Both tend to put stress on our bodies, why does one make us stronger and the other makes it weaker as we get older
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The premise is faulty. Both resistance training and manual labor will make people stronger, unless people get injured in a way that limits their strength (generally back or joint injuries).
Many older people who have worked manual labor will have bad backs, knees, etc. when they get older, but outside of that they’re also generally quite strong. I’ve met old farmers. I wouldn’t mess with them, and many of them would have been better at heavy farm labor than me at half their age.
Many people who have been serious weightlifters throughout their life also have injuries and accumulated wear and tear by the time they’re older, but again likely much stronger than the average person to the extent they can work around those.
The area where this will often come up is that elderly people put on a resistance training regime will (on average) see significant improvements in strength, balance, etc. and reduced falls, longer ability to live on their own, etc. These are generally fairly easy workout plans designed for elderly people and intended to be low injury risk, but for many people anything is an improvement.
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