It's a tantalising prospect that simple sessions of weight lifting could be the key to restoring youth. But that's what some scientists are saying.


An Australian researcher compared the muscle tissue of people in their twenties and thirties with those in their sixties and seventies, who did resistance training twice a week for six months.


Those who did this not only boosted their muscle strength by 50 percent but also found the process of muscle aging had actually reversed.


According to Melbourne based Physiologist Gordon Lynch, the study shows that the exercise was a good way of counteracting the deterioration of their muscles.


Lynch says it should be a good incentive for anyone to begin an exercise programme.


Seventy six year old Sydney resident Solomon Ende does regular strength training


Ende's not convinced the weight training has made him feel any younger.


But he said it has to be better than sitting on the couch.


Adelaide based seventy year old, Alison Cobbet, began exercising to beat arthritis


She says that strengthening her muscles around the joints was the best way she could think of to try to counter the disease.


Sydney Exercise Physiologist, Chris Tzar, says the benefits of exercise to an elderly population were extensive.


Tzar says it can help prevent some of the chronic problems associated with aging such as osteoporosis and arthritis.


And as the research shows it's never too late to start.


The study was carried out by Australian Simon Melov from the Buck Institute for Age Research based in California in conjunction with McMasters university in Canada.

Source: msnindia.com