ageless aerobics

The strength of your muscles is the most important health related element of physical fitness as you get older. As the body ages and once we get past 30 years we lose precious lean muscle tissue at an alarming rate of 300-500 grams per year. This loss mainly goes unnoticed as the body increases body fat levels which mask muscle tissue loss. This situation can lead to premature and accelerated aging.

The main cause of this is an inactive or sedentary lifestyle. We have been told all of our lives and we believe that we should slow down as we get older and “grow old gracefully”. This leads to our thoughts becoming old thoughts, and we become old people. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The symptoms of accelerated aging, an growing waistline, decreasing strength and fitness, lack of energy, weakness and decreased brain power will leave you feeling old and exhausted long before your time. Restoring strength is paramount to reversing these devastating consequences of a lack of activity in our lives.

With more than 600 muscles in the human body responsible for movement keeping them strong and healthy will have amazing impact on your life. Stronger muscles contract more quickly leading to faster movement. This will enable you to walk faster, climb stairs easier, and accomplish everyday tasks quicker and with less effort.

Stronger muscles mean stronger bones, when muscles are used and strengthened they impose physical force on the bones stimulating the body to make more bone to support the stronger muscles. An increase in strength can benefit balance, as when muscle is lost balance becomes impaired increasing the risk of falling. Weakened leg muscles can cause unsteadiness leading to a bone breaking fall that can easily fracture weakened bones.

Falls can be serious as senior men are likely to die and senior women are likely to end up in a nursing home from fall-related accidents.

Strength training is the antidote to slow down premature and accelerated aging; the problems connected with muscle loss can be avoided, controlled or even eliminated by the proper exercise program that includes at least 60% strength training exercise. Decades of muscle loss can be regained in just a few months on the right program. It is important to see a Fitness Professional to set up the program and instruct you properly on how to do the exercises correctly and at the intensity level needed for muscles to be stimulated enough to grow stronger. No other form of exercise can be substituted for strength training. Running or other aerobic exercise is great for the heart/lung system but does not stimulate the strengthening of muscles in a complete and balanced manner.

We all would like to keep on feeling young and functioning youthfully for as long as possible regardless of our actual age. Restoring, building and maintaining strong muscles are a very simple and accessible way to do so. Most of what we blame on getting older has nothing with aging but simply a lack of vigorous exercise in our sedentary lives.

It is up to you to take the necessary steps to improve the quality of your life through a simple process like strength training. It is a small price to pay for the vibrant health, youthful energy and precious strength that you will receive in return. This will allow you to live your life anyway and however you please instead of being limited by the ills of aging.

Technorati Tags: aging, Process, Slow, strength, Sure, training

Most people think that our bodies simply get old and look old and then we die but this simply doesn’t have to be the case. You can continue to look healthy and feel healthy for your entire life if you just follow a few simple lifestyle options that I’m going to discuss today.

Today in this article I want to talk to you about how to use strength training in order to keep your body looking young and healthy long into your senior years.

Back in the day we used to think that aerobic exercise was the best anti-aging thing. Then around the beginning of the 1990s we started to get new research that suggested that strength training may be even better for anti aging. The reason why is because strength training generally builds more muscle mass. Aerobic exercise is not really set up to build muscle mass; it’s more set up to help circulation and things like that.

The fact is, a loss of muscle mass leads to a loss of strength that is really the key to most signs of aging. Muscle mass is also important when you’re trying to lose fat because big muscles burn calories 24 hours a day even when you’re not exercising which is great when you’re trying to lose weight.

To take advantage of this muscle mass anti-aging stuff I suggest you set up a strength training schedule for three times a week. On the days when you’re not strength training I suggest you do aerobic exercise because even though strength training is better, aerobic exercise is still incredibly helpful in your fight against anti aging.

Normally I would suggest that you work out in your home but as we get older it’s important for us to get out and meet new people and just generally be outside so I suggest that you join a health club that has weight machines and instructors who can help you and show you the proper way to use each machine.

As far as which exercises you should do for strength training I suggest you focus on several muscle groups including biceps, packs, abdomens, triceps, quadriceps, lower back, upper back, shoulders, and hamstrings.

You don’t have to go crazy on these exercises, in fact I suggest you find out how much you can lift for each one and then reduce the weight by 30 or 40% so that during any given exercise you are only lifting between 60 and 70% of the max that you can physically do. You don’t have to start out doing many reps; just do as many as you can and over time you should increase the repetitions. Once you can lift a weight at least 10 times then it’s time to increase the weight.

So there you have several tips on how to engage in strength training to age proof your body.

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Adults who do not strength train lose between 5-7 pounds of muscle every decade. Although endurance exercise improves our cardiovascular fitness, it does not prevent the loss of muscle tissue. Only strength exercise maintains our muscle mass and strength throughout our mid-life and senior years.

During the past few years more and more studies have shown that sensible strength training produces many health and fitness benefits especially for older adults. Key research studies, such as those conducted at Tufts University, the University of Maryland and the South Shore YMCA, have provided a wealth of data on the positive physiological responses to basic programs of strength exercise. Based on presently available research, consider the following thirteen reasons why every older adult should perform regular strength exercise.

Most adults do not perform Strength Exercise, they need to first replace the muscle tissue that has been lost through inactivity. Fortunately, research shows that a standard strength training program can increase muscle mass by about 3 pounds over an 8-week training period. This is the typical training response for men and women who do 25 minutes of strength exercise 2 or 3 days per week, and represents an excellent return on a time-efficient investment.

Research reveals that adding 3 pounds of muscle increases our resting metabolic rate by 7 percent, and our daily calorie requirements by 15 percent. At rest, a pound of muscle requires about 35 calories per day for tissue maintenance, and during exercise muscle energy utilization increases dramatically. Adults who replace muscle through sensible strength exercise use more calories all day long, thereby reducing the likelihood of fat accumulation. For more details visit www.soundbodytrainer.com

Technorati Tags: Benefits, Exercise, strength, training

Strength fitness training is important for seniors to gain or maintain the use of the muscles. When people neglect to incorporate any type of regular movement into their life, the result is decreased mobility and lack of balance. By exercising the muscles through resistance exercise, mobility and balance can be restored and improved.

The most important muscles to begin training are your leg muscles. Incorporating walking into your weekly routine is a good start. Then specific exercises such as squats will further develop your legs. It’s a good idea to add exercises for your entire body as you get more and more fit. When you include a variety of exercises for your body you enhance good posture and overall mobility as well.

Resistance training can be in the form of weight training at home or at a gym. It can also be done with resistance bands. Or you can perform exercises with just your body weight. If you are just starting out with resistance training, using your body weight is an excellent place to start.

You don’t have to use a lot of exercises to start. Just pick one or two movements for each body part. Start with your biggest muscles(legs) then work to the smaller muscles. Repeating each exercise after a brief rest. Try to establish a workout at least twice each week. Eventually working up to twenty or thirty minutes each session is the goal.

A combination of cardiovascular exercise and strength training is ideal.  Doing resistance training two to three days a week(for example:Monday-Wednesday-Friday), then doing cardio such as walking, biking, swimming, etc. on two to three other days, is a great way to schedule your exercises.

The importance of strength training for seniors can’t be emphasized enough. It can mean the difference between a low quality of  life as opposed to a higher quality of life. In many cases, older adults just simply need to get moving again. The fact is that it doesn’t even take a great deal of time or effort to see improvement in mobility once an exercise routine is established. The key is to set a few goals and keep it simple.

Here are some other exercises you can try which also help to improve your muscles. Tai Chi is a low-impact exercise form that can be a gentle way to get back into shape. There are videos and books available that are just for seniors. Pilates is a form of exercise that can strengthen and improve flexibility. Pilates can be done in a gym setting or you can also find instruction on video and in books. Yoga is yet another low-impact activity that also can improve strength. Yoga can also improve balance as well as flexibility.

Improvement in overall health is the goal of an exercise program. Using resistance training and flexibility training should be done on a regular basis. As you put your routine together try some of the different types of exercise forms as part of your resistance exercise. This type of activity is important in your strength fitness training.

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