It's no secret that as we age almost everyone loses physical strength. There is a physiological reason for this, but we know that it comes from a shrinking of muscle fibers, called atrophy, or the complete loss of muscle tissue, known as sacropenia. Is this loss a muscle the reason we stop doing resistant training, or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy that since we realize we are getting older and therefore weaker we stop training. And of course we become weaker.
Resistance training has been clearly demonstrated to have beneficial health effects for every age group and those that are fit or with chronic illness. People even in their 90s have been shown to make significant gains in strength, balance and flexibility. Walking and overall mobility improved with people who became stronger, and those tragic falls that marked the beginning of the end for so many healthy people were avoided. Therefore, improving muscular power to generate a force rapidly to break a fall will be and important training goal for the elderly.
Starting a resistance training program for those who haven't worked out in years obviously will not be an easy task. Special consideration must be taken to construct a program for a person who is up in years, and to do it safely a licensed health practitioner should be consulted. This is especially vital for those with existing health issues.
Provided the health of the individual is good, an older person starting resistance training would be on a similar schedule as anyone just starting out. The body, even when older, will adapt to most normal stress if they do the following:
1. Adequate warm up. Muscles and joints should be loosened up, with movements specific to the exercises being performed.
2. Adequate recovery time. Muscles will need to recover before they are broken down again.
3. Regular and progressive increases in intensity. Knowing how much and when to increase intensity is where a trainer really becomes important.
4. There are no orthopedic or structural issues with the exercise. This is where injury and illness history is important, and also when to recognize when pain is a sign of something signaling serious injury.
When starting out, weight resistance should be kept to a minimum; that is, lower than a person believes they can handle. There is no need to rush things, and a few workouts should be accomplished prior to settling in to what they can handle without fear of injury. The idea is to error on the conservative side.
It is important to know that age is not an impediment to staying physically active. If anything, the older you are the more important regular exercise becomes. But anyone, even with preexisting health issues can do it, and the hardest part is just getting started. Once anyone starts feeling the positive effects of regular exercise, they will then have the energy to continue. But furthermore, many people become so accustomed to exercise that they don't feel right without regularly going to the gym.
You should dig further than just believing when advertisers tell you their foods will make you younger, you have to look at the facts. On our website we will not only will we tell you which foods will help in aging in a healthy way, but but also how to exercise. Diets with Mediterranean food fit this agenda. Find out more about this and other healthy foods on our website http://losethatbellyfat.info/. Rich Carroll is a writer and avid health advocate now living in Chicago.
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