The Method Over 50
Does strength training prevent falls?
Strength alone has not been shown to. Balance and functional training has, and the two together probably do the most.
SettledConsistent evidence across meta-analyses.
For balance and functional training. For strength training on its own, still open.
Updated . The Vanguard coaching team.
What most people miss
Exercise prevents falls in older people, and that much is high certainty: across 59 trials it cut the rate of falls by 23%.1
The surprise is which exercise. Balance and functional training, the kind that trains standing, stepping and getting up, cut the rate of falls by 24%, high certainty. Programs combining several types, most often balance plus resistance, probably cut it by 34%. For programs that were mainly resistance training, the review could not say either way.1
So a program built only of machines and heavy lifts, however strong it makes you, is not the falls program the evidence supports. The trials that paired balance work with resistance training are the ones with the largest probable effect.1
Context matters too: the people in these trials averaged 76 years old, lived at home, and 77% were women.1
The research
The papers behind the answer
Each one checked against the paper itself. The grade describes the strength of the evidence, never anyone's results.
Sherrington, Fairhall, Wallbank et al., 2019 · Cochrane Database Syst Rev
Cochrane review · 108 randomised trials · 23,407 people aged 60 and over, living at home
Exercise cut the rate of falls by 23% (high certainty). Balance and functional exercise cut it by 24% (high certainty), and several types combined, most often balance plus resistance, probably by 34%. The effect of programs that were mainly resistance training was uncertain.
Read the paper by Sherrington, Fairhall, Wallbank et al., 2019 (opens in a new tab)
Research describes groups of people. Your coach will tell you how it applies to you.
From the floor
Balance, stepping and getting up off the floor are trained on purpose, beside the strength work. They are part of the plan, not saved for a warm-up.
The Vanguard coaching team