Dr Amir Khan links leg strength to longevity

Leg strength sounds like a niche fitness obsession. It isn’t. It’s really a story about whether you can keep getting up, climbing stairs, catching yourself when you trip, and staying independent as you age. That is the point Dr Amir Khan was making in a May 10 Instagram video that got picked up by UK outlets — strong legs are less about appearance than resilience, and that lines up with a pretty solid chunk of ageing research. ### Why do legs matter so much? Your legs carry the biggest muscles in your body — glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves. Those muscles do the obvious jobs like walking and standing up, but they also help with balance, blood-sugar control, and absorbing force when you stumble. When lower-body strength drops, everyday tasks get harder fast, and the risk of falls and loss of independence rises with it. That is why geriatric medicine treats mobility almost like a vital sign. (uk.news.yahoo.com) ### Was Khan talking about lifespan or healthy lifespan? Basically both, but the emphasis is healthy lifespan. In the video coverage, Khan framed leg strength as a predictor of “healthy ageing” and “resilience,” which is a little more useful than raw lifespan anyway. Living longer is one thing. Living longer while still being able to move around on your own is the real target. ### What is the strongest evidence here? (uk.news.yahoo.com) The best recent evidence is not a study saying “legs alone decide longevity.” It is broader than that. A BMJ Medicine paper published in early 2026 followed 70,725 women and 40,742 men from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. People who consistently did a wider variety of physical activities had lower mortality risk, even after accounting for total exercise volume. The biggest variety group showed about a 19% lower risk of death than the lowest-variety group. (uk.news.yahoo.com) ### So why does that still support the leg-strength point? Because lower-body work sits inside a lot of the activities that seem to age well. Walking briskly, climbing stairs, hiking, cycling, resistance training, tennis — they all demand some mix of leg strength, coordination, and power. The study’s message is not “do squats and nothing else.” It is closer to “build a body that can do many things,” and strong legs are central to that. That’s an inference from the exercise-variety data, but it fits the mechanism pretty well. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) ### What did Khan actually tell people to do? The practical advice was refreshingly basic — squats, stair climbing, and resistance-band work. That makes sense because these are accessible ways to train the lower body without needing a full gym. You do not need a barbell to improve leg strength if the goal is general function. You need consistency and movements you can repeat safely. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) ### Where does tempo training fit in? Tempo training is just slowing parts of the lift down on purpose — like taking 3 seconds to lower into a squat, pausing, then standing up under control. That increases time under tension and cleans up technique, which is useful for home workouts and beginners. It is not magic, but it is a good way to make simple leg exercises harder without adding much equipment. (mirror.co.uk) ### What should someone actually do with this? Think less about “leg day” and more about keeping your lower body capable. Two or three weekly sessions of squats to a chair, step-ups, stair climbing, lunges, calf raises, or banded work would cover a lot. Add walking and some balance work, and you are training the thing that really matters — function. ### Bottom line Khan’s point lands because it is simple and mostly right. Strong legs will not guarantee a long life, but weak legs are often an early sign that healthy ageing is getting harder. (aol.com) The goal is not heroic training. It is staying strong enough that ordinary life keeps feeling ordinary.