This weightlifting technique can help older adults stay fit and independent as they age

If you’re over 60 and have started lifting weights, you’ve probably been told to take it slowly. Lift steadily, lower steadily, keep it controlled.

This may sound like sensible advice, but lifting slowly isn’t always better. While the technique may have an edge when it comes to building strength and muscle, lifting with speed may be the better option if you want to stay fit and keep moving well for years to come.

Most people associate weightlifting with building muscle and strength. But lifting can also build power (how quickly our muscles can produce force). This aspect of fitness fades earlier and faster than strength does as we age.

Part of the reason for this sits inside the muscle itself. Our muscles are made up of two types of fibres: slow-twitch fibres, which are built for endurance, and fast-twitch fibres, which are built for speed and help produce force quickly. While our slow-twitch fibres tend to hold up fairly well with age, our fast-twitch fibres tend to shrink and weaken.

The weakening of these fast-twitch fibres can have a significant impact on daily life as we get older. Even things as simple as climbing stairs or crossing the road before the lights change all benefit from power.

Muscle power may even matter more than strength when it comes to staying mobile. A study of 839 older adults in Italy compared how much power people could produce pushing with one leg with how hard they could push against a fixed resistance. The researchers found those with low leg power were two to three times more likely to have limited mobility than those with low strength.

Power matters for trips and falls too. When you catch your toe, your standing leg has to push off quickly and forcefully, which gives your other foot time to swing forward and land in the right place. Being less able to generate muscle force as you age may mean it’s harder to stop yourself from falling if you trip.

A study of 94 older adults compared people who’d had a fall in the past year with those who hadn’t. Both groups had similar strength in their knees, but those who’d fallen had less leg power, estimated from how quickly they could stand up from a chair five times.

Because the study looked back at falls, it can’t tell us whether low power caused the fall or if recovering from the fall caused the loss of power. But it fits with the trip research.

Building power

The good news is that training can help. In a very small pilot study of just nine people, 16 weeks of leg strength training increased how hard they could push off with their legs. Those who trained also tended to respond better after a trip than those who didn’t, though the difference was too small to be certain.

But in order to build muscle power, you need to lift a little differently than you would to build strength.

Training strength usually means lifting and lowering the weight at a controlled, comfortable pace. To train power, you still lower the weight under control, but try to lift it quickly and with force.

A large review of 20 trials and 566 older adults compared lifting fast with lifting more slowly. Lifting fast gave a bigger boost to muscle power and also provided modest benefits to everyday physical function.

When it comes to strength, the picture is more mixed. In that same review, strength and muscle gains were the same either way.

My 2022 review of 12 trials conducted in people over 60 found strength gains leaned towards faster lifting – though this finding wasn’t very robust, as the studies were small and often low quality.

I also conducted a trial in 31 untrained adults aged 60 to 79 where they did one leg press session a week for six weeks. Whether they pushed fast or slow, their strength, everyday function and quality of life all improved. However, the slow groups tended to gain a little more strength, while the fast groups tended to improve more on everyday tasks.

A 2026 review of 16 studies in adults aged 60 and over found that slower lifting tended to come out ahead for muscle size and strength, while faster lifting tended to come out ahead on tests of everyday physical function.

So technique may matter depending on your goals. Slower lifting may build somewhat more strength and muscle, while faster lifting may help more with everyday tasks.

But it’s important to note that fast lifting isn’t a cure-all. That same review of 20 trials found this technique made no clear difference when it came to improving balance. For preventing falls and improving balance, the strongest evidence is for balance and functional exercise – movements that copy daily life, such as stepping and turning. Combining these exercises with strength training may cut the number of falls by about a third.

Changing your technique

Building power doesn’t mean you have to change your entire weightlifting routine. All it takes is one small simple technique change.

When lifting, lower the weight slowly and under control. Then, push it back up as fast as you can while keeping good form. Pick a light-to-moderate weight, something you could lift perhaps 15 times with good form, then stop well short of that, at around eight reps, so every rep still moves quickly.

The same is true if you’re performing bodyweight exercises at home. If you’re doing a chair squat, for example, aim to sit slowly before standing up as quickly as you safely can. Use your hands on the armrests if you need to.

The weight itself doesn’t have to move fast. What matters is that you’re trying to move it as quickly as you safely can.

Weightlifting has many benefits for our health as we age. Just make sure to train power as well as strength to help you stay mobile for longer.

Liam T. Pearson-Noseworthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.