The best test of how long you will live

New research: muscle speed says more about your lifespan than your strength If you had to choose a

single test to predict how long you will live what would you guess? Blood pressure? Cholesterol? How much you can lift?

All are reasonable. And all are worse than a test you can do in your own kitchen in thirty seconds:

How quickly you can get up from a chair.

It sounds too simple to be true. But it's based on one of the most interesting things I've read in health in a long time.

The study

This year, a study of almost four thousand people, followed for just over ten years, was published. The researchers measured two things and compared them: strength – how much force you can develop and power , which is strength times speed. So not just how much you can do, but how quickly you can do it.

Slowly pressing up a heavy weight is strength. Explosively pushing away to catch yourself when you stumble is power.

The results were clear: power predicted how long you lived better than strength did.

Why it matters after fifty

Strength and speed do not disappear at the same rate as we age. Speed – the ability to activate muscles explosively – begins to disappear earlier and more rapidly. A sixty-five-year-old may still have decent strength but have lost much of the ability to use it quickly .

And it is often speed that determines reality.

Think about what happens when someone falls. The foot gets stuck, the body starts to lean and it all depends on whether you have time to move your foot or catch yourself in time. It's not strength. It's speed.

The same applies to everyday life: getting up from a deep armchair without having to do it several times, stepping up onto a curb, keeping up with a flight of stairs. The ability that disappears first is also the one that matters most to you being able to manage yourself.

Almost no one practices it.

Here's the strange thing. Even though strength is so important, almost no one trains it not even those who do.

Most people who strength train after fifty lift slowly and in a controlled manner. Wise and safe, but it doesn't build speed. Lifting slowly trains the ability to lift slowly. And the usual advice to older people – move carefully, avoid rapid movements means that this very most important ability is rarely trained, and therefore disappears even faster.

The great thing is that speed can be trained back. Studies show that older people can significantly improve their muscle strength in just a few weeks.

Here's how to train it safely

The basic principle is one: slow down, fast up.

You take a regular exercise and just change the tempo up. You do the lowering part slowly as usual. You do the working part as explosively as you can.

Get up from your chair, with speed. Lower yourself slowly, count to three. Then get up as quickly and powerfully as you can. A few times, a couple of times a day. It trains exactly what the study points out is most important.

Three safety rules: always have something to hold on to, always lower yourself slowly and in a controlled manner, and start a little more cautiously and increase your speed over the weeks. If you have heart disease, dizziness or poor balance check with your doctor or physiotherapist first.

Test yourself

Sit on a sturdy chair. Stand up and sit down five times, as quickly as you can safely. Time it. Write it down. Train your strength for a few weeks, and then retake the test.

Most people are surprised by how much faster it goes – and that improvement is not just a number. It is exactly what makes the difference the day you stumble, or get up in the dark at night.

Not just how much but how quickly

We've been staring at strength for decades. How heavy, how many kilos. And strength is still important. But this research adds something we missed: it's also about how fast you can take on. And it's that speed that disappears first, matters most to your independence, and that almost no one trains.

The antidote is free, takes twenty seconds, and requires no equipment. Just a small change in how you get out of your chair – down slowly, up quickly.

So, with all that in mind: how quickly do you get up from a chair?

All the best,

Kennet Bath

Founder, Bodyweight Diet

Do you want to train both strength and power in a way that suits you who are over fifty? The Bodyweight Diet app has programs that you can do at home, without equipment.

Brasklapp: the text is based on observational studies, which show a correlation but do not prove causation. Training strength and power is still among the best proven things you can do for your health after fifty. If you have an illness or feel unsure, check with your doctor or physiotherapist before starting explosive training.