss and overall health over the long term.”

Similar to walking, strength exercises benefit your cardiovascular fitness, but they provide substantial advantages for bone density, muscles, and injury prevention as well. “Building muscle mass promotes longevity and better supports your joints, ligaments, and tendons as you age,” Kravchenko adds. “If your goal is to lose weight and build lean muscle, strength training is an effective path.”

That being said, you don’t have to choose one form of exercise over the other. A well-rounded workout routine should include both! Kravchenko recommends performing strength training on one day and utilizing walking as an active recovery exercise on another.

Below are five excellent strength exercises to get lean that are perfect for your upper body, core, and lower body. “Performing these exercises consistently will help you build strength, improve body composition, and support other health benefits, such as increased muscle size, enhanced bone density, reduced body fat, and more,” says Kravchenko.

Goblet Squat

The goblet squat is a great choice to target your core and lower body, firing up your hamstrings, quads, glutes, and core muscles. “The goblet squat is suitable for everyone, from beginners to those with more experience, as it helps keep the torso upright, making it a safe and effective option for building lower-body strength,” Kravchenko tells us.

1. Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell with both hands like a goblet at your chest.
2. Lower into a squat, keeping your chest tall and back straight.
3. Once your thighs are parallel to the ground, press through your heels to stand up tall.
4. Complete 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

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Pulldown

“This exercise is ideal for working on your pulling motion and strengthening your back muscles,” explains Kravchenko. “The seated cable pulldown allows you to perform the exercise safely and effectively, with good control over each repetition.”

1. Sit at a lat pulldown machine with your knees secured under the pad and feet firmly planted on the ground.
2. Grab the handle and pull it down to your upper chest.
3. Use control to return to the start position.
4. Complete 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

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Dumbbell Chest Press

“The dumbbell chest press is a great exercise for pushing movements, targeting the chest, triceps, and front shoulder muscles,” Kravchenko points out. “Unlike machines or barbells, dumbbells offer more freedom of movement, which is often safer for shoulder joints.”6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

1. Lie flat on your back on a workout bench with a dumbbell in each hand and arms extended over your chest.
2. Lower the dumbbells toward your chest until your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
3. Press the weights back up.
4. Perform 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

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Single-Leg Press

“This exercise allows you to work each side of your body individually, helping to balance any strength differences between your legs,” says Kravchenko. “The single-leg press prevents one side from compensating for the other, making it especially beneficial if you have one leg that is more dominant. Similar to a unilateral dumbbell chest press for the upper body, this exercise targets your glutes and legs effectively.”

1. Sit at a leg press machine with one foot on the platform.
2. Press the weight away from your body.
3. Lower the weight using control.
4. Switch legs after completing each set.
5. Perform 3 sets of 8-10 reps for each leg.

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Pallof Press with Rotation

“This is a fantastic core exercise, chosen specifically because it introduces a rotational movement,” Kravchenko explains. “Unlike the previous exercises, which all operate in the sagittal plane, the Pallof press with rotation works in the transverse plane, challenging your core and obliques in a different way.”

1. Attach a resistance band or cable at chest level.
2. Stand tall, perpendicular to the anchor point, holding onto the handle with both hands.
3. Press the handle away from your body and slowly rotate your torso toward the anchor point, activating your core muscles.
4. Return to the start position.
5. Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps per side.

Alexa Mellardo